Comprehensively Grasping the Value Connotation of the Modernization of People

The historical experience of the Party leading and relying on the people to tirelessly explore the path of Chinese-path modernization shows that assessing the degree of a society’s modernization requires not only defining it by the level of development of the object but also determining it by the level of enhancement of the subject. Chinese-path modernization is the cause of hundreds of millions of people; the people are the subject of Chinese-path modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out, “We take the realization of the people’s aspiration for a better life as the starting point and ultimate goal of modernization,” and “Whether a modernization path can ultimately be followed smoothly and steadily depends critically on whether it adheres to a people-centered approach.” [1]1 Xi Jinping, “Holding High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Striving in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects,” Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, October 2022. These important expositions embody our Party’s understanding of the laws governing Chinese-path modernization and also point, from the perspective of historical experience and historical laws, to the essence of Chinese-path modernization—the modernization of people.

党领导和依靠人民不懈探索中国式现代化道路的历史经验表明，考察一个社会现代化实现程度的高低，不仅需要以客体发展的程度来界定，还需以主体的提升程度来确定。中国式现代化是亿万人民自己的事业，人民是中国式现代化的主体。习近平总书记指出，“我们坚持把实现人民对美好生活的向往作为现代化建设的出发点和落脚点”，“现代化道路最终能否走得通、行得稳，关键要看是否坚持以人民为中心”。这些重要论述体现了我们党对中国式现代化的规律性认识，也从历史经验和历史规律的角度指向中国式现代化的本质——人的现代化。

For Chinese-path modernization, the people are the dynamic subject driving Chinese-path modernization forward, and the modernization of people is the fundamental purpose of realizing Chinese-path modernization, embodying the intrinsic unity of the creative subject and the value subject of Chinese-path modernization. The essence of modernization is the modernization of people; the ultimate goal of Chinese-path modernization is to realize the free and comprehensive development of people. Since reform and opening up, and especially the valuable experience of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era, we have learned that we must always adhere to a people-centered approach. This is a major principle that must be upheld in advancing the comprehensive deepening of reform. “Chinese-path modernization” is the intrinsic unity of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and “modernization,” indicating the direction and goal of the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The “people-centered” “Chinese-path modernization” is a modernization practice rooted in China’s reality, unfolding with the Chinese people’s real needs and their vision for a better life as the value goal. A better life is not abstract but concrete; it is the subject’s real determination of material abundance, cultural-ethical richness, and so forth. It is precisely under the Party’s leadership, through the vivid practice of generations of hardworking Chinese people transforming the world and changing their own living conditions, that the path of Chinese-path modernization has been successfully blazed and advanced, and that great achievements in modernization have been made. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to the people-centered development philosophy, based on the concrete realities of Chinese-path modernization development. Through a series of original ideas, transformative practices, breakthrough progress, and landmark achievements, it has continuously enhanced the people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security. It organized and implemented the largest, most forceful, and most widely benefiting poverty alleviation campaign in human history, [2]2 The “poverty alleviation campaign” refers to the targeted poverty alleviation strategy launched after the 18th National Congress of the CPC (2012), which successfully lifted nearly 100 million rural residents out of poverty by the end of 2020. writing a miracle in the history of human poverty reduction and making significant contributions to the comprehensive completion of a moderately prosperous society. The completion of a moderately prosperous society on schedule and the victory in the poverty alleviation campaign enabled the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation to take a new big step forward, realizing a new leap from being significantly behind the times to striding forward to catch up with the times, promoting historic achievements and historic transformations in the cause of the Party and the state. It is precisely because our Party has always adhered to a people-centered approach and focused on stimulating the sense of ownership among the broad masses of the people that it has been able to inspire the powerful synergy of all Chinese sons and daughters thinking in one direction and exerting their strength in one place, enabling our country to complete in just a few decades the industrialization process that took developed countries several hundred years, creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. [3]3 The “two miracles” is a standard formulation in CPC discourse referring to China’s rapid economic growth and sustained social stability since reform and opening up.

对中国式现代化而言，人民是推进中国式现代化的动力主体，人的现代化是实现中国式现代化的根本目的，体现了中国式现代化创造主体和价值主体的内在统一。现代化的本质是人的现代化，中国式现代化的最终目标是实现人自由而全面的发展。改革开放以来，特别是新时代全面深化改革的宝贵经验告诉我们，必须始终坚持以人民为中心。这是推进全面深化改革必须坚持的一项重大原则。“中国式现代化”是“中国特色社会主义”与“现代化”的内在统一，指明了中国特色社会主义发展的方向和目标。“以人民为中心”的“中国式现代化”，是立足中国现实，以中国人民现实需要和对美好生活的愿景为价值目标展开的现代化实践。美好生活不是抽象的，而是具体的，是主体对物质富足、精神富有等的现实规定。正是在党的领导下，一代代艰苦奋斗的中国人民改造世界、改变自身生存境遇的鲜活实践，才成功开辟和推进中国式现代化道路，才取得了现代化建设的伟大成就。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚持以人民为中心的发展思想，立足中国式现代化发展的具体实际，通过一系列原创性思想、变革性实践、突破性进展和标志性成果，不断增强人民群众的获得感、幸福感、安全感，组织实施了人类历史上规模最大、力度最强、惠及人口最多的脱贫攻坚战，书写了人类减贫史上的奇迹，为全面建成小康社会作出了重要贡献。如期全面建成小康社会、打赢脱贫攻坚战，使中华民族伟大复兴向前迈出新的一大步，实现了从大幅落后于时代到大踏步赶上时代的新跨越，推动党和国家事业取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革。正是由于我们党始终坚持以人民为中心，着力激发广大人民群众的主人翁意识，才能激发全体中华儿女心往一处想、劲往一处使的强大合力，使我国仅用几十年时间就走完发达国家几百年走过的工业化历程，创造了经济快速发展和社会长期稳定两大奇迹。

