The 21st annual academic conference of Shanghai Social Science Associations convened
The 21st Annual Academic Conference of Shanghai Social Science Associations was convened at Shanghai Social Science Hall on the afternoon of January 18. The conference released a series of academic achievements, including the 2023 Annual Papers of the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations, the Decadal Selection of Annual Papers of the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations and the 2023 “Ten Major Academic Hot Topics in China”.
Wang Zhan, Chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations, delivered an important speech at the event. He suggested that social science workers should adhere to strengthening the systematic research, theoretical interpretation, and popularization of the Party's innovative theories. He also stressed the importance of enhancing research topic planning and collaborative research on key issues to promote the formation of more high-quality think tank achievements and better serve pioneering reform and leading openness. During the speech, he underscored the necessity of adhering to integrity and innovation, producing more excellent Shanghai-style masterpieces that focus on the construction of philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics, and inheriting and developing the cultural heritage of Shanghai in the process of deeply advancing the “two integrations”.
Prof. Qu Jun from ECNU, Prof. Gao Qiqi from East China University of Political Science and Law, and Prof. Wang Xianhua from Shanghai International Studies University made keynote speeches at the event, respectively.
Professor Qu’s speech was entitled “The Interaction and Symbiosis of Red Culture, Shanghai Style Culture, and Jiangnan Culture from the Perspective of Civilization History.” He expressed that from the perspective of civilization history, the interaction and symbiosis relationship between the three can be explained more clearly and profoundly. While modern China was humbled, Jiangnan culture managed to survived but was dimmed, and Shanghai-style culture, though flourishing, lacked depth. The development of Red Culture and its on-going expansion have revitalized Chinese civilization, providing a new path for Jiangnan culture and an unprecedented depth for Shanghai-style culture. Meanwhile, Jiangnan culture and Shanghai-style culture have also enabled Red Culture to secure an anchoring position and a direction for consistent progress in the context of Chinese civilization.
Professor Gao delivered a speech entitled “The Digital Revolution and National Governance Capacity Building.” He observed that strengthening national digital capacity is a global issue at present. China's national digital capacity exhibits the feature of social flexibility, represented by the fact that its governance goals are mainly realized through the commissioned governance by platform enterprises and the extensive digital participation on the part of the general public. Noting that commissioned governance has its peculiar risks, he suggested that China’s national digital capacity building should focus on maintaining a dynamic balance between autonomy and embeddedness: its autonomy is of vital importance while the embeddedness improves robustness by means of organically integrating the national digital capacity with the digital capacity of enterprises and the whole society.
Professor Wang Xianhua, in his report entitled “Sanxingdui and the ‘Reason’ of Chinese Civilization”, said that the bronze civilization of Sanxingdui emerged on the “crescent-shaped cultural diffusion belt”, which was flanked by plateaus and mountains on one side and valleys and plains on the other, forming the historical stage of Chinese civilization as a whole. In this field of civilized forces, the intertwining of various plain and plateau passages with the “crescent-shaped cultural diffusion belt” represents the deep logic behind the convergence of the traditions in the “Three Dynasties” (Xia, Shang, Zhou Dynasties). This also forms the “civilization reason” for Chinese civilization to encompass the achievements of a whole range of “local civilizations” such as Sanxingdui in its five-thousand-year-long glory. An awareness of this reason will help us understand the significance of Chinese modernization from the perspective of civilization history.
