Translated by Claude, edited by Sinocism.com

Source: Study Times 学习时报, July 22, 2026, page 1 | Byline: Chu Songyan 褚松燕 The author is director of the United Front Work Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National Academy of Governance)

While presiding over the ninth collective study session of the 20th Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation requires constructing a scientific and complete theoretical system of the Chinese national community.” In recent years, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the disciplinary arrangements for the Chinese national community have been continuously optimized and the research contingent has continued to grow; teaching materials represented by the “Introduction to the Chinese National Community” have already come into wide use; the construction of a system of historical materials on the Chinese national community, represented by the “History of Contact, Exchange, and Intermingling Among the Chinese Nation,” is being systematically advanced; and a series of foundational research achievements, such as identifying concepts and academic interpretations based on the long history and great practice of the Chinese national community, are being published one after another — all of which have powerfully promoted the construction of a scientific and complete theoretical system of the Chinese national community. We must further consolidate the foundation and accelerate the pace, construct a scientific and complete theoretical system of the Chinese national community with high quality, serve the overall work of the Party and the state more powerfully, and provide Chinese wisdom for the international community in handling ethnic questions with reasoning, academic principles, and philosophy rooted in the soil of China.

习近平总书记在主持二十届中央政治局第九次集体学习时指出，“铸牢中华民族共同体意识，需要构建科学完备的中华民族共同体理论体系”。近年来，在习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想指导下，中华民族共同体学科设置不断优化，研究队伍不断壮大，以《中华民族共同体概论》为代表的教材已经广泛使用，以《中华民族交往交流交融史》为代表的中华民族共同体史料体系建设正在系统推进，一系列基于中华民族共同体悠久历史和伟大实践的标识性概念和学理阐释等基础性研究成果正在陆续发表，有力推动了科学完备的中华民族共同体理论体系的构建。我们要进一步夯实基础、加快速度，高质量构建科学完备的中华民族共同体理论体系，更加有力地服务于党和国家工作大局，以扎根于中华大地的道理学理哲理为国际社会处理好民族问题提供中国智慧。

Uphold the “Two Combinations,” base ourselves on the historical experience and cultural accumulation of the Chinese nation, and consolidate the foundational basis of the theoretical system. Theory, as the presentation of law-governed understanding of the objective world, cannot do without the guidance of a scientific worldview and methodology. The theoretical system of the Chinese national community, as a multi-layered theoretical organism formed from basic concepts, principles, historical materials, and methods joined by close internal logical connections, reflects a series of law-governed understandings of the Chinese national community as a long-standing objective existence and developmental fact within human society, and therefore of course needs to be constructed under the guidance of a scientific worldview and methodology — and that scientific worldview and methodology is Marxism. Upholding Marxism as the guide means using its scientific worldview and methodology to solve China's problems, and in particular upholding Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide; constructing the theoretical system of the Chinese national community in this way gives it a scientific character. Under the guidance of a scientific worldview and methodology, the construction of a theoretical system needs the support of history formed by the practice of human society. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: “To construct the theoretical system of the Chinese national community, we must base ourselves on the long history of the Chinese nation.” The theoretical system of the Chinese national community, as a multi-layered theoretical organism, is built upon a complete set of history, experience, and knowledge deposited by our country's one million years of human history, ten thousand years of cultural history, and more than five thousand years of civilizational history. In other words, the construction of the theoretical system is inseparable from the combing-through of historical threads. We must establish a correct view of the history of the Chinese nation, comb through the formation and development of the Chinese national community from the holistic perspective of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation, study the historical facts of the various ethnic groups' contact, exchange, and intermingling in the long river of history — blending of bloodlines, sharing of convictions, commonality of culture, interdependence of economies, and closeness of feeling — explore from a historical perspective the endogenous dynamics by which the Chinese nation converged from diversity into one body, and reveal the pluralistic-unified structure of the Chinese national community and the laws of the evolution of its civilization. On the basis of a comprehensive, scientific, and in-depth narration of the historical evolution of the Chinese national community, we should form China's own independent narrative system of the history of the Chinese national community, and then abstract from it reasoning, academic principles, and philosophy, highlighting the completeness of a theoretical system founded on the historical logic and theoretical logic of the development of the Chinese nation.

