Zhang Guanzi: Grasping the Epochal Value of Chinese-path Modernization from the Depth of World History

Realizing modernization is the historical trend of world development and the common aspiration of people of all countries. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Realizing modernization is the inalienable right of all countries" and "For a country to move toward modernization, it must not only follow the general laws of modernization but also conform to its own actual conditions and have its own characteristics." In today's world, changes unseen in a century[1]1 "Changes unseen in a century" (bainian weiyou zhi dabianju) is a key judgment by the CPC, referring to the profound and complex shifts in the international order and power structure in the current era. are accelerating, and the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustment. The limitations and drawbacks of the Western modernization model are becoming increasingly prominent, and the world urgently calls for a new path of modernization. As a completely new model of modernization, Chinese-path modernization has broken the myth that "modernization equals Westernization" and provided a new solution for world modernization. A deep understanding of the historical process of world modernization and the global significance of Chinese-path modernization helps us grasp the epochal value of Chinese-path modernization from the depth of world history and advance and expand Chinese-path modernization with greater consciousness and confidence.

The process of world modernization has been jointly explored and promoted by all of humanity.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "All civilizations created by human society shine with brilliant light, accumulating profound heritage and endowing distinctive characteristics for the modernization of various countries, and transcending time and space, crossing national boundaries, together making important contributions to the process of human social modernization." The process of world modernization began with Western capitalist countries, and the developed countries in today's world are mainly European and American countries and capitalist countries deeply influenced by Western civilization. However, it must be deeply understood that many civilizations from all over the world have made important contributions to nurturing and promoting the process of world modernization.

Marx made a profound insight into the universal laws of human social development, pointing out that Eastern society "could possibly avoid the 'Caudine Forks'[2]2 The "Caudine Forks" (Kafuding xiagu) is a metaphor from ancient Roman history, referring to a humiliating defeat, which Marx used to suggest the possibility of bypassing the capitalist stage of development. of the capitalist system and take over all the positive achievements created by the capitalist system" to accelerate the historical process. At the same time, he resolutely opposed the rigid view that "all nations, regardless of their historical environment, are destined to take this road," emphasizing that "correct theory must be elucidated and developed in accordance with specific conditions and existing circumstances." This shows that the path of modernization is not limited to a single model. The diversity of development paths is what the world should look like. So far, most countries that have achieved modernization are Western capitalist countries, leading some people to form the illusion that "modernization equals Westernization," but they overlook the fact that world modernization is a process jointly explored and promoted by all of humanity.

On the one hand, Western modernization was not an endogenous evolution completed in isolation in a vacuum, but deeply rooted in the exchange network of global civilizations. Over a long historical period, many wisdom achievements from other civilizations were continuously introduced to Europe and widely applied. For example, China's papermaking and printing broke the monopoly of the church over knowledge and culture; the compass promoted the great geographical discoveries; and gunpowder shook the feudal rule of Europe. As Marx pointed out: "Gunpowder, the compass, and printing—these are the three great inventions that heralded the arrival of bourgeois society." These achievements were not merely simple technological progress but effectively became catalysts for ideological emancipation and the development of productive forces, indispensable social and historical conditions for the initiation and advancement of the Western modernization process.

On the other hand, the process of world modernization was not a unidirectional diffusion of "Eurocentrism." Before the outward expansion of Western capitalist forces, people from different regions had long participated in and profoundly shaped the early "reservoir" of world modernization in their own ways through ancient trade networks. The outbreak of the Industrial Revolution quickly connected the world market, greatly promoting the flow and reallocation of factors of production such as capital, technology, labor, and raw materials on a global scale. Marx and Engels did not spare praise for the improvement of capitalist productive forces and their role in promoting the formation of the world market. At the same time, it must be noted that in this process, non-Western worlds such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America were not merely passive recipients, but with their huge markets and abundant resources became an important part of the global division of labor, irreversibly drawn into and integrated into the magnificent tide of world modernization.

