In the historical process of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the CPC has, through pioneering practices in revolution, development, and reform, created a “new form of human progress,” one that, compared with earlier forms of civilization, embodies richer, more substantial, and more advanced historical connotations. Specifically, it includes the following dimensions.

First, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics constitutes the basic pathway for the “new form of human progress.” China’s modern historical experience has demonstrated that retracing old paths offers no hope, and that the Western capitalist path is likewise unworkable. Through long-term exploration and practice, China has forged the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which has not only rescued the Chinese nation from humiliation and peril, but has also created a “new form of human progress.” The remarkable achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics need to be understood from the perspective of civilizational form in order to grasp their deeper implications.

Second, Chinese modernization constitutes the historical foundation for the “new form of human progress.” Industrialization, as the material and technological foundation of modernization, is a historical stage that no country pursuing modernization can bypass. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, industrialization is an inevitable path to a country’s economic success. China’s modernization is neither a “clone” of Western modernization nor should it be. The fact that China’s modernization must follow its own distinct path is determined not only by its unique national conditions, but also by the many weaknesses revealed by the Western path of modernization, which was traversed first. China’s path to modernization must be “Chinese modernization.” This necessity is rooted both in the indigenous characteristics of China’s fine traditional culture and in the advanced nature of scientific socialism. As a result, Chinese modernization has been able to achieve coordinated development and balanced progress in material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological terms, all the while avoiding the chronic problems associated with Western modernization.

Third, the common values of humanity constitute the inherent aspiration of the new form of human progress. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the conference marking the 50th Anniversary of the Restoration of the Lawful Seat of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations, “We should vigorously advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom, which are the common values of humanity, and work together to provide the right guiding philosophy for building a better world. Peace and development are our common cause, equity and justice our common aspiration, and democracy and freedom our common pursuit.” Chinese civilization is distinguished by its continuity, creativity, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness. These value resources, having undergone the transformation of modern concepts, as well as further dialectical sublation and activation, have acquired a contemporary form and now provide value guidance—as cultural soft power—for the construction of the “new form of human progress.”

Fourth, China’s fine traditional culture constitutes the deep cultural bedrock of the “new form of human progress.” In modern times, the prevailing mode of human existence shaped by industrial civilization has been driven by a powerful impulse toward “conquest.” This drive is reflected most clearly in the relationship between humanity and nature, and in relationships among people. Humanity’s conquest of nature has triggered such “global problems” as ecological imbalances, environmental degradation, energy shortages, and scarcity of freshwater resources. Humanity’s conquest of other people, in turn, has led to the domination and subjugation of other civilizations through colonial rule. As a result, both humanity’s relationship with nature and relationships among people have too often been trapped in a “zero-sum game” mentality. Finding a way to move beyond this logic and foster a “positive-sum game,” in which mutual benefit and shared flourishing become possible, has become one of the most pressing challenges confronting humanity today.

On this question—which bears directly on the future of humanity—the “flexible wisdom” embedded in China’s fine traditional culture offers profound revelatory significance. Flexible wisdom takes a reflexive stance: One of its important manifestations is the confinement of human desires within the bounds of what is natural—neither artificially inducing and amplifying human desires nor artificially suppressing or depriving them. In the relationship between humanity and nature, the pursuit of human needs should not come at the expense of indiscriminate domination of the natural world; instead, the goal should be a mutually beneficial and harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. In the relationship among people, greed should not be allowed to give rise to the “law of the jungle.” Rather, the principle of “restraining self-interest with righteousness” should be upheld, social trust strengthened, and the international order improved so as to foster healthier and more constructive human relations.

He Zhonghua is a special research fellow from the Shandong Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.