坚持“两个结合”，立足中华民族的历史经验和文化积淀，夯实理论体系本源基础。理论作为对客观世界的规律性认识的呈现，离不开科学的世界观方法论指引。中华民族共同体理论体系作为一个由基本概念、原理、史料、方法经由紧密内在逻辑联系而成的多重理论有机体，反映着中华民族共同体作为人类社会中长期客观存在和发展事实的一系列规律性认识，当然需要在科学的世界观和方法论的指引下建构，而科学的世界观和方法论就是马克思主义。坚持以马克思主义为指导，就是要运用其科学的世界观和方法论解决中国的问题，特别是坚持以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导，这样构建中华民族共同体理论体系就具备了科学性。在科学的世界观和方法论的指引下，理论体系的构建需要人类社会实践所形成的历史的支撑。习近平总书记强调：“构建中华民族共同体理论体系，必须立足中华民族悠久历史。”中华民族共同体理论体系作为一个多重理论有机体，建基于我国百万年的人类史、一万年的文化史、五千多年的文明史所沉淀的一整套历史、经验和知识。换言之，理论体系的构建离不开历史脉络的梳理。我们要树立正确的中华民族历史观，从中华文明和中华民族的整体视角来梳理中华民族共同体的形成和发展，研究各民族在历史长河中交往交流交融血脉相融、信念相同、文化相通、经济相依、情感相亲的历史事实，从历史视角探寻中华民族由多元汇聚为一体的内生动力，揭示中华民族共同体多元一体结构和文明的演进规律。基于对中华民族共同体历史演进全面、科学、深入的叙述，形成中国自主的中华民族共同体历史叙事体系，进而从中抽象出道理、学理、哲理，凸显遵循中华民族发展的历史逻辑、理论逻辑基础上的理论体系的完备性。

Uphold the main line of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, base ourselves on the historic achievements attained by the Party in uniting and leading the people of all ethnic groups across the country, and consolidate the practical foundation of the theoretical system. Since its birth, the Communist Party of China has always kept firmly in mind the original aspiration and mission of “seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation,” has always been committed in its successive struggles to defending national unification and ethnic unity, has always safeguarded the fundamental and overall interests of the Chinese nation while upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, and has creatively blazed a correct path with Chinese characteristics for solving ethnic questions. On this path, the Party has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country in achieving national independence and the liberation of the people, opened up a new phase in developing relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance, and harmony among all ethnic groups, and promoted unprecedented progress in the economic and social development of ethnic-minority areas and in the lives of ethnic-minority people; the outlook of our country's ethnic minorities, of ethnic-minority areas, of ethnic relations, and of the Chinese nation has undergone earth-shaking historic transformation. Especially since the Party's 18th National Congress, the Party Center with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has upheld the “Two Combinations,” kept in view the “Two Overall Situations,” profoundly summarized the experiences and lessons of ethnic work at home and abroad, deeply discerned the development trends of the Chinese national community, made forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation the main line of the Party's ethnic work and of all work in ethnic-minority areas in the new era, clarified the strategic goals and practical paths of comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization, and promoted the Chinese nation's becoming a community of shared destiny with a higher degree of identification and stronger cohesion. In constructing the theoretical system of the Chinese national community, on the one hand it is necessary to comprehensively and systematically study more than a hundred years of the Communist Party of China's history of ethnic work, and through an accurate grasp of the Party's valuable experience in ethnic work to deepen the summarization of the internal laws by which the Party united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country in blazing the correct path with Chinese characteristics for solving ethnic questions; on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen research on major real-world problems in the Party's leadership and advancement of the building of the Chinese national community in the new era, so as to understand and distill the mechanisms of the Party's innovation in ethnic theory. Since the Party's 18th National Congress, the Party Center with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has emphasized such concepts as the big family of the Chinese nation, the Chinese national community, and forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation; has distinctly put forward making the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation the main line of the Party's ethnic work in the new era and the main line of all work in ethnic-minority areas; has worked to build a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation from the height of consolidating and developing the great unity of all ethnic groups, of the whole people, and of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation; has solidly advanced common prosperity among all ethnic groups from the height of comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization; has actively promoted contact, exchange, and intermingling among all ethnic groups from the height of promoting Chinese modernization through the great unity of the Chinese nation; has governed ethnic affairs in accordance with law from the height of modernizing the national governance system and governance capacity; has comprehensively advanced the cause of ethnic unity and progress; and has driven historic achievements in the Party's ethnic work. It is precisely on the basis of the Party Center with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core discerning the new situations, new problems, and new tasks facing the building of the Chinese national community in the new era that General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thought on strengthening and improving ethnic work took shape, and it has thereby advanced the high-quality development of ethnic work through discovering and resolving major real-world problems, forming a fit and mutual reinforcement between the Party's innovative theory and its great practice. The series of historic achievements in the Party's ethnic work demonstrates the marked superiority of the correct path with Chinese characteristics for solving ethnic questions, and demonstrates that the Party's leadership and the socialist system are a reliable guarantee for the common development and progress of all our country's ethnic groups; its inherent real-world logic, together with our Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal as China's highest political leading force, provides the fundamental political guarantee for the powerful identification with and cohesion of the Chinese national community. The facts of these great achievements and the process of attaining them are rich practical nourishment and vivid, living evidence for the theoretical system of the Chinese national community; distilling from them the theoretical starting point and methodology of the Party's leadership of the building of the Chinese national community becomes the practical foundation and a necessary link in constructing the theoretical system of the Chinese national community.

