Patriotism: From May 4th Spirit to Socialist Core Values

Abstract

The May 4th Movement formed the spirit of patriotism, progress, democracy and science. It can be seen that the primary content of the May 4th spirit is patriotism. During the May 4th Movement, the specific direction of patriotism was “saving the country”, that is, saving the Chinese nation in danger. Currently, the value requirements of socialist core values at the citizen level are patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness. It can be seen that patriotism is also the primary content of the value requirements of socialist core values at the citizen level. In current China, the specific content of patriotism is to “strengthen the country”, that is, actively boost the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics and make China grow into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country with much power. From the May 4th spirit to the socialist core values, the specific content of patriotism has realized the evolution from “saving the country” to “strengthening the country”. In the new era, in order to carry forward the May 4th spirit right along and earnestly practice the core socialist values, it is necessary to first carry forward the spirit of patriotism, actively devote ourselves to the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and make unremitting efforts to build China into a prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country with much power.