Through an analysis of the TV documentary series »Chinese Civilization«, screened in autumn 2008 on the Chinese national television (CCTV9), the paper attempts to identify and analyze the key themes of the turn towards traditionalism in the contemporary Chinese thought. Special emphasis is placed on the reinterpretation of classical and traditional Chinese thought in these processes. These elements are analyzed by topics: construction and mutual constitution of the concepts of Chinese civilisation, culture and nation; reinterpretation of classical Chinese philosophy in the new ideology of harmonisation, and finally, the alleged peaceful multiculturality, continuity and non-conflictuality of Chinese civilisation, which serve as the central elements of the newly construed national ideology. These topics of analysis of the TV series – which could be understood as contemporary China's political and ideological manifesto for the foreign audience – are juxtaposed to the actual phenomena in contemporary Chinese political and economic context.
