Xueming Chen

Karl Marx and Contemporary China Xueming Chen

Historical events do not advance in straight lines; neither are they distributed evenly. The occurrence and fading of an event, and the birth and decease of a person, could both add to or decrease the weight of history. In the long historical river, some shiny eras and names always have great influence and are worth our memory. We honor historical persons and events at certain times to demonstrate our aspirations, hopes and historical understanding. We are actually adding to the weight of certain time periods in historical river. We explore and predict the future through dialogues crossing time and space.
Undoubtedly, the year 1818 became special because of Karl Marx's birth. Not long after, people have felt the weight of this historical giant on history, just as they felt the vacancy after his decease 65 years later. Almost every year, Marxist researchers could find important events commemorable in Marx's life. Those time-tested works have created different academical hot spots every year. However, this year is especially important, because it is the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth and the 170th anniversary of the issuance of The Communist Manifesto, which signifies the birth of Marxism; though the adoration of numbers is considered blind faith. And this year is the 40th anniversary of China's opening and reform as well as the issuance of Practice Is The Sole Criterion for Testing Truth, which marks the recovery of "being practical and realistic" in Marxism. These are all important and commemorable events. Commemoration is intended neither for forgetfulness nor for sheer memory. Commemoration and memory exist not only to write the conceptual history, but to expand key steps of history in a practical way. How we comprehend history will determine how we comprehend today and the future to arrive. By memorizing, awakening and reconstructing historical persons and events, we are walking hand-in-hand with those great persons, events and thoughts, which shall become the power we depend to walk into the future...