The modernization of people represents the direction and mode of people’s own development and also marks the degree of progress and the outcome of Chinese-path modernization. The modernization of people is the transformation of people’s values, behavioral patterns, ways of thinking, emotional inclinations, etc., from traditional to modern. It is the level of development at which the subject, as a person, masters and appropriates the objective world in the present era, signifying the degree of enhancement of people’s self-development. Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of a huge population. The successful realization of Chinese-path modernization will bring the entire population of over 1.4 billion into modern society, a scale exceeding the total population of existing developed countries, and will greatly change the world map of modernization. This is the largest-scale modernization in human history and also the most difficult. To realize the modernization of people under such realistic conditions, it must be considered that the modernization of people is a complex, dynamic picture, a process of continuous practice and continuous improvement. This requires individuals, in the process of realizing their own modernization, to take the realization of Chinese-path modernization as their own mission, to engage in continuous self-reflection and self-creation through participation in the practice of material production and life, to establish value goals that advance together with society, and thereby to promote the steady and sustained progress of Chinese-path modernization.

人的现代化代表着人自身发展的方向和方式，也标示中国式现代化的进步程度和结果。人的现代化是人的价值观念、行为模式、思维方式、情感意向等由传统向现代的转型，是作为主体的人在现时代掌握和占有客体世界的发展水平，表征人的自我发展的提升程度。中国式现代化是人口规模巨大的现代化，中国式现代化的成功实现将使14亿多人口整体迈入现代化社会，规模超过现有发达国家人口的总和，将极大改变现代化的世界版图。这是人类历史上规模最大的现代化，也是难度最大的现代化。在这样一个现实条件下实现人的现代化，必须考虑到人的现代化是一个复杂的动态化图景，是一个不断实践、不断完善的过程，这就要求个体在实现自身现代化的过程中，以实现中国式现代化为己任，通过参与物质生产生活实践，不断进行自我反思与自我创造，树立起与社会共同进步的价值目标，从而推动中国式现代化行稳致远。

People are the participants and drivers of socialist modernization. The roots, strength, and lifeblood of the Communist Party of China lie in the people. Only by taking the modernization of people as a value pursuit, closely relying on the people, respecting the people’s creative spirit, and pooling the wisdom and strength of all the people can we continuously advance Chinese-path modernization. Placing the focus of modernization on people themselves embodies the value pursuit of modernization and highlights the subject position of people in social change. Without “real people,” it is impossible to realize the modernization of people in the true sense. To achieve this goal, people, as historical and cultural beings, and their degree of modernization constitute the subject foundation for the development and realization of Chinese-path modernization. Precisely because of this, our Party has always adhered to the mass line, ensuring that when thinking about problems, making decisions, and handling affairs, it grasps the people’s pulse, responds to the people’s concerns, reflects the people’s wishes, and enhances the people’s well-being. It promotes the fruits of Chinese-path modernization construction to benefit all people more and more fairly, guiding and encouraging the people to invest themselves enthusiastically in modernization construction with a sense of ownership.

人是社会主义现代化建设的参与者和推动者。中国共产党的根基在人民、力量在人民、血脉在人民。只有把人的现代化作为价值追求，紧紧依靠人民，尊重人民创造精神，汇集全体人民的智慧和力量，才能推动中国式现代化不断向前发展。将现代化的关注点置于人自身，体现了现代化的价值追求，彰显了人在社会变革中的主体地位。离开“现实的人”，不可能实现真正意义上的人的现代化。而要实现这一目标，作为历史与文化存在的人及其现代化程度，便是中国式现代化发展和实现的主体依托。正因如此，我们党始终坚持党的群众路线，想问题、作决策、办事情注重把准人民脉搏、回应人民关切、体现人民愿望、增进人民福祉，推动中国式现代化建设成果更多更公平惠及全体人民，引导和激励人民以主人翁精神满怀热忱地投入现代化建设中来。

Great undertakings rely solely on the great creativity of people. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “Over the past 75 years, our country’s development has achieved great historic accomplishments. Now, the entire Party and the people of the whole country are striving to advance Chinese-path modernization. We must be more united, work harder, and everyone should join in the effort to create new and greater brilliance.” [4]4 Xi Jinping, speech at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, September 2024. To comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization is, in the final analysis, to enable the essential forces of people to be expanded at a deeper level, enabling people to continuously advance towards the ultimate goal of free and conscious practical activity.

伟大的事业唯有依靠人的伟大创造。习近平总书记强调，“75年来，我国发展取得伟大历史性成就。现在，全党全国人民正在奋力推进中国式现代化，我们要更加团结、更加努力，大家一起加油干，创造新的更大辉煌”。以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴，归根到底是要使人的本质力量获得更深层次的拓展，使人朝着自由自觉的实践活动的终极目标不断前进。

(Author: Zeng Hanjun, Distinguished Researcher of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Center of Guangdong Province, Professor at the School of Marxism, Southern Medical University)

（作者：曾汉君，系广东省习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员、南方医科大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