The Original Meanings of the New Terminology of the CCP

Abstract

The conceptual and terminological innovations of Xi Jinping’s report at the 20th Congress of the CPC in 2022 and the documents and speeches of the PRC leaders that preceded it, presented as a combination of Marxism with the traditional culture of China, caused a heated debate in Russian sinology. S.N. Goncharov considers them an expression of a sophisticated intellectual strategy, and A.V. Lukin — an opportunistic device of political casuistry. The article provides arguments in favor of the first position. 10 quotations from ancient canons expressing the “wisdom of Chinese civilization” were re-translated, more accurately attributed and analyzed in the report of the Chairman of the People's Republic of China and it was established that together they represent a rhymed poem reminiscent of the common anthem of the Kuomintang and the Republic of China. The general meaning of this centone is built on the main categories of Chinese thought: “heaven” 天, “man” 人 and “grace” 德. The most important concepts from these “10 commandments” and neologisms based on traditional vocabulary are considered, such as: “culture” 文化, “civilization” 文明, “order and turmoil, flourishing and decrepitude” 治乱兴衰, “change of predestination / revolution” 革命, “transformation by the central state / sinicization” 中国化, “epochalization” 時代化, “great unity” 大同, “small prosperity” 小康, “one-man management community / justice” 公, “advanced method” 提法, “community with a shared future for mankind / community of common destiny for mankind” 人类命运共同体, etc. The metaphysical meaning of the slogan proclaimed in the PRC about “jumping out of historical cyclicality” is revealed and the controversy surrounding the application of the Western concept of “civilization-state” to China and Russia, interested in different components of this ambivalent structure, is analyzed. A general conclusion is made about a qualitative shift in the development of the political vocabulary of the CCP from Marxism to traditional ideology in Confucian design.