The All-Round Development of the Human Person: The Essential Requirement of Chinese-Path Modernization

The all-round development of the human person means that the human person takes possession of his or her own comprehensive essence. Marx points out: “Man appropriates his comprehensive essence in a comprehensive way, that is, as a whole man.” [n1] “Whole man” can be understood as: the human being as a “species” distinct from animals; the group that distinguishes people from one another according to different social relations; and the individual existing as a distinct person. Linked to “whole man,” “comprehensive essence” can be understood as: first, the species-essence that distinguishes humans from animals, i.e., “free, conscious activity”; second, the social essence that distinguishes one social group from others, i.e., “the ensemble of all social relations”; third, the individual essence that distinguishes one person from others, i.e., “the free individuality of the human person.” Accordingly, the degree of the all-round development of the human person can be assessed from four aspects: human needs, labor practice, social relations, and free individuality. At the same time, the all-round development of the human person is closely linked to economic and social development; therefore, human development must be examined within the given process of economic and social development. Chinese-path modernization is not only the modernization of the economy and society but also, in the course of modernization, must continuously satisfy the multiple needs of the human person, stimulate free and conscious practice, develop free individuality, enrich social relations, and gradually realize the all-round development of the human person.

人的全面发展就是人占有自身全面的本质。马克思指出：“人以一种全面的方式，就是说，作为一个完整的人，占有自己的全面的本质。”“完整的人”可以理解为：与动物相区别的作为“人种”的人类；依据不同社会关系把人区别开来的群体；作为不同个体而存在的个人。与“完整的人”相联系，可以把“全面的本质”理解为：一是与动物相区别的类本质，即“自由的有意识的活动”；二是与其他社会群体相区别的社会本质，即“一切社会关系的总和”；三是与其他个人相区别的个体本质，即“人的自由个性”。据此，衡量人的全面发展的程度可以从四个方面展开：人的需要，劳动实践，社会关系，自由个性。同时，人的全面发展是与经济社会发展紧密联系在一起的，因此，必须把人的发展放在既定的经济社会发展进程中考察。中国式现代化既是经济社会的现代化，更要在现代化进程中不断满足人的多种需要、激发人的自由自觉实践、发展人的自由个性、丰富人的社会关系，逐步实现人的全面发展。

I. Chinese-Path Modernization Takes the Satisfaction of Human Needs as Its Fundamental Value

一、中国式现代化以满足人的需要为根本价值

Need is the conscious response of the human person to the dependence on material means of subsistence and conditions of spiritual life. Marx and Engels point out: “No one can do anything without at the same time doing it for the sake of some of his own needs and for the organ of that need.” [n2] It can be said that need is the expression of human nature, the proof of the human person’s essential powers, and the richness of need manifests the completeness of human life and the comprehensiveness of development. Human needs are stratified, forming a rich system mainly composed of material needs and spiritual needs. Only by simultaneously satisfying both material and spiritual needs can the rich attributes of the human person be cultivated, the essential powers of the human person be enriched, and the all-round development of the human person be realized. An important feature of Chinese-path modernization is its adherence to the path of modernization that coordinates material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, [n3] satisfying both the basic material survival needs of the human person and focusing on elevating developmental spiritual needs. While creating enormous material wealth, it ensures the richness of the human person’s spiritual world, enabling the human person to become a fully developed person.

需要是人对物质生活资料和精神生活条件依赖关系的自觉反应。马克思恩格斯指出：“任何人如果不同时为了自己的某种需要和为了这种需要的器官而做事，他就什么也不能做。” 可以说，需要是人的本性的体现，是人的本质力量的证明，需要的丰富性体现为人生命的完整性和发展的全面性。人的需要是分层次的，主要是由物质需要和精神需要构成的一个丰富体系，只有同时满足人的物质需要和精神需要，才能培养出人的丰富属性，充实人的本质力量，实现人的全面发展。中国式现代化的一个重要特征就是坚持走物质文明与精神文明相协调的现代化道路，既满足人基础性的物质生存需要，又着眼于提升发展性的精神需要，在创造巨大物质财富的同时确保人精神世界的丰富性，使人成为全面发展的人。

First, the material living needs of the people must be continuously satisfied. The satisfaction of material needs is the foundation of human survival and the prerequisite for pursuing higher-level spiritual needs, gaining respect and happiness, and confirming subjective value. Engels points out: “People must be able to live in order to ‘make history.’ But in order to live, they first need food, drink, shelter, clothing, and some other things. Therefore, the first historical act is the production of the means to satisfy these needs, i.e., the production of material life itself.” [n4] Satisfying the material needs of the people is the prerequisite for human existence. Our Party has always attached importance to satisfying the material living needs of the masses. Mao Zedong long ago stated: “All empty talk is useless; the people must be given tangible material benefits.” [n5] Deng Xiaoping clearly pointed out: “The superiority of socialism must ultimately be reflected in the faster and higher development of its productive forces compared with capitalism, and in the continuous improvement of the people’s material and cultural life on the basis of developing the productive forces.” [n6] Since entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed the improvement of the people’s living standards in a prominent position in governance, vigorously advancing targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, focusing on solving the urgent and difficult problems of production and life for the people, emphasizing the comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up, removing institutional and mechanistic obstacles, and creating more abundant material wealth for the all-round development of the human person in the process of promoting Chinese-path modernization. Through long-term efforts, the level of development of our country’s social productive forces has been greatly improved, and the conditions for satisfying the material needs of the masses have been greatly enhanced. However, the basic national condition that our country is and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism has not fundamentally changed, and unbalanced and inadequate development still constrains the people’s needs for a better life. Chinese-path modernization, unfolding at this stage of development, must adhere to taking economic construction as the central task, make high-quality development the primary task, firmly establish the new development philosophy, further comprehensively deepen reform, actively seize the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, promote the transformation and upgrading of productive forces, and lay a solid material foundation for the people’s growing needs for a better life. At the same time, the relationship between efficiency and fairness must be correctly handled; a basic institutional arrangement for the coordinated matching of primary distribution, redistribution, and tertiary distribution must be established; the distribution structure must be optimized; fair distribution must be achieved; and substantial growth in the income of the masses must be promoted, so that the masses have a greater sense of gain, happiness, and security.

