The Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is an action plan for the CPC to rally and lead the people to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics on the new journey of the new era. It gives a rational answer to the philosophical question of “Where is socialism with Chinese characteristics headed on the new journey of the new era” that underlies in the development course of this country, and contains strategic thinking that is forward-looking, big-picture, and pioneering. From a strategic perspective, the Report to the 20th National Congress points out a scientific path for China’s future development, clarifies phased tasks, and defines specific strategic choices, reflecting the forwardlooking strategic vision of planning the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on the viewpoint of holistic, developing, and universal connection, it aims to achieve the unity between local and overall interests in strategic deployment, the unity between the present and the future in strategic objectives, and the unity between domestic and international development in strategic vision. It highlights the principles of scientific socialism as upholding the guidance of Marxism, the overall leadership of the CPC, and the people’s decisive role in history, pioneering a new frontier in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

The concept of the shared values of humanity, embodying the spirit of putting people first and solving real-life problems, is of great significance for constructing a new global order and building a human community with a shared future. The shared values of humanity respect the differences in understanding and realization paths of different civilizations, and seek common grounds with an inclusive and open attitude. The core socialist values are an embodiment and an extension of the shared values of humanity. The fine traditional Chinese culture has also laid a profound cultural basis for the pursuit of the shared values of humanity, enabling us to make up a better scheme for building a human community with a shared future from the perspective of civilization.

The building of a shared community requires enduring efforts. The human community with a shared future is the largest community of human society for nation-states so far, an inevitable result of globalization. In this era, globalization needs to be oriented at demolishing the false universality in the past and rebuild the genuine universality, which makes building a human community with a shared future constructively logical in contemporary globalization. The new universality is the shared values of humanity. In essence, the shared values of humanity are a “common good” formed by all nations for their common interests, common needs, and common development, which makes them a new universality. The emergence and formation of the shared values of humanity was developed naturally in the long term among the exchanges of all nations. From the perspective of the thinking mode, the shared values of humanity focus on the “communicative rationality” in the intersubjectivity of the countries and the nations instead of hegemonic rationality, while adhering to the consultative principle. From the perspective of the internal structure, the shared values of humanity unite the value of existence and development. Their fundamental connotation reveals that the shared values of humanity dialectically unite cultural commonness and particularity. Building a human community with a shared future and its core shared values has in fact proposed a new model for human advancement. The fundamental connotations of the new model for human advancement can be classified into three aspects: new cultural value, the new paradigm of civilization, and new cultural experience.

Marx’s thought of community has experienced three stages in logic and is rooted in the social fundamental contradictions between productive forces and universal communication in content. It reflects the evolution of history into world history and human’s free and all-round development tending towards the unity of individuals and communities. Faced with the profound changes never seen in a century, the thought of building a human community with a shared future inherits and carries forward Marx’s idea of community in three aspects, i.e., the practice of building a social community, the ultimate focus on human destiny, and the grand vision of promoting historical development in human society. In addition, under the historical context of socialism and capitalism coexisting, the thought of building a human community with a shared future creates and shows a new state of Marx’s idea of community in three aspects, namely, dimension remodeling, path reshaping, and value reinterpretation. It presents a new model for historical significance and human civilization of a world of openness, probability and promise to promote the transformation from the modern society to a human society.

The sudden onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic brought people the most serious global public health emergency since the end of World War II. Posing a threat to human survival and development, the pandemic has given prominence to global issues concerning life safety and ecological security and triggered studies on their integrated advancement. Only by fully understanding the importance and urgency of the life-ecology integrated security and establishing the new idea, new strategy, new plan, and basic path can we survive deadly emergencies, build a community with a shared future and health for all, and jointly contribute to and share the benefits of a safe, healthy and beautiful world with common prosperity, long-lasting peace and stability of humanity.

On the basis of recognizing the diversity of cultures and civilizations in the world and the existence of different values among people of different nations, regions, and countries, the shared values of humanity pursue after the largest common ground and greatest convergence of values of all mankind. Shared values of humanity are the deep cultural structure of a human community with a shared future, and value and ethical consensus is necessary to form at the global level to promote the building of a human community with a shared future. Shared values of humanity embody the public good of all peoples and countries in the world in the fields of common interests, needs, and development, serve as the ethical guidelines for reconstructing the rules for interaction and order of communication of the international society in the era of globalization, and represent the ethical vision for the development of a human community with a shared future. Shared values of humanity lay the ethical foundation for promoting the construction of a human community with a shared future. Specifically, peace and development represent the ethical consensus on the survival of the community; fairness and justice advocate the new ethical consensus on international relations formed within the framework of the community; and democracy and freedom demonstrate the political-ethical consensus of the community.

