Literature is the vehicle of ideas.
In the mid-Tang Dynasty (618-907), Han Yu (768-824), a writer and philosopher, and some others, as leaders of the movement advocating the prose style of the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties, proposed that the purpose of writings should conform to and promote the classics of the ancient sages.
Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073), a neo-Confucian philosopher of the Song Dynasty, expounded the principle of literature serving as a vehicle of ideas. He concluded that literature is like a vehicle while ideas are like goods loaded on it, and that literature is a means and a vehicle to convey Confucian ideas. This theory emphasized the social role of literature and stressed that writers should know what they are writing about to ensure that their works convey correct ideas.
Addressing the opening of the International Conference Commemorating the 2,565th Anniversary of Confucius' Birth and the Fifth Congress of the International Confucian Association, held in September 2014, Xi Jinping pointed out: Literature is the vehicle of ideas, and it has the function of educating people. Contemporary China is a continuation and development of historical China, and contemporary Chinese thought and culture represent the inheritance and upgrading of traditional Chinese thought and culture. To understand China and the Chinese people of today, one has to understand their cultural roots and the cultural soil that has nurtured the Chinese nation.
文以載道
中唐時期古文運動的領袖韓愈等人提出“文以明道”的觀點，認為文章主旨應合乎并發揚圣人的經典。宋代理學家周敦頤進一步發展為“文以載道”，提出文學像“車”，“道”即是車上運載的貨物，文學是用以傳播儒家之“道”的手段和工具。這一觀念強調文學的社會功用，指明文學作品應該言之有物、有正確的思想內容。
2014年9月，習近平在紀念孔子誕辰2565周年國際學術研討會暨國際儒學聯合會第五屆會員大會開幕會上指出，文以載道、文以化人，當代中國是歷史中國的延續和發展，當代中國思想文化也是中國傳統思想文化的傳承和升華，要認識今天的中國、今天的中國人，就要深入了解中國的文化血脈，準確把握滋養中國人的文化土壤。