首先，要不断满足人的物质生活需要。物质需要的满足是人生存的基础，也是人追求更高层次的精神需要、获得尊重和幸福、确认主体价值的前提。恩格斯指出：“人们为了能够‘创造历史’，必须能够生活。但是为了生活，首先就需要吃喝住穿以及其他一些东西。因此第一个历史活动就是生产满足这些需要的资料，即生产物质生活本身。” 满足人的物质需要是人之存在的前提，我们党历来重视满足人民群众的物质生活需要，毛泽东早就说过：“一切空话都是无用的，必须给人民以看得见的物质福利。” 邓小平明确指出：“社会主义的优越性归根到底要体现在它的生产力比资本主义发展得更快一些、更高一些，并且在发展生产力的基础上不断改善人民的物质文化生活。”进入新时代以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央更是把提高人民生活水平放在治国理政中的突出位置，大力推进精准扶贫和乡村振兴，着力解决人民群众急难愁盼的生产生活问题，强调全面深化改革开放，破除体制机制障碍，在推动中国式现代化进程中，为人的全面发展创造了更丰裕的物质财富。经过长期努力，我国社会生产力发展水平有了极大提高，满足人民群众物质需要的条件得到了极大的改善，但是我国处于并将长期处于社会主义的初级阶段的基本国情没有根本改变，不平衡不充分的发展仍然制约着人民对美好生活的需要。在这样发展方位上展开的中国式现代化，必须坚持以经济建设为中心，把高质量发展作为首要任务，牢固树立新发展理念，进一步全面深化改革，积极抓住新一轮科技革命和产业变革的机遇，因地制宜发展新质生产力，推动生产力转型升级，为人民日益增长的美好生活需要奠定坚实的物质基础。同时，必须正确处理效率和公平的关系，构建初次分配、再分配、三次分配协调配套的基础性制度安排，优化分配结构，实现公平分配，推动人民群众的收入实质性增长，让人民群众有更多的获得感、幸福感、安全感。

Second, the spiritual needs of the people must be continuously elevated and satisfied. Engels points out that the human person is both a physical being and a spiritual being; the spiritual world of the human person is the unique existence by which humans transcend animals, and only spirit is the true essence of the human person. [n7] In the early period of reform and opening up, our Party creatively proposed the task of building socialist cultural-ethical progress, established the strategic policy of “grasping both material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, and grasping both firmly,” [n8] emphasizing that while developing material civilization, the scientific and cultural level and the ideological and moral level of the masses must be continuously raised to ensure the coordinated development of the people’s material life and spiritual life. Since entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has clearly proposed the strategy of building a culturally strong country, emphasizing the need to adhere to a people-centered approach, to prosper and develop public-interest cultural undertakings and the cultural industry, to use cultural undertakings to guarantee the people’s basic cultural rights and interests, to use the cultural industry to satisfy the diverse, multi-dimensional, and individualized spiritual needs of the masses, to continuously improve the modern public cultural service system, and to innovatively implement cultural projects benefiting the people, thereby enriching the people’s spiritual world and manifesting the richness and completeness of the masses’ lives.

其次，要不断提升和满足人们的精神需要。恩格斯指出，人既是肉体存在物，也是精神存在物，人的精神世界是人超越动物的独有存在，只有精神才是人的真正的本质。改革开放初期，我们党就创造性地提出了建设社会主义精神文明的任务，确立了物质文明和精神文明“两手抓、两手都要硬”的战略方针，强调在发展物质文明的同时，不断提高人民群众的科学文化水平和思想道德水平，以确保人民的物质生活和精神生活协调发展。进入新时代以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央明确提出文化强国战略，强调要坚持以人民为中心，繁荣发展公益性文化事业和文化产业，用文化事业保障人民基本文化权益，用文化产业满足人民群众多样化、立体化、个性化的精神需要，不断健全现代公共文化服务体系、创新实施文化惠民工程，从而丰富人民的精神世界，彰显人民群众的生命丰富性和完整性。

Third, the satisfaction of human needs is a gradual process. Human needs are realized through the means of productive labor. Marx points out: “Labour, life-activity, productive life itself, appears to man only as a means of satisfying a need—the need to maintain physical existence.” Therefore, the level of productive labor determines the degree to which needs are realized: “needs are developed together with the means of satisfying them, and in reliance on those means.” At the same time, the satisfaction of needs creates new needs, which in turn drives the further development of production. In the “Introduction” to the *Grundrisse*, Marx states: “Consumption creates the motive for production… Consumption posits the object of production ideally, as an internal image, as a need, as a drive and as a purpose. It creates the objects of production in a still subjective form. No needs, no production. But consumption reproduces the need.” That is to say, human needs are realized through production, and the realization of needs in turn sets new goals and motives for production; need and production mutually reinforce each other. Chinese-path modernization is