The Socialist Road Is the Inevitable Choice of Modern Chinese History

Denying the historical inevitability of modern China’s turn toward socialism is one of the key harmful aspects of the erroneous trend of historical nihilism. This trend claims that modern China’s turn toward socialism was a “historical mistake” or a “historical accident,” attempting to dissolve the historical inevitability and historical rationality of socialist China. In essence, its aim is nothing other than to make socialist China change course and take the capitalist road. Both history and reality have given a resounding negative answer to this erroneous view.

否定近代中国走向社会主义的历史必然性，是历史虚无主义错误思潮的要害之一。这种思潮宣称近代中国走向社会主义是“历史的误会”或“历史的偶然”，妄图消解社会主义中国的历史必然性与历史合理性。究其实质，无非是要让社会主义中国改弦易辙，走上资本主义道路。对这种错误观点，无论历史还是现实，都给予了响亮的否定性回答。

Imperialist Aggression Stifled China’s Development

帝国主义的侵略遏制中国发展

Before the Opium War, China, with a self-sufficient natural economy as its economic base, was an independent, unified feudal state. After the Opium War, China gradually sank into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The reasons for this were, on the one hand, the corrupt rule and incompetent governance of the Qing government; on the other hand, the brutal aggression and frenzied plunder by the great powers. Almost all of today’s developed countries joined the criminal ranks of those who invaded and plundered China in modern times. The imperialist forces forced the Qing government to sign a series of unequal treaties, controlling China politically, economically, militarily, and in other respects, in order to obtain maximum economic benefits. According to statistics, from 1842, when Britain forced China to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, to 1919, the great powers forced China to sign nearly 1,000 unequal treaties, leading to the fragmentation of China’s territory, the impoverishment of its people, and bringing it to the brink of national subjugation and racial extinction. Among these unequal treaties, the Treaty of Shimonoseki alone required compensation to Japan of 200 million taels of silver, plus an additional 30 million taels for the retrocession of the Liaodong Peninsula, while the Qing government’s total annual fiscal revenue was only slightly over 80 million taels. In the Boxer Protocol, the Qing government’s indemnity to the great powers reached an astonishing 450 million taels of silver, plus interest, totaling over 982 million taels of silver. What the Qing government paid to the great powers was not “indemnities,” but the blood and sweat of the entire Chinese people. On March 1, 1899, the U.S. Minister to China, Edwin H. Conger, reported to the U.S. State Department: “Except for the province of Zhili, there is in fact no other place left for the United States.” He then emphasized, “But this province, together with Tianjin, which serves as the outlet for all of North China, will inevitably become one of the permanently valuable commercial possessions of the East in the future.” [1]1 Tianjing (present-day Nanjing) was the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; its fall in 1864 marked the effective end of the movement. Tan Sitong’s poem “Feelings” reads: “Nothing in the world can match the sorrow of spring; I can only cry out to the vast heavens. Four hundred million people shed tears together; Where in the world is our divine land?” [2]2 The Hundred Days' Reform (1898) was a short-lived reform movement led by Emperor Guangxu and reformist intellectuals such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, aimed at modernizing China's political, educational, and military systems. This truly and painfully describes the tragic state of modern Chinese history.

鸦片战争之前，中国以自给自足的自然经济为经济基础，是一个独立、统一的封建国家。鸦片战争之后，中国逐步沦为半殖民地半封建社会。究其原因，一方面是清政府的腐败统治、昏聩无能；另一方面是列强的野蛮侵略、疯狂掠夺。现今的发达国家，几乎都曾在近代加入过侵略、掠夺中国的罪恶行列。帝国主义势力逼迫清政府签订一系列不平等条约，从政治、经济、军事等各方面操控中国，以求得最大的经济利益。据统计，从1842年英国强迫中国签订《南京条约》起，到1919年，列强共迫使中国签订近1000个不平等条约，导致中国山河破碎、民不聊生，到了亡国灭种的边缘。在这些不平等条约中，仅《马关条约》就要赔偿日本白银2亿两，后又加上赎辽费3000万两，而当时清政府全年的财政收入仅为8000余万两。《辛丑条约》中，清政府向列强的赔款更是达到惊人的4.5亿两白银，加上年息，本息共计9亿8200多万两白银。清政府向列强赔偿的不是“款”，而是全体中国人民的血汗。1899年3月1日，美驻华公使康格向美国国务院报告说：“除了直隶一省而外，事实上没有其他地方剩下来给美国了。”他转而强调，“但是，这一省加上可供整个华北出口的天津，将来必然成为东方具有永久商业价值的占领地之一”。谭嗣同《有感》诗云：“世间无物抵春愁，合向苍冥一哭休。四万万人齐下泪，天涯何处是神州”，真实而痛切地描述了近代中国的历史惨状。

Faced with the great powers’ strong ships and powerful guns, the Chinese people of that time continuously tried to learn from the West, traversing a path from learning about technology to learning about systems and ethics. But this “learning” was not successful. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out, “The aggression of the imperialist powers shattered the Chinese people’s illusions about learning from the West. It was very strange—why did the teachers always bully their students? The Chinese learned a great deal from the West, but it didn’t work; their ideals could never be realized.” [3]3 The Xinhai Revolution (1911–1912) overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule. This shows that the great powers would not allow China to become strong; their goal was only to turn China into a dumping ground for their goods, a source of resources, and a blood-pumping station for their capital. The great powers firmly stifled China’s development, allowing China to exist only as a colony and dependency of the capitalist countries. It was not until the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese people that, amidst the deep darkness, the Chinese people discovered another choice—the socialist road.