坚持铸牢中华民族共同体意识主线，立足党团结带领全国各族人民取得历史性成就，夯实理论体系实践基础。中国共产党自诞生以来，始终牢记“为中国人民谋幸福、为中华民族谋复兴”的初心使命，在接续奋斗中始终致力于捍卫国家统一和民族团结，在守正创新中始终维护中华民族根本利益和整体利益，创造性地走出了一条中国特色解决民族问题的正确道路。在这条道路上，党团结带领全国各族人民实现了民族独立和人民解放，开创了发展各民族平等团结互助和谐关系的新局面，推动民族地区经济社会发展和少数民族群众生活前所未有的进步，我国少数民族面貌、民族地区面貌、民族关系面貌、中华民族面貌发生了翻天覆地的历史性巨变。尤其是党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚持“两个结合”，着眼“两个大局”，深刻总结国内外民族工作经验教训，深刻洞察中华民族共同体发展趋势，把铸牢中华民族共同体意识作为新时代党的民族工作和民族地区各项工作的主线，明确以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业战略目标和实践路径，推动中华民族成为认同度更高、凝聚力更强的命运共同体。构建中华民族共同体理论体系，一方面，需要全面系统研究中国共产党一百多年来的民族工作历史，通过对党的民族工作宝贵经验的准确把握，深化对党团结带领全国各族人民走出中国特色解决民族问题的正确道路的内在规律的总结；另一方面，需要加强对新时代党领导和推进中华民族共同体建设重大现实问题的研究以理解和提炼党的民族理论创新机理。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央强调中华民族大家庭、中华民族共同体、铸牢中华民族共同体意识等理念，鲜明提出把铸牢中华民族共同体意识作为新时代党的民族工作的主线、作为民族地区各项工作的主线，从巩固和发展各民族大团结、全国人民大团结、全体中华儿女大团结高度着力构筑中华民族共有精神家园，从以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业高度扎实推进各民族共同富裕，从以中华民族大团结促进中国式现代化高度积极促进各民族交往交流交融，从国家治理体系和治理能力现代化高度依法治理民族事务，全面推进民族团结进步事业，推动党的民族工作取得历史性成就。正是以习近平同志为核心的党中央基于对中华民族共同体建设在新时代面临的新形势新问题新任务的洞察，形成了习近平总书记关于加强和改进民族工作的重要思想，进而在发现和解决重大现实问题中推进民族工作高质量发展，形成党的创新理论与伟大实践之间的契合和相互促进。党的民族工作取得的一系列历史性成就，彰显着中国特色解决民族问题的正确道路所具有的明显优越性，彰显着党的领导和社会主义制度对我国各民族共同发展进步的可靠保障，其内在的现实逻辑和我们党作为中国最高政治领导力量的政治领导力、思想引领力、群众组织力、社会号召力为中华民族共同体的强大认同度和凝聚力提供了根本政治保证。伟大成就的事实及其取得过程是中华民族共同体理论体系的丰富实践养料和生动鲜活论据，从中提炼出党领导中华民族共同体建设的理论原点和方法论，成为构建中华民族共同体理论体系的现实基础和必要环节。

