Socialist Railway Culture： Connotations and Characteristics

【Abstract】The so-called socialist railway culture refers to all practical activities of Chinese people in the construction of new Chinas railways under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party （CCP） as well as all cultural achievements， which has abundant cultural connotations. As an important part of socialist advanced culture， the socialist railway culture has the distinct features with Chinese characteristics， such as laying equal stresses on economic benefit and social benefit， paying equal attention to enterprise cultural construction and ideological and political work， forging both revolutionary cultural traditions and advanced culture and so on.

【Key words】socialist railway culture； connotations； characteristics

【作者簡介】邱鐵鑫（1992- ），男，四川樂山人，西南交通大學馬克思主義學院博士研究生，研究方向：中國特色社會主義文化建設。

I. Connotations of socialists railway culture

Socialist railway culture in this paper refers to all practical activities of Chinese people in the construction of new Chinas railways under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party （CCP） as well as all cultural achievements. From the perspective of cultural structure， socialist railway culture， as similar to all railway cultures， can be classified into railway material culture， railway spiritual culture and railway system culture. These three factors， as a whole of a system， are inseparable and indispensable.

1.Railway material culture

Railway material culture is the external manifestation of railway culture. It takes the materials as the carriers， which is a distinctive feature of railway material culture， and most tightly correlates with humans railway-related production and lift practices. Therefore， railway material culture is the most direct achievements that were created by human beings in the practical activities of transforming the objective world in railway-related domains， which includes all railway transportation facilities such as tracks， trains and stations as well as various kinds of railway-related material objects. Accordingly， railway material culture shows two basic features： on the one hand， it includes all physical material objects related to railway transportation and production； on the other hand， it is endowed with certain cultural and artistic connotations （Li Guoping， Liu Guangwu， 2008）. The practices of human beings in discovering and changing the objective world in railway-related domains， that are embodied in railway material culture， not only created railway materials but also gave these materials the cultural meanings.

2.Railway spiritual culture

Railway spiritual culture refers to the spiritual and cultural connotations formed in humans long-term practices in railway-related domains， mainly including fundamental philosophy， mode of thinking， standard of value， professional ethics， common goals and spirituality. These connotations show relative independence， which are the value core of railway culture and also the spiritual natures in the formation and development of railway culture. Therefore， in a certain sense， railway spiritual culture is the narrowly-defined railway culture. Railway spiritual culture imposed deep-rooted effects on humans thinking way， ideology， value orientation and behavior choice （Feng Liujian， 2013）. For example， “Challenge Limits and Strive for First-class” is the spirit of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway， which can be regarded as a kind of inspiring and encouraging railway spiritual culture and was formed in the Railways building process by Chinese people. This railway spiritual culture not only displays the builders heroic spirits of marching forward courageously and being fearless of danger and difficulties， but also highlights the spiritual will and strong determination of the Chinese nation in nature transformation. In other words， the spiritual culture of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway embodies the national spirit. Accordingly， socialist railway spiritual culture is not only a kind of spiritual culture in the sense of industrial culture but also an important component of socialist advanced culture and contains the value pursuit of national spirit.

3.Railway system culture

As Wang Yonggui and Zheng Haixiang said：

System culture connects material culture and spiritual culture and overall reflects both material culture and spiritual culture， which plays an indispensable role in coordinating social relationships and regulating and standardizing peoples material life and spiritual life and is the concentrated reflection of culture （Wang Yonggui， Zheng Haixiang， 2012）.

Likewise， railway system culture also connects railway material culture and railway spiritual culture. Railway system culture is the externalization of the inherent spirit of railway culture and refers to the industry specifications that were formed in humans production and operation practices in railway-related domains for highlighting the spiritual core of railway culture and should be abided by all social members， which mainly includes management and organization standards such as railway-related policies， laws， rules， regulations and norms. Socialist system culture mainly reflects the value pursuit and spiritual nature that railway culture serves the people and thus better promote the constructions in all aspects of railway so as to form new railway culture achievements.

