Since China started the war against COVID-19, the Chinese people, standing together through storm and stress, worrying about each other and offering mutual help, have built a great defensive wall against the epidemic and achieved positive results in both epidemic prevention and control, as well as economic and social development.
This is a manifestation of the remarkable superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and demonstrates the responsibility, strength, and spirit of the country. This battle against COVID-19, which will be remembered in history, also serves as an ideological and political lesson. The teachers of the School of Marxism of the Open University of China (OUC) have turned epidemic prevention and control practices into fresh teaching content in the small classes of ideological and political courses on combatting the epidemic of COVID-19. They have shouldered the glorious mission of cultivating students and forging their spirit around the themes of "CPC leadership, people-centric government philosophy, citizen morality, institutional advantages, and humanistic spirit.”
On 26 April 2020, Ms Zhang Liyuan gave her first lecture entitled A Look at the Construction of Citizen Morality amid the Fight against COVID-19. She said that, as general secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, the battle against COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 represented the people coming together for an all-out war against the virus. Under the test of the epidemic, the Chinese people have witnessed the overall response of China’s institutional system and the strategic pattern and strengths of an effective and well-functioning nationwide control mechanism. They have also recognised the perseverance, persistence, and kindness of each individual, as well as the resultant force formed by the cumulative efforts of each individual.
Ms Zhang said that the behaviours reflected in the epidemic have highlighted the significance of cultivating a healthy and modern civic morality and consciousness in a time of public disaster. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the construction of civic virtues. In order to tackle the issue at its root, a series of important plans have been made to promote the deepening, development, and innovation of moral construction, which has achieved remarkable results. The challenges created by the epidemic have also forced us to prepare a new answer sheet for the advancement of citizen morality in the new era and raised specific requirements for the cultivation of civic morality and consciousness. These requirements represent a firm belief in Marxism, the cultivation and practice of socialist core values, the inheritance of traditional Chinese virtues, and the upholding of the national spirit and the spirit of the times.
On 9 May, Mr Sun Honglin gave a special lecture entitled China's Institutional Advantages as Shown by the Fight against COVID-19. According to Sun, COVID-19 has spread faster and wider than any other virus since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. However, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the people of the country have been united as one, and thanks to their arduous efforts, China has achieved major strategic success in its nationwide control efforts. The fundamental reason for this is that the CPC leadership and China’s socialist system has played a critical role in COVID-19 control.
Mr Sun said that the greatest advantage of China's socialist system is its ability to mobilise resources to accomplish major initiatives, and is historically inevitable due to the internal requirements of continuing to be guided by Marxism, the significant advantages of the state system, and the nature, goal, and original mission of the CPC. With this in mind, how can China give further play to the remarkable advantages of resource mobilisation to accomplish major initiatives in the new era? First, we should uphold and strengthen CPC leadership. Second, we should deepen our understanding of our advantages and fully realise the importance, necessity, path, and mechanism of exerting these advantages. Third, we should make an accurate assessment of the inherent requirements of people-centric governance philosophy. Fourth, we should further improve the country’s system and mechanism.
On 20 May, Ms Xuan Hongqin shared a lecture entitled Highlighting the Chinese Spirit in the Fight against the Epidemic. Ms Xuan believes that practical experience is fertile ground for the growth of spirit, and disasters are an opportunity for spiritual transformation. Confronted by the challenges of the fight against COVID-19, the Chinese people have emerged as a nation with self-confidence, optimism, and an enterprising spirit. The Chinese people have pulled together and united as one, displaying a revolutionary spirit in overcoming difficulties and fearing no sacrifice. The spiritual form given life in the fight against the epidemic is an embodiment of the spirit of the Chinese nation and the sublimation of this spirit in the new era.
Ms Xuan believes that this great challenge is not only a test of our country's governance system and capacity, but also an examination of our institutional and cultural identity and national spirit, provoking more thinking among and resulting in the growth of the Chinese people. The noble spirit recognised in the process of fighting against the epidemic has enriched the Chinese nation and enhanced its cohesion, which will certainly become an important force for encouraging us to forge ahead and realise the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. China’s national destiny relies on the contribution and support of all of its people, which encourages all students to personally do their part to inherit the spirit of and play an important role in the new era.
On 21 May, Mr Sun Fuwan, executive vice president and professor of the School of Marxism gave a lecture entitled A Look at How to Uphold a Humanistic Spirit amid the Fight against COVID-19. Mr Sun introduced the social background, general characteristics, and future development trends of humanities and social sciences since the 20th century and explained the humanistic spirit which was manifested by the fight against COVID-19. He said that the core concern of humanities and social sciences is, of course, human beings.” Therefore, it is proper for the humanities and social sciences to advocate for a humanistic spirit. The humanistic spirit demonstrated by the Chinese government and the Chinese people during the sudden outbreak of the epidemic is impressive.
Mr Sun summed up this "humanistic spirit" in four aspects. First, it refers to the spirit of treating "people’s interests first.” Nothing is more precious than people’s lives, which means that, in the fight against the epidemic, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has always made people’s lives and health its first priority. Second, it refers to the spirit of working together and helping each other. For example, hundreds of medical teams were dispatched to help Wuhan showing that when disaster strikes in one location, help comes from all quarters and touching stories like this can be heard everywhere. Third, it refers to the idea of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. The epidemic has forced us to reconsider the relationship between man and nature, which is also an important embodiment of the human spirit. Fourth, it refers to the idea of building a "community with a shared future for all mankind.” In order to deal with a virus which knows no borders, international communities need to work together. The Chinese government attaches great importance to this and its achievements in epidemic prevention and control have been fully recognised by the World Health Organisation and the international community.
General secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that, in order to do a good job in ideological and political work in universities and colleges, we should change the situation, advance with the times, and make innovates according to the latest trends. It is our duty to collate and pass on the stories of the fight against the epidemic through the teaching of ideological and political education. At a time when the whole world is facing the challenge of COVID-19, these connections will help students to recognise the real strength of a lively and powerful China. The School of Marxism will continue to explore and strive to construct small classes of ideological and political courses with political perspectives and theoretical depth, as well as affection and compassion, in order to improve the effectiveness of ideological and political courses and the effect of student cultivation.
By Xuan Hongqin,OUC