Uphold an open mindset, base ourselves on the diversity of the development of human society, and consolidate the inclusive foundation of the theoretical system. The Chinese national community, steeped in more than five thousand years of civilizational history, is an important component of the community of shared future for mankind, and in every period of human history has contributed to the evolution of human civilization. To construct a scientific and complete theoretical system of the Chinese national community, we must place the formation and development of the Chinese national community within the field of vision of all humanity and within long-duration world history, study it within the diverse processes of the development of human society, explore in comparative research the commonalities between the formation and development of the Chinese national community and of other communities in human society, uncover the distinctiveness of the formation and development of the Chinese national community, become firm in comparison about the correctness of the path with Chinese characteristics for solving ethnic questions, and become firm in cultural confidence through drawing on and absorbing all the outstanding achievements of human civilization. Our country's various ethnic groups jointly opened up the vast territory of the motherland, jointly founded a unified multi-ethnic state, jointly wrote a glorious Chinese history, jointly created a splendid Chinese culture, and jointly nurtured a great national spirit; these shared experiences have given the various ethnic groups on this land of China the inward-converging structural quality of a unified multi-ethnic state in which the territory cannot be divided, the state cannot be thrown into chaos, the nation cannot be scattered, and the civilization cannot be broken off, along with the centripetal quality of “harmony without uniformity” and an open mindset adept at learning; they also highlight the characteristics of Chinese civilization — its continuity, innovativeness, unity, inclusiveness, and peaceful nature. The pluralistic-unified evolutionary path of the Chinese national community, supported by voluminous historical materials and steeped in a long civilization, eloquently demonstrates that the development paths of human communities are diverse and by no means limited to a single one; especially in the context of a new form of human civilization, the paths by which countries achieve modernization possess open diversity rather than uniqueness. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “If there were no five thousand years of Chinese civilization, where would there be any Chinese characteristics?” Accelerating the construction of the theoretical system of the Chinese national community means providing powerful support for the diversity of the development of human society with the logic of community formation and development that has Chinese characteristics, and providing vivid practical guidance for the harmonious coexistence and common development of multi-ethnic human societies with the facts of China's various ethnic groups uniting and struggling together and prospering and developing together.

坚持开放心态，立足人类社会发展的多样性，夯实理论体系的包容性基础。经由五千多年文明史浸润而成的中华民族共同体，是人类命运共同体的重要组成部分，在人类历史上的各个时期，都为人类文明的演进作出了贡献。构建科学完备的中华民族共同体理论体系，就要把中华民族共同体的形成和发展置于全人类视野和长时段世界历史当中，放在人类社会发展的多样进程中去研究，在比较研究中探寻中华民族共同体与人类社会其他共同体形成和发展的共同性，发掘中华民族共同体形成和发展的独特性，在比较中坚定中国特色解决民族问题道路的正确性，在借鉴和吸收人类一切优秀文明成果中坚定文化自信。我国各民族共同开拓了祖国的辽阔疆域，共同缔造了统一的多民族国家，共同书写了辉煌的中国历史，共同创造了灿烂的中华文化，共同培育了伟大的民族精神，这些共同的经历使中国这片土地上的各民族形成了国土不可分、国家不可乱、民族不可散、文明不可断的统一的多民族国家向内凝聚的结构性、“和而不同”的向心性和善于学习的开放心态，也凸显了中华文明的连续性、创新性、统一性、包容性、和平性的特性。有着浩繁史料支撑和悠久文明浸润的中华民族共同体多元一体的演进路径雄辩地说明，人类社会共同体的发展路径是多样的，并非只有一条，尤其在人类文明新形态的语境之下，各国现代化的实现之路更具有开放的多样性而非唯一性。习近平总书记指出，“如果没有中华五千年文明，哪里有什么中国特色？”加快构建中华民族共同体理论体系就是以具有中国特色的共同体形成发展逻辑为人类社会发展的多样性提供有力支持，以中国各民族共同团结奋斗、共同繁荣发展的事实为人类社会多民族和谐相处、共同发展提供鲜活的实践指引。

