Nowadays, with the faster development of urbanization in China, some traditional scenes of lifehave been destroyed, and the historical streets, lanes, archways and other urban forms, as the cultural features to fully express the architectural and urban images, have been demolished in sections and blocks, threatening the compatibility and continuity of urban forms. In rural areas, a variety of traditional rural buildings and folk customs are also dying out. It has become an unrealistic hope in some areas to “enjoy the view of mountains and waters, and remind of the hometown”. Such a development disconnecting with the history is unhealthy and does not meet the aspirations of the vast majority of Chinese people. In fact, “establishing the new” does not have to “demolish the old”, respect for historical traditions does not mean to be pedantic, or wedded to tradition. On the contrary, making conscious efforts to preserve these traditional cultural features will enrich the cities and villages with more local features.

Priority should be given to inheritance and innovation of cultural features. For example, the Chinese classical literature has been flourishing for the past three thousand years, with new elements being constantly added to the literature, thus forming peaks for future generations to look up to, such as the Book of Songs, Songs of Chu, Han Fu, pre-Qin prose, poetry of the Tang Dynasty, poetry of the Song dynasty, Yuan opera, and fictions of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The China Central Institute for Culture and History (CCICH) has long been committed to the study of the essence and aesthetic spirit of traditional Chinese art. Its recently published anthology, Inheritance of Cultural Features, is based on the Second Workshop of Chinese Artists held by the CCICH, collecting lectures of cultural and artistic masters, such as Wang Meng, Liu Mengxi, Zhong Chengxiang, Zheng Xinmiao, Wu Jiang, Chen Lai, Nima Zeren, and Long Rui, and students’ interaction. It aims to inherit the traditional cultural features, bring forth the new, and appreciate the elegance of the high-end culture and art.

This book mainly includes two parts. The first part contains the general courses on culture, including lectures such as the Beauty of Chinese Poetry by Zheng Xinmiao, Cultural Tradition and Cultural Confidence by Wang Meng, the Philosophical Foundation of Chinese Civilization by Chen Lai, the Beauty of Chinese Opera by Wu Jiang, Learning, Understanding and Practicing Xi Jinping’s Important Discourse on Literature and Art by Zhong Chengxiang, and "Harmony in Diversity" is the Great Wisdom that Chinese Culture Has Contributed to Mankind by Liu Mengxi. The second part contains specialized courses on art, including lectures, interactions and reviews of students’ works for poetry, calligraphy, portrait painting, bird-and-flower painting, landscape painting, and traditional opera. Ranging from study of poetry, painting and calligraphy to appreciation of opera, the book, with distinct themes and vivid descriptions, not only plays a positive role in inheriting the Chinese cultural features and promotes the creative transformation and development of traditional art, but also allows the readers to enjoy the essence and aesthetic spirit of Chinese traditional art, helping improve the readers’ aesthetic accomplishment and capability to appreciate art.

Taking Cultural Tradition and Cultural Confidence as an example, Wang talked about the positivity, this-sidedness and practicality of traditional Chinese culture, emphasizing the positive attitude towards life. It is the above features that connect the traditional culture with the modernization, so that our traditional culture can play a positive role in the cause of modernization. Wang pointed out that Chinese culture has three basic characteristics: worshiping virtues and goodness, worshiping unity and harmony, and worshiping solution and communication. When interpreting the meaning of "worshiping unity and harmony", he made a comparison between Chinese and foreign cultural traditions and explained its connotation, that is, all the good things in the world are unified and all problems should be solved as the whole. As Fan Zhongyan (a statesman and litterateur in Northern Song Dynasty) said, “If you can't be a good prime minister, be a good doctor.” “Good prime minister” and “good doctor” may seem to be unrelated to each other, but both should care about the suffering of the people. In this sense, the two are essentially unified. This is the wonder of Chinese civilization.