Seek truth from facts | |||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 實事求是 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 实事求是 | ||||||||||||
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"Seek truth from facts" is a historically established idiomatic expression ( chengyu ) in the Chinese language that first appeared in the Book of Han . Originally, it described an attitude toward study and research. Popularized by Chinese leader Mao Zedong, it has become a major slogan of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the inspiration for its principal theoretical journal, Qiushi.
The slogan became a key slogan in Chinese Marxism and was first used by Mao Zedong in 1936. [1] : 423 Mao had probably remembered it as being the inscription on his alma mater, Hunan's First Teachers Training School. [2] Mao's usage of the slogan built on his themes in On Practice , which argues that people must apply their knowledge to practice in reality in order to test its truthfulness. [3] : 38
Beginning in 1978, it was further promoted by Deng Xiaoping as a central ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics, [4] and applied to economic and political reforms thereafter.
河間獻王德以孝景前二年立,修學好古,實事求是。從民得善書,必為好寫與之,留其真,加金帛賜以招之。
The Prince Xian of Hejian, Liu De, was made a prince in the second year of Emperor Jing the Filial; he enjoyed studying classics from earlier eras, and sought truth from facts. When he obtained a valuable book from the people, he always made a copy by transcribing it and returned the copy to them, keeping the original himself, and provided gold and silk to keep those guests coming.
To "seek truth from facts" means that communists should test theory against reality rather than adhere dogmatically to theory. [3] : 62 The slogan implies respect for facts and using facts to inform theory and policy. [1] : 423
On 11 May 1978 journalist Hu Fuming published an article in state run newspaper Guangming Daily entitled "Practice is the Sole Criterion for Testing the Truth" (Chinese :实践是检验真理的唯一标准; pinyin :Shíjiàn shì jiǎnyàn zhēnlǐ de wéiyī biāozhǔn), directly contradicting then CCP general secretary Hua Guofeng's line of the Two Whatevers (Chinese :两个凡是; pinyin :Liǎng gè fánshì) policy and thereby Mao Zedong's policy of class struggle; in favour of economic reform championed by Deng Xiaoping. The title of the article is inspired by the ancient saying and is widely seen as a seminal document in the contemporary Chinese political landscape and marks the turning point to the era of Reform and Opening Up in 20th century China. [6] In June 1978, Deng endorsed the perspective of the editorial at an All-Army Political Work Conference. [7] : 111 Deng stated that Marxist theory should not be "lifeless dogma" and cited Mao's method of seeking truth from facts, contrasting the "Two Whatevers" with the view that "only through practice can the correctness of one's ideas be proved, and there is no other way of testing truth." [7] : 111
Practice is not only the criterion for testing truth, but the only criterion. Chairman Mao said: "There is only one truth, and whoever discovers the truth does not rely on subjective exaggeration, but on objective practice." Only the revolutionary practice of millions of people is the yardstick for testing the truth. "The criterion of truth can only be the practice of society. It is said here: "only" and "is", that is, there is only one standard, and there is no second.
This is because the truth mentioned by dialectical materialism is an objective truth, and it is the correct reflection of human thought on the objective world and its laws. Therefore, as the criterion for testing the truth, we cannot look for it in the subjective realm, nor can we look for it in the realm of theory, and ideas, theories, and ourselves cannot be the criteria for testing whether they conform to objective reality, just as in law the plaintiff is true or not, he cannot be based on his own lawsuit.
As a criterion for testing truth, it must have the characteristic of connecting the human mind with the objective world, otherwise it cannot be tested. Human social practice is an activity to transform the objective world, and it is something that is subjectively seen in the objective. Practice has the property of linking ideas with objective reality. Therefore, it is practice, and only practice, that can accomplish the task of testing the truth. Numerous facts in the history of science speak volumes about this problem.
Qiushi - "Seeking Truth" (Chinese :求是; pinyin :Qiúshì) is also the official name of the journal of political theory of the Chinese Communist Party, derived from the above slogan. The magazine has been published on a continuous bi-monthly basis since 1988 and contains articles and speeches authored by state and senior party leadership on policy and ideology.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung is a book of statements from speeches and writings by Mao Zedong, the former chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, published from 1964 to 1979 and widely distributed during the Cultural Revolution.
Hua Guofeng was a Chinese politician who served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the 2nd premier of China. The designated successor of Mao Zedong, Hua held the top offices of the government, party, and the military after the deaths of Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, but was gradually forced out of supreme power by a coalition of party leaders between December 1978 and June 1981, and subsequently retreated from the political limelight, though still remaining a member of the Central Committee until 2002.
From November 1978 to December 1979, thousands of people put up "big character posters" on a long brick wall of Xidan Street, Xicheng District of Beijing, to protest about the political and social issues of China; the wall became known as the Democracy Wall. Under acquiescence of the Chinese government, other kinds of protest activities, such as unofficial journals, petitions, and demonstrations, were also soon spreading out in major cities of China. This movement can be seen as the beginning of the Chinese Democracy Movement. It is also known as the "Democracy Wall Movement". This short period of political liberation was known as the "Beijing Spring".
The "Two Whatevers" refers to the statement that "We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave" (凡是毛主席作出的决策,我们都坚决维护;凡是毛主席的指示,我们都始终不渝地遵循).
