Chinese Culture with Socialist Characteristics

Has Communism fundamentally changed Chinese society? Or has Chinese culture stayed stable despite Communism? The official discourse in China is that Communism has fundamentally changed Chinese society, and for the better. The dominant discourse in the West also believes that Communism has fundamentally changed Chinese society, but for the worse. It is politically incorrect in China to say that Communism has not changed China for the better, and it is politically incorrect in the West to say that Communism has not changed China for the worse. This paper argues for the position that Chinese culture has stayed largely consistent despite the introduction of Communism in the Chinese cultural landscape. Communism does not define Chinese culture. Chinese culture will likely absorb Communism. The recognition of Chinese cultural continuity has important implications for China relations. To truly understand how China functions today, one needs to stop using Communism as a narrow lens to examine China but to look into the traditional Chinese value systems that continue to shape how Chinese people think and behave.