China Social Science Review

No.1, 2024

The Theoretical Innovation in “the Unswerving Self in a Cultural Sense”

(Abstract)

Shen Xiangping

The new concept of “the unswerving self in a cultural sense” put forward by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has constituted a new theory for constructing and hardening self of contemporary Chinese culture. This theory has multiple theoretical innovations. First, in terms of cultural self-identity, it has broken down on the protracted Western “I-He” relationship model and in fact created and practiced a “I-You” relationship model. Second, what separates itself from the “traditional vs. modern” binary thinking in the Western cultural development is the clarification of a new thinking of cultural self-renewal and continuity. Third, radically unlike the Western cultural subjectivity based on the subject-object field relation, Chinese cultural subjectivity is established on the inter-subject field relationship with characteristics of independence, dominance and transcendence, emphasizing that one should help others to succeed while seeking own success.