Historically, Western modernization is only one mode of world modernization, rooted in specific conditions. Institutionally, Western modernization is modernization under the capitalist system, whose core driving force is the infinite multiplication and expansion of capital. While this mode released enormous productive forces at a specific historical stage, it inevitably brought about the alienation of human beings and the tearing apart of society. The logic of capital treats people as tools and means for the multiplication of capital, not as the purpose of social development, so that labor is no longer a creative activity but a forced drudgery for survival. This alienation leads to widespread spiritual emptiness, loss of meaning, and the expansion of materialism, running counter to the goal of modernization, which is the free and comprehensive development of human beings. The instinct of capital to maximize profit, if not effectively regulated and constrained, inevitably leads to severe polarization between rich and poor, erodes social fairness and justice, and further causes consequences such as the solidification of social classes and the proliferation of populism. Ethically, the history of Western modernization is full of bloody crimes such as war, slave trading, colonization, and plunder. This determines the unjust and non-inclusive nature of its modernization path, plunging the people of colonies and semi-colonies into misery. As the American scholar Wallerstein pointed out, the core, semi-periphery, and periphery regions of the capitalist world economic system are assigned different economic roles. The ruling groups in the core and semi-periphery regions, in order to maintain their own production and employment levels, sacrifice the periphery regions. It can be said that Western modernization was largely advanced at the cost of the long-term underdevelopment of regions outside the West, bringing deep suffering to the vast number of developing countries.

Chinese-path modernization has achieved a major transcendence over Western modernization theory and practice.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Chinese-path modernization not only has the common characteristics of modernization in all countries but also has distinctive features based on its own national conditions." Modernization is not the "patent product" of a few countries, nor is it a "single-choice question" of either this or that; it cannot be simply a matter of uniformity or "copy and paste." History fully demonstrates that there is no template for achieving modernization that can be mechanically applied. For a country to move toward modernization, it must not only follow the general laws of modernization but also base itself on its own national conditions and have its own characteristics.

The successful advancement and expansion of Chinese-path modernization has its inherent determinacy, rooted in deep historical soil. After the Opium War, China attempted to transplant Western technology, institutions, and even culture, but none succeeded. Instead, it fell into a state of national fragmentation and dire suffering. The heavy task of exploring the path of modernization historically fell on the Communist Party of China. Taking Marxism as its guiding ideology, supported by the spirit of independent exploration and the confidence and determination to take its own path, our Party continuously pushed China's modernization forward. After the founding of New China, our Party led the people to complete the industrialization process that took Western developed countries hundreds of years in just a few decades, successfully advancing and expanding Chinese-path modernization and creating a new form of human civilization. Chinese-path modernization demonstrates a broad historical depth and civilizational height, benefited from the nourishment of the excellent traditional Chinese culture of over 5,000 years. For example, the value pursuit of "the world is for all" (tian xia wei gong)[3]3 "The world is for all" (tian xia wei gong) is a Confucian ideal from the Book of Rites, advocating that the world belongs to all people and should be governed for the common good. drives Chinese-path modernization to avoid the pitfalls of polarization and extreme disparity between rich and poor. For another example, the cosmological view of "unity of heaven and man" (tian ren he yi)[4]4 "Unity of heaven and man" (tian ren he yi) is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept emphasizing the harmony and integration between nature and humanity. and the ecological concept of "Tao follows nature" (dao fa zi ran)[5]5 "Tao follows nature" (dao fa zi ran) is a principle from Daoism, meaning that the way of the universe is to follow its natural course. drive Chinese-path modernization to respect, adapt to, and protect nature, highlighting the distinctive feature of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

Currently, more and more countries no longer blindly follow the Western modernization model but actively explore development paths that suit their own national conditions and conform to the laws of human social development. Chinese-path modernization contains a unique worldview, value system, view of history, view of civilization, view of democracy, view of ecology, etc., and has achieved remarkable results. It is regarded as a model for a latecomer country to catch up and successfully open up a new path of modernization, achieving a major transcendence over Western modernization theory and practice. Here we list a few aspects.

People-centeredness transcends capital-centeredness. Western modernization is centered on capital. Under the dominance of the logic of capital, Western modernization promotes instrumental rationality, and the subjective value of human beings is constantly dissolved or even emptied, which also inevitably leads to multiple dilemmas such as social tearing and governance failure. Chinese-path modernization respects the subjectivity of human beings, highlights the value of human beings, regards people as the fundamental purpose of development, adheres to the people-centered development thought, strives to develop and improve people's livelihood in development, solves the urgent and difficult problems of the people, and guides capital to serve socialist modernization and the all-round development of human beings, so that the fruits of modernization benefit all the people more and more fairly.