面对列强的坚船利炮，当时的中国人不断试图学习西方，并走过了一条从学习器物到学习制度、伦理的历程，但这种“学习”没有获得成功。毛泽东同志指出，“帝国主义的侵略打破了中国人学西方的迷梦。很奇怪，为什么先生老是侵略学生呢？中国人向西方学得很不少，但是行不通，理想总是不能实现”。这表明，列强不允许中国强大起来，它们的目的只是让中国成为商品的倾销地、资源的供应场和资本的造血池。列强牢牢遏制住中国的发展，使中国只能作为资本主义国家的殖民地和附庸而存在。直到十月革命一声炮响，给中国人民送来了马克思列宁主义，中国人民才在重重黑暗之中，发现了另一种选择——社会主义道路。

The Many Struggles of Modern China Ultimately Ended in Failure

近代中国的多次奋斗最终都归于失败

A great nation often harbors unyielding aspirations. Faced with the tragic situation of modern China—ceding territory, paying indemnities, and being carved up

一个伟大的民族，常怀不屈的壮志。面对近代中国割地赔款、瓜分豆剖的悲惨局面，伟大的中国人民没有沉默和沉沦。太平天国运动、洋务运动、戊戌变法、义和团运动、辛亥革命，几代中国人迭经奋斗，苦苦探求民族的解放和国家的强盛。毛泽东同志指出，“自从一八四〇年鸦片战争失败那时起，先进的中国人，经过千辛万苦，向西方国家寻找真理。洪秀全、康有为、严复和孙中山，代表了在中国共产党出世以前向西方寻找真理的一派人物”。然而，这些奋斗并未解决近代中国面临的历史任务，最终都归于失败。

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, representing the interests of the peasant class, dealt a heavy blow to the reactionary rule of the Qing government and the colonial forces in China. The "Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty" it promulgated reflected the peasant class's demands for opposing feudal exploitation and pursuing equality and egalitarianism, representing the highest achievement of this revolutionary movement. However, these demands essentially aimed to stagnate productive forces on the basis of a scattered small-peasant economy; far from promoting the development of social productive forces, they were actually turning back the wheel of history. The fall of Tianjing [1]1 Tianjing (present-day Nanjing) was the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; its fall in 1864 marked the effective end of the movement. became a dirge for the peasant class's independent leadership of the revolutionary movement. The Hundred Days' Reform [2]2 The Hundred Days' Reform (1898) was a short-lived reform movement led by Emperor Guangxu and reformist intellectuals such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, aimed at modernizing China's political, educational, and military systems. reflected the political aspirations of China's early national bourgeoisie, but this nascent class was too weak, severely detached from the masses, and placed all its hopes solely on the support of the emperor. Under the counterattack of the conservative interest group, the reform perished after a hundred days. The Xinhai Revolution [3]3 The Xinhai Revolution (1911–1912) overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule., representing the interests of China's bourgeoisie, overthrew the Qing government and ended the millennia-old system of absolute monarchy. Yet the Xinhai Revolution did not change the semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature of old Chinese society, nor did it accomplish the historical tasks of national independence and the liberation of the people. The ultimate failures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Hundred Days' Reform, the Xinhai Revolution, and others had multiple causes, but they can be summed up in two points: first, the lack of guidance by advanced thought; second, the lack of support from the broad masses of the people. The only force capable of meeting these requirements was the Communist Party of China, born at a time of national crisis.

代表农民阶级利益的太平天国运动，沉重打击了清政府的反动统治以及在中国的殖民势力。它颁布的《天朝田亩制度》反映了农民阶级反对封建剥削、追求平等平均的利益要求，代表了这一革命运动的最高成就。然而，这些要求实质上是使生产力停滞在分散的小农经济基础上，不但不能促进社会生产力的发展，反而是在开历史的倒车。天京的陷落，成为农民阶级独立领导革命运动的挽歌。戊戌变法反映了中国早期民族资产阶级的政治诉求，但这一新生阶级，力量过于弱小，严重脱离群众而只将希望寄托在皇帝一人的支持之上。在保守派利益集团的反扑下，变法百日而亡。代表中国资产阶级利益的辛亥革命推翻了清政府，结束了延续几千年的君主专制制度。但辛亥革命没有改变旧中国半殖民地半封建的社会性质，没有完成民族独立、人民解放的历史任务。太平天国运动、戊戌变法、辛亥革命等的最终失败，原因是多方面的，但归结起来不外乎两条：一是没有先进思想的指导，二是没有广大人民群众的支持。能够满足这些要求者，只有诞生于民族危难之际的中国共产党。

The socialist path is the choice of history and the choice of the people

社会主义道路是历史的选择、人民的选择

General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out: "The history of modern China fully proves that direction determines the path, and the path determines destiny. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the historical choice made by the Chinese people after all their attempts at other ways of saving the country, especially since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, met with failure. It is the fundamental achievement gained by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people through untold hardships and at enormous cost." This important exposition is a high-level summary of modern Chinese history. It profoundly demonstrates that modern China's turn toward socialism is the choice of history and the choice of the people.