General Secretary Xi Jinping deeply grasps the overall strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and great changes in the world unseen in a hundred years, and forms the important thought of carrying forward the shared values of humanity of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom and promoting the building of a human community with a shared future. The shared values of humanity provide value basis for the community, confirm the morality of the community, and lay the foundation of value recognition for building the community. A human community with a shared future is the practice area for the shared values of humanity, providing it with a real subject and delimiting the boundaries of the times. The shared values of humanity and a human community with a shared future complement each other, and are dialectically unified in the planning and grasp of the “two overall situations,” i.e., the overall strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and great changes in the world unseen in a century．

Over the course of a century of endeavor, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has integrated Marxist philosophy with China’s specific realities and fine traditional culture, and taken it as the fundamental guideline for the creative application and development of Marxist philosophy, which is both a theoretical principle and a practical principle. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee held in 2021 put an emphasis on upholding historical and dialectical materialism and looking back on the CPC’s endeavors over the past century to help us see why we were successful and how we can continue to succeed in the future and better develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. The development of today’s Chinese Marxist philosophy is intertwined with China’s modernization process. It always emphasizes the combination of theory and practice, thus requiring a problem-oriented attitude in terms of academic consciousness in seeking innovative development of Marxist philosophy. This dialogue centers on academic consciousness and the century-long exploration of developing Marxist philosophy in China. It can be seen that modern Chinese Marxist philosophers need to think deeply about the internal mechanism of adapting Marxism to China’s fine traditional culture and strengthen problem-oriented philosophical studies, so as to contribute to the prosperity and development of philosophy and social sciences.

With the great cause in mind and after a century of arduous struggles, the Communist Party of China abides by its aspirations and strives to lead the whole people on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and works to create new glories in realizing national rejuvenation. Summarizing the experience behind this century of success, the most fundamental one is that the Communist Party of China has always been great at adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s specific realities, adapting Marxism and Marxist philosophy to the Chinese context, and consciously applying them to guide China’s practice.

Modernity is the philosophical representation of modern society in which capital is a core concept. How can socialism with Chinese characteristics be within modernity but surpass it? Historical materialism holds that the economic base determines the superstructure. Socialist public ownership, along with its capital forms, starts from the relations of production and takes them as the intermediary to harness the traditional capital logic. It not only activates “the civilising aspects of capital,” but also overcomes the productive contradiction of capital and avoids falling into capital metaphysics. Featured by socialist market economy and public capital, Chinese modernization provides a feasible solution for human society to solve the dilemma of modernity and realize human emancipation.

As a significant exposition, promoting the “two adaptions” of the basic tenets of Marxism holistically relates to the essence of Marxism. In the realistic dimension, adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s specific realities is essentially to enable Marxism to blossom and bear fruits in China, which include seeking a right path for China to solve the principal contradiction facing Chinese society and the fundamental issues and advance its development and progress, as well as pursuing innovation of Marxism. In the historical dimension, adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s fine traditional culture is essentially to help Marxism take root in China, and to use Marxist standpoints, viewpoints, and methods to transform and develop traditional Chinese culture in a creative and innovative manner. In the theoretical dimension, the “two adaptions,” which are fundamental to pursuing innovation of Marxism, have created Marxism adapted to the Chinese context. To advance the “two adaptions,” it is necessary to systematically and thoroughly sum up and adhere to the experience of “two adaptions,” draw the essence of China’s fine traditional culture, combine “advantage combination” with “functional complementation,” and grasp the connotation of China’s specific realities from the perspective of “historical juncture,” “principal social contradiction,” “fundamental issues” and “Chinese path.”

The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always been focused on the thought and practice of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. Historical practice has shown that different patterns of transplantation and grafting determine whether or not the adaption is successful. Adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times does not mean mechanically transplanting the basic tenets of Marxism to China physically and locationally. Instead, we should graft them in the way that chemical reaction is produced, thus adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s specific realities. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, as a landmark result of the CPC’s ten-year theoretical innovation on adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, is the product of adapting the basic tenets of Marxism to China’s specific realities and its fine traditional culture (“two adaptions”). This theoretical innovation formed by the “two adaptions” marks a new leap in the adaption of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. To realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, we must continue opening new chapters in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

In the context of the profound changes never seen in a century, China is in urgent need of the guidance of Marxism adapted to the Chinese context in order to modernize its governance capacity and develop a new form of human advancement. The research on value philosophy in China synchronizes with minds emancipation and reform and opening up. It fully demonstrates the value dimension of Marxist philosophy and has led to fruitful research results. How to turn these achievements from knowledge to wisdom and get them integrated into the transformation of people’s thoughts and the shaping of values is of great significance for adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. In the process of such transformation in thought, what really matters is the accurate understanding and proper use of the concept of value in order to clear up misunderstandings in theory, which we cannot ignore.