Harmonious coexistence and symbiosis transcend harming others for self-interest. Western modernization is embedded with binary opposition thinking and is keen on zero-sum games. From plunder based on violent conquest to harvesting based on the hegemonic system, from unbridled extraction of natural resources to destructive exploitation of the ecological environment, Western modernization is permeated with various tangible and intangible plunders, bringing the interests of a few countries overriding those of the majority, widening the global gap between rich and poor, and also triggering an imbalance between material and spiritual aspects, the opposition between humanity and nature, and widespread social disorder. Chinese-path modernization promotes mutual assistance, harmonious coexistence and symbiosis (he he gong sheng)[6]6 "Harmonious coexistence and symbiosis" (he he gong sheng) is a concept in Chinese culture promoting peace, harmony, and mutual benefit among different parties., emphasizes sustainable development, adheres to the civilized development path of production development, affluent life, and sound ecology, and continuously expands the breadth and depth of peaceful development and win-win cooperation.

Openness and inclusiveness transcend systemic monopoly. To maintain the pattern of monopoly for its own interests, Western modernization has created and promoted a dependent, closed monopoly system in practice, attempting to fix and even perpetuate this interest-monopoly structure. Chinese-path modernization, on the other hand, views the world with an open, inclusive, and shared future sentiment, and works together with all countries, including developing countries, to achieve modernization. For example, China takes the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative as an important platform, focuses on promoting an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and promotes mutually beneficial cooperation and common development among countries.

Chinese-path modernization has a profound impact on the process of world modernization.

The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation unfolds in the tide of world modernization, pursuing not only the prosperity and strength of the country itself but also the development and progress of human civilization. The new form of human civilization created by Chinese-path modernization not only realizes the continuation, iteration, and innovation of its own civilization form but also explores the universal laws of the rejuvenation of human civilization, especially the civilization of developing countries and late-developing modernization countries, in multiple dimensions, carrying broad and profound world significance.

It has broken the myth of the Western modernization model and confirmed the diversity of modernization paths. For a long time, the Western world, by continuously imposing its so-called "civilization and enlightenment" on the non-Western world, has firmly controlled the power of interpretation, measurement, and discourse over "civilization." Western modernization theory is often based on the presupposition of Eurocentrism, leading to systematic cognitive biases and practical errors. How different regions, nations, countries, and civilizations achieve development and evolution under their specific conditions is a nonlinear, non-equilibrium specific historical process. The successful practice of Chinese-path modernization declares the bankruptcy of the unilinear view of history that all countries will eventually converge on the Western institutional model. In this sense, Chinese-path modernization has not only profoundly changed China itself but also rewritten the modernization narrative long dominated by the West, proving that true modernization is not a self-centered myth but a manifestation of the diversity of development; not a forced export of a single model but an independent choice of multiple paths; not the so-called "end of history" but the common progress of human civilization facing the future.

It provides a development philosophy and governance approach different from Western modernization. For many nations, under the current international environment, obtaining a reasonable position in the world system through imitation of Western modernization faces heavy oppression and obstacles. The new path of modernization taken by Chinese-path modernization can precisely provide a useful way to break through. Chinese-path modernization adheres to the independent development path, relying on a strong political core to ensure the long-term stability and consistent implementation of the national development strategy, firmly grasping the initiative in development. Chinese-path modernization has achieved continuous correction of development goals, from the comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty[7]7 The "battle against poverty" (tuopin gongjian zhan) refers to the CPC-led campaign to eliminate absolute poverty in China, declared victorious in 2021. to solidly advancing common prosperity in high-quality development, reflecting the people-centered development thought. Chinese-path modernization provides a richer governance approach, such as the socialist market economy system promoting better integration of an effective market and a competent government, breaking the binary opposition between "market fundamentalism" and "government intervention theory" and the mindset of "either market or government."

It reshapes the world modernization pattern and advances the process of human modernization. On the one hand, Chinese-path modernization will greatly change the world map of modernization. The entire population of over 1.4 billion entering modernization can profoundly change the balance of power and pattern of world modernization, effectively breaking the world map of modernization framed by some Western countries with a Eurocentric worldview, and is of great significance for solving the difficult problems of human social development and advancing the process of human modernization. On the other hand, the continuous advancement of Chinese-path modernization, in the process of contributing momentum and opportunities to global development, expands the development space of world modernization. China deepens exchanges and cooperation with countries around the world, promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, creates conditions for countries to board China's express train of development and share development opportunities, provides important opportunities for Global South[8]8 "Global South" generally refers to developing countries and regions, primarily in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, often with a history of colonialism and underdevelopment. countries to break through development bottlenecks and enhance their voice in global affairs, and will push all countries to move forward hand in hand in the process of world modernization, reaching a new height of human civilization.

(The author is the Dean of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Chinese-path Modernization)