Start from basic concepts, base ourselves on research into major foundational questions of the Chinese national community, and consolidate the academic foundation of the theoretical system. Constructing the theoretical system of the Chinese national community cannot do without existing basic concepts such as ethnicity, community, and civilization, and still less without the identifying concepts distilled from historical experience and contemporary practice on Chinese soil — such as pluralistic unity, the Chinese national community, and grand unification. Therefore, as contemporary Chinese philosophy and social science workers, on the one hand we need to start from the basic concepts that connect China and the world, integrating the history and practice of China and the Chinese nation into existing basic concepts, and endowing basic concepts such as ethnicity, community, and civilization with the common values of all humanity and with diversified historical and real-world support; on the other hand, we need to clearly define the connotation and extension of identifying concepts rich in Chinese characteristics, taking identifying concepts as points and the history and culture of the Chinese nation as lines, and connecting points and lines to form the various dimensions of the theoretical system of the Chinese national community — its disciplinary system, academic system, discourse system, and academic discourse. For example, “pluralistic unity” as an identifying concept directly connects the existing basic concept of “ethnicity” with China's concrete history and reality. Using the fact that China has been a unified multi-ethnic state since ancient times, it explains the organic structure between the Chinese nation as a whole and the various ethnic groups within it; it both displays, through the facts of the formation and development of the Chinese nation, the richness of the concept of ethnicity in human society and the diversified construction of the relationship between ethnicity and state, and, through the historical and cultural origins of the great practice of building the Chinese national community, critiques and transcends the Western-centric theory of the nation-state, providing Chinese wisdom for multi-ethnic states in today's world in solving ethnic questions.

坚持从基础概念入手，立足中华民族共同体重大基础性问题研究，夯实理论体系学术基础。构建中华民族共同体理论体系，离不开既有的民族、共同体、文明等基础概念，更离不开基于中国大地的历史经验和当代实践所凝练出的标识性概念，如多元一体、中华民族共同体、大一统等。因此，作为当代中国哲学社会科学工作者，一方面需要从连接中国和世界的基础概念入手，把中国和中华民族的历史与实践融汇到现有基础概念当中，赋予民族、共同体、文明等基础概念以全人类共同价值、多样化历史与现实支撑；另一方面，需要把富有中国特色的标识性概念的内涵和外延界定清楚，以标识性概念作为点，以中华民族的历史和文化作为线，点线相连，形成中华民族共同体理论体系学科体系、学术体系、话语体系、学术话语的各个面向。比如，“多元一体”作为标识性概念，就直接连接现有基础概念“民族”和中国的具体历史与现实。它以中国自古以来就是统一的多民族国家的事实，来说明整体的中华民族与内部各民族之间的有机结构，既以中华民族形成和发展的事实展现了人类社会民族概念的丰富性以及民族与国家关系的多样化构造，又以中华民族共同体建设伟大实践的历史、文化渊源批判和超越了西方中心主义的民族国家理论，为当前世界上的多民族国家解决民族问题提供了中国智慧。

As historical materials and sources continue to be excavated and uncovered, and as exchanges and contacts among the civilizations of human society continue to deepen, research into the origins, present reality, and development of the objective world also continues to deepen; bringing forth the new through the old has already become both inevitable and necessary. Research on the Chinese national community necessarily requires tracing things to their roots and clarifying them at the source while based on Chinese soil, and unfolding in depth on different questions, especially foundational ones. Constructing the theoretical system of the Chinese national community requires that, on the basis of optimizing disciplinary arrangements, we strengthen discipline construction, deepen research on major foundational questions arising from major real-world problems and challenges, and produce a steady stream of original theoretical results, so as to construct with high quality a scientific and complete theoretical system of the Chinese national community and provide good answers to the questions of China, the questions of the world, the questions of the people, and the questions of the times.

随着史料资料的不断挖掘发掘，随着人类社会文明间交往交流的不断深入，对客观世界的由来、现实和发展的研究也在不断深入，推陈出新，已经是必然和必需。中华民族共同体研究必然要求立足中国大地追根溯源、正本清源，针对不同问题特别是基础性问题深入展开。构建中华民族共同体理论体系要在优化学科设置的基础上，加强学科建设，从重大现实问题和挑战中深化重大基础性问题研究，源源不断推出原创性理论成果，高质量构建科学完备的中华民族共同体理论体系，回答好中国之问、世界之问、人民之问、时代之问。

[The author is director of the United Front Work Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National Academy of Governance)]

〔作者系中央党校（国家行政学院）统一战线教研部主任〕