II. Characteristics of socialist railway culture

Socialist railway culture gradually shows the following distinct features with Chinese characteristics.

1.Laying equal stresses on economic benefit and social benefit

Socialist railway culture is a kind of socialist culture based on public ownership and follows the value idea of “People railways serve people” and the action guideline of “Serving the Society”. Accordingly， the value idea of “Laying equal stresses on economic benefit and social benefit” was gradually formed， which then promoted the booming of railways in China. By contrast， the railway culture in capitalist countries adheres to the private-ownership-based and economic-benefit-oriented value pursuit and attached few emphases on social benefit. The root reason lies in that capitalist railway culture and socialist railway culture differ in value pursuit； specifically， capitalist railway culture lays the emphasis on economic benefit but socialist railway culture focuses on serving the society. Serving the society necessarily lays the emphasis on the unification of economic benefit and social benefit， which was concluded from the historical experiences of socialist railway development and also serves as the important safeguard for ensuring the socialist railway causes healthy development.

2.Paying equal attention to enterprise cultural construction and ideological and political work

In his book Enterprise Culturology， Luo said that：

Since the liberation， Chinese enterprises have developed the tradition of insisting on doing ideological and political work， and now formed a complete set of ideological and political work system and trained a trustworthy cadre team for ideological and political work. This is one of the distinct features of Chinese enterprises and also a big advantage of enterprise cultural construction in China （Luo Changhai 1999， p. 474）.

As one of the most representative Chinese enterprises， socialist railway enterprises also paid much attention on cultural construction. Railway enterprise cultural construction and ideological and political work are inseparably interconnected and supplement each other， jointly promoting the development of socialist railway culture. On the other hand， it should also be pointed out that enterprise cultural construction and ideological and political work show both relations and differences in socialist railway cultural construction. The relations lie in the following two aspects. First， both have the value functions of uniting people， guiding direction， shaping image， educating staffs and developing socialist economy； second， their ultimate aim is to promote the great development of socialist railway cause. As for the difference， railway enterprise cultural construction belongs to the area of economic civilization and is characterized by strong economic nature， with a realistic goal of forming a series of values， thinking way， moral rules and spiritualities that are beneficial to the production and management in railway industry， while the ideological and political work belongs to the area of political culture and is characterized by strong political nature， with a direct goal of caring out the Partys basis lines， guidelines and policies in railway-related domains and thus ensuring the socialist nature of railway industry （Zhang Jian， 1993）. The measure of paying equal attention on enterprise cultural construction and ideological and political work in socialist railway enterprises is also a distinct feature that makes socialist railway culture different from other railway cultures.

3.Forging both revolutionary cultural traditions and advanced culture

Socialist railway culture includes all achievements created by Chinese people in railway-related practices under the leadership of CCP， and necessarily contains the Partys cultural gene. Under the framework of socialist railway culture， these revolutionary cultural traditions are expressed as railway spirit. The spirit of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway in the 1960s， “Self-sacrifice for success”， and the spirit of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway at the beginning of the 21st century， “Changeling the limits and striving for first-class”， all inherited the revolutionary cultural traditions of working hardly and perseveringly， forging ahead and making contributions selflessly. Additionally， socialist railway culture still embodies the scientific， peoples subjectivity and inclusiveness of the advanced culture. First， Chinas railway technology was developed under the guidance of scientific spirits and thus reflects the scientificity of socialist railway culture. Second， socialists railway culture advocate： “People railways for people”； under the guidance of this value， Chinas railway underwent great development， which promoted social and economic prosperity， significantly improved peoples living standards and embodied peoples subjectivity in socialist railway culture. Finally， the railway development in China were not blindly and behind closed doors but improvement and innovation processes after widely assimilating and drawing lessons from foreign railway constructions； in other words， socialist railway culture is inclusive. Revolutionary cultural traditions and advanced cultures constitute socialist railway culture， which not only highlights Chinese characteristics but also displays Chinese nations confidence in culture.

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