The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

Evolving understandings

How does the current discussion of Chinese modernization differ from that of the past? Jin Bei, a Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Chinese modernization has evolved from a basic conceptual notion to a paradigm or framework, and the underlying logic for understanding modernization has undergone drastic changes.

Before the founding of the PRC in 1949, many Chinese intellectuals with lofty ideals believed that modernization meant following the Western path of high-speed industrialization. After the PRC’s founding, a planned economy was advocated to achieve modernization. Following the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping formally put forward a Chinese path to modernization. Since the dawn of the 21st century, this perception has changed dramatically, Jin continued.

“We are beginning to realize that our country, despite its remarkable modernization achievements, is different from Western countries,” Jin said. World civilizations are diverse, and though China has made great achievements, it does not mean, or require, that other countries should imitate China, and it is impossible for China to imitate the West.

At the seminar titled “Chinese Modernization: Theory and Practice” held at Nanjing University on Nov. 20, Hong Yinxing, director of the Research Center of National Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics at Nanjing University, said that the Chinese path to modernization is not only about adapting Marxist economics to China’s specific realities, but also about applying general modernization theory to China’s national conditions.

In the new stage of development, the Chinese path to modernization must uphold fundamental principles while breaking new ground. To uphold fundamental principles means adhering to reform and opening up, and to break new ground is to shift towards high-quality development, Hong said. This requires creating a new pattern of development and enhancing the intrinsic power and reliability of domestic and international economic flows. It also requires the implementation of the new development philosophy featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared growth.

The connotation of Chinese modernization has been continuously enriched and expanded by the CPC in theory and practice. Liu Wei, former president of Renmin University of China (RUC), said that the realization of Chinese modernization is not only a goal, but also a remobilization to rejuvenate the entire Chinese nation.

From history of civilization

Chinese modernization, which has created a new form of human advancement, is based on the time-honored Chinese civilization that has a history of more than 5,000 years.

On Nov. 23, RUC launched a research project on the history of civilization, and inaugurated an institute of Chinese modernization and new form of human advancement. The project will systematically integrate high-quality research forces to compile A History of Chinese Civilization and A History of World Civilization. Utilizing comparative analysis of long historical cycles, the compilations aim to unveil the general logic and trend of social development in China and humanity at large, and attempt to theoretically explain the scientific basis of Chinese modernization and the new form of human advancement.

In reference to advancing research on the history of civilization, Tan Fangzheng, deputy director of the Department of Social Sciences under China’s Ministry of Education, pointed out that the fine traditional Chinese culture is the crystallization and essence of Chinese civilization, and the foundation of contemporary Chinese culture, comprising the “genes” of Chinese modernization and the new form of human advancement.

Renowned modern Chinese scholar Liang Qichao once used the terms “China of China,” “China of Asia” and “China of the world” to describe the evolution of Chinese history. At the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping echoed Liang’s interpretation, as Xi stated, “China today is more than the country itself; it is very much a part of Asia and the world.”

According to Yang Huilin, a professor of comparative literature from RUC, this should be the basic perspective for re-construing the history of Chinese civilization. Compared with Western-style civilizational processes, Chinese civilization is regarded as a representative of the “cultural continuum.” Tracing the cultural foundations and inherent extension logic will inevitably produce a revised view of civilizational forms and a new historical consciousness.

Noting many problems with Western academia’s narration of Chinese civilization, Yang said that responding to these problems can become a channel for Chinese scholarship to enter Western knowledge systems. The writing of history always includes the “creative formulation” of both new historical views of civilization and new forms of human advancement.