The Study On Public Spirit In Contemporay China

Public spirit is a result of the Enlightenment and industrial revolution;it is also a spiritual and cultural characteristics of Modernity.As a term,it originated from the West.While civil society and the public sphere of bourgeois provide the objective conditions for the formation of public spirit,the rise of human subjectivity,civic awareness and publicity are the subjective conditions.In Western society,public spirit has gone through two phases: group public spirit and individual public spirit.Karl Marx and Engels,on the basis of criticizing the hypocrisy of bourgeois public spirit,established the human public spirit,which was characterized with the free and full development of personality.Lenin further developed Marx and Engels' s theory of public spirit according to Soviet's actual situation.The issue of public spirit exists along the progress of modernization,and at every corner of the social life and public intercourse.It is one of the basic facts that every modern county has to face.With the advancement of market-oriented reformation in China,our social communication mode shifts from‘acquaintances' to‘strangers'.Consequently,it becomesincreasingly urgent to cultivate Chinese public spirit.This study explores public spirit via interpreting the meaning of “public” both in western and Chinese context,and its nature,characteristic and function.Public spirit is a combination of rational cognition and harmonious interaction between self-consciousness and public life,through which people recognize and value public interests,and then defend them by caring and participating in public life,while establishing citizens' concept of civilization and social value.Upholding public spirits plays animportant role instandardizing,deconstructing and developing public life.Research on public spirit in China begins with the exploration of modernization.It has gone through three stages: origin,rise and development.Since the economic reform and opening to the outside world,with the transformation of social structures towards modernization and commonality,the rich and various public life has laid a solid foundation for the formation of public spirit in China.On the other hand,the awakening of subjectivity,sense of citizenship and awareness of public are subjective factors.The cognitive changes towards public life formour public spirit with Chinese characteristics.With the economic globalization and ongoing process to achieve a well-off society inChina,cultivating public spirit appears to be utmost urgent.However,due to various reasons,the situation about Chinese public spirit is not promising.We must first respect the fact that China is at the primary stage of socialism,be persistent in a policy that combines governmental leadership and citizens' active participation.Overall,we must be aware of the necessityand urgency of cultivating public spirit in China during the transitional stage of socialism.To cultivate public spirit in China,we have a long way to go.