The time period in China from the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 until the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre is often known as Dengist China. In September 1976, after CCP Chairman Mao Zedong's death, the People's Republic of China was left with no central authority figure, either symbolically or administratively. The Gang of Four was purged, but new Chairman Hua Guofeng insisted on continuing Maoist policies. After a bloodless power struggle, Deng Xiaoping came to the helm to reform the Chinese economy and government institutions in their entirety. Deng, however, was conservative with regard to wide-ranging political reform, and along with the combination of unforeseen problems that resulted from the economic reform policies, the country underwent another political crisis, culminating in the crackdown of massive pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
Deng Xiaoping Theory, also known as Dengism, is the series of political and economic ideologies first developed by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The theory does not reject Marxism–Leninism or Maoism, but instead claims to be an adaptation of them to the existing socioeconomic conditions of China.
The 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1992 to 1997. It held seven plenary sessions. It was preceded by the 13th Central Committee. It was elected by the 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and in turn elected the 14th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.
The 10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1973 to 1977. It was preceded by the 9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It held three plenary sessions in the four-year period. It was formally succeeded by the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
The history of the Chinese Communist Party began with its establishment in July 1921. A study group led by Peking University professors Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao to discuss Marxism, led to intellectuals officially founding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in July 1921. In 1923, Sun Yat-sen invited the CCP to form a United Front, and to join his nationalist party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in Canton for training under representatives of the Communist International, the Soviet Union's international organization. The Soviet representatives reorganized both parties into Leninist parties. Rather than the loose organization that characterized the two parties until then, the Leninist party operated on the principle of democratic centralism, in which the collective leadership set standards for membership and an all-powerful Central Committee determined the party line, which all members must follow.
Qiushi is the leading official theoretical journal and news magazine of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published bi-monthly by the Central Party School and the Central Committee. The journal is headquartered in Beijing.
The 3rd plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was a pivotal meeting of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party held in Beijing, China, from December 18 to December 22, 1978.
On Practice is one of Mao Zedong's most important philosophical works. Along with On Contradiction, this essay is a part of lectures Mao gave in 1937. It expresses Mao's support for Marxism and attempts to establish a distinctly Chinese brand of communist philosophy. On Practice argues that people must apply knowledge to practice in reality in order to test its truthfulness. At the time it was written, the Chinese Communist Party had just endured the Long March and their nationalist foes were still at large. Plus, China was facing a tremendous Japanese threat. Mao hoped to establish himself as the leader of China's communist party in order to unite China and vanquish the Japanese. On Practice was written as a part of this mission, for it gave Mao a more legitimate claim to lead by creating the basis for his communist philosophy, Maoism.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) frames its ideology as Marxism–Leninism adapted to the historical context of China, often expressing it as socialism with Chinese characteristics. Major ideological contributions of the CCP's leadership are viewed as "Thought" or "Theory," with "Thought" carrying greater weight. Influential concepts include Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and Xi Jinping Thought. Other important concepts include the socialist market economy, Jiang Zemin's idea of the Three Represents, and Hu Jintao's Scientific Outlook on Development.
The Guangming Daily, also known as the Enlightenment Daily, is a national Chinese-language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1949 as the official paper of the China Democratic League. Starting from 1982, it was run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and was officially recognized as an institution directly under the Central Committee of the CCP from 1994. As one of China's "big three" newspapers during the Cultural Revolution, it played an important role in the political struggle between Hua Guofeng and the Gang of Four in 1976 and between Hua and Deng Xiaoping in 1978.
Boluan Fanzheng refers to a period of significant sociopolitical reforms starting with the accession of Deng Xiaoping to the paramount leadership in China, replacing Hua Guofeng, who had been appointed as Mao Zedong's successor before Mao's death in 1976. During this period, a far-reaching program of reforms was undertaken by Deng and his allies to "correct the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution", and restore order in the country. The start of the Boluan Fanzheng period is regarded as an inflection point in Chinese history, with its cultural adjustments later proven to be the bedrock upon which the parallel economic reform and opening up could take place. As such, aspects of market capitalism were successfully introduced to the Chinese economy, giving rise to a period of growth often characterized as one of the most impressive economic achievements in human history.
The 1978 Truth Criterion Controversy, also known as the 1978 Truth Criterion Discussion, sometimes referred to as the First Great Debate in contemporary China, was a sociopolitical debate around 1978, mainly revolving around Hua Guofeng's "Two Whatevers" and Deng Xiaoping's "Reform and opening up". The debate was also the origin of the "New Enlightenment" in mainland China in the 1980s.
Hu Fuming was a Chinese scholar and politician.
The Theory Conference of 1979 was a gathering of Chinese Communist Party cadres and theoreticians that took place between December 18 and December 22, 1978, at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, during which Deng Xiaoping’s leadership was officially consolidated and Hu Yaobang was elevated to the Politburo. This session confirmed the reform agenda of the Party. Hu was tasked with arranging a theoretical conference to revise ideology and lay the intellectual groundwork for the Four Modernisations goal and economic reform.
The cat theory of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China between 1978 and 1989, is a pragmatic economic philosophy which can be summarized by "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice (不管黑猫白猫,能捉到老鼠就是好猫)". Deng argued that, planned economy or market economy is only a tool for distributing resources and has nothing to do with political institution, in other words socialism can have market and capitalism can have planning. The cat theory became widely known within the Chinese society after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992, and was an underlying ideology guiding the reform and opening of China.
The Literature Research Office, or the Documentation Research Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, was an office of the now-defunct Literature Editorial Committee of the CCP Central Committee, functioning as a working department and a research institute directly under the CCP Central Committee.