Abstract：The unprecedented global changes unseen in a century are intertwined with intense contests over civilizational narratives. Civilizational narratives concern the driving forces, principal actors, and value orientations of specific forms of civilization. They are essential activities for defining national identity, articulating positions, and demonstrating values, increasingly exhibiting significant practical power in the practice of human civilization. The emergence of a new form of human civilization presents itself with a narrative mission: to break free from the global civilizational narrative constructed by capitalism. Achieving this mission necessitates adherence to the principles of historical materialism, which serve as the intrinsic foundation of its narrative. Historical materialism provides directional guidance for narrative construction, forming the cornerstone for cultivating the practical character of narratives and establishing an autonomous civilizational narrative system for China.As a genuine “science of history”, historical materialism reveals the intrinsic laws of social history through a revolutionary philosophical paradigm rooted in a scientific view of practice. Thus, adherence to the scientific view of practice constitutes the essence of Marxist theory and its narrative quality. This scientific view of practice is intrinsically related to dynamics, subjectivity, values, and methodological laws—areas that are simultaneously the critical weaknesses in the illusionary narratives of Western civilizations. The narrative of the new form of human civilization, as an innovative civilizational narrative, derives its novelty from its conscious inheritance of the practical character of historical materialism. This determines that it is imperative to break traditional civilizational narratives, especially the illusionary narratives of capitalism, and to concretely elucidate the dynamic mechanisms, subject dimensions, value orientations, and intrinsic laws of the new form of human civilization within the practical framework of historical materialism. By doing so, it provides a scientific civilizational narrative model to support the construction of modern Chinese civilization and advance human civilizational progress, demonstrating the practical guiding force of scientific narratives.In the narrative of dynamics, the Communist Party of China creates a new form of civilization by consciously addressing fundamental and principal social contradictions. This narrative analyzes and summarizes the driving forces and historical processes behind the formation of the new form of civilization, answering the question: “What is the fundamental driving force behind the formation of the new form of civilization?” In the narrative of subjectivity, the people are regarded as the general creative subjects of the new form of civilization. On this basis, a multidimensional subject structure of “the masses, the Communist Party of China, and the Chinese nation” is proposed, forming a vivid image of the subjects of the new form of human civilization and answering the question: “Who creates, leads, and develops the new form of civilization?” In the narrative of values, it is proposed that the narrative of the new form of human civilization is not only a factual account of the evolution of civilization but also a value-oriented narrative about comprehensive human development. Therefore, it must unify fact and value to fully showcase the profound popular sentiment, rich tradition of people-centered governance, broad global vision, and lofty progressive aspirations embodied in the new form of civilization, answering the question: “For whom is the new form of civilization created, and what are its value orientation and ultimate pursuit?” Finally, in the narrative of laws, the dialectical synthesis of insights from the dynamics, subjectivity, and value narratives condenses into methodological principles essential for the further development of the new form of human civilization. These include three aspects: (1) highlighting unique characteristics within the narrative unity of universality and particularity; (2) expanding developmental space through the narrative unity of necessity and contingency; and (3) promoting new leaps forward by dialectically balancing reality and possibility. This narrative answers the question: “What are the underlying laws and methodologies?”
易美宇. 人类文明新形态叙事的唯物史观定向[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2025, 55(7): 56-67.
Yi Meiyu. Historical Materialistic Orientation in Narratives of the New Form of Human Civilization. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2025, 55(7): 56-67.
2025, Vol. 55 