习近平总书记明确指出：“中国近代以来的历史充分证明：方向决定道路，道路决定命运。中国特色社会主义道路是1840年以来特别是甲午战争以来，中国人民对其他救国途径的尝试全部碰壁之后作出的历史性选择，是中国共产党和人民历尽千辛万苦、付出巨大代价取得的根本成就。”这一重要论述是对中国近代历史的高度概括。它深刻表明，近代中国走向社会主义，是历史的选择、人民的选择。

The success of the Chinese Communist Party and the success of socialism in China are neither accidental nor due to some kind of good fortune; rather, they possess an inherent historical inevitability. This inevitability is prominently manifested in two aspects. First, it consistently adheres to the guidance of Marxist scientific theory and continuously innovates and develops Marxism in accordance with the development of the times and practice. Marxism is a “great tool of cognition,” best at grasping the essence of problems from among complex and diverse phenomena, best at clarifying key points from among intricate relationships, and best at obtaining scientific truth from among contending currents of thought. It was precisely under the guidance of Marxism that our Party integrated the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the finest traditional Chinese culture, leading the people in revolution, construction, and reform, and achieving one brilliant victory after another. Under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—the Marxism of contemporary China and of the twenty-first century—contemporary China is advancing on the path of rejuvenation with the majestic posture of riding the long wind and breaking the mighty waves. [4]4 “历史的误会” (lìshǐ de wùhuì) and “历史的偶然” (lìshǐ de ǒurán) are Chinese phrases used in ideological debates to dismiss the socialist path as an aberration or accident, which the author here refutes. Second, it consistently adheres to a people-centered approach and unswervingly fulfills the original aspiration and founding mission of seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation. How one views the role of the people in world history is the watershed that distinguishes Marxist political parties from all other parties. Marxism consistently upholds the mass view of history, regarding the people as the true driving force that creates world history. The Chinese Communist Party consistently adheres to the fundamental purpose of serving the people, sharing weal and woe, being linked by blood, and living and dying together with the people. “The country is the people, and the people are the country.” [5] General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes: “Win the people’s trust and gain the people’s support

中国共产党的成功以及社会主义在中国的成功，既不是偶然的，也不是由于某种幸运，而是有其内在的历史必然性。这种必然性突出体现在两方面。一是始终坚持马克思主义科学理论的指导，并根据时代和实践的发展不断创新、发展马克思主义。马克思主义是“伟大的认识工具”，最善于从纷繁复杂的现象中抓住问题的本质，最善于从错综复杂的关系中理清关键点，最善于从聚讼纷纭的思潮中获得科学的真知。正是在马克思主义指导下，我们党把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际、同中华优秀传统文化相结合，带领人民进行革命、建设和改革，取得了一个又一个光辉的胜利。在习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想这一当代中国马克思主义、二十一世纪马克思主义的科学指引下，当代中国正以乘长风破万里浪的雄姿行进在复兴之路上。二是始终坚持以人民为中心，矢志不渝地履行为人民谋幸福、为民族谋复兴的初心使命。如何看待人民在世界历史上的作用，是区分马克思主义政党与其他一切党派的分水岭。马克思主义始终坚持群众史观，将人民作为创造世界历史的真正动力。中国共产党始终坚持为人民服务的根本宗旨，同人民风雨同舟、血脉相通、生死与共。“江山就是人民，人民就是江山。”习近平总书记强调：“赢得人民信任，得到人民支持，党就能够克服任何困难，就能够无往而不胜。”换言之，没有广大人民的拥戴和支持，任何党派都将一事无成。“天若有情天亦老，人间正道是沧桑。”这正是近代中国走向社会主义的历史必然所在、历史真理所在、历史道义所在。

The course of history has its own internal logic, replete with wisdom and full of inspiration. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, “Understanding China’s modern history is very important for comprehending the ideals and the path forward of the Chinese people today. Unique historical destiny, unique cultural traditions, and unique national conditions determine that China must take a development path suited to itself.” Today, a review and examination of China’s modern history once again proves: socialism in China is by no means a “historical misunderstanding” or a “historical accident,” but rather the inevitable choice of the path of China’s modern history.

历史的行程有其内在机理，深藏智慧，充满启迪。习近平总书记指出，“了解中国近代以来的历史对理解中国人民今天的理想和前进道路很重要。独特的历史命运、独特的文化传统、独特的国情，决定了中国必然要走适合自己的发展道路”。今天，对中国近代历史的回顾与审视，再次证明：社会主义在中国绝不是什么“历史的误会”或“历史的偶然”，而是中国近代历史道路的必然选择。

(The author is a researcher at the Institute of Historical Theory, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系中国社会科学院历史理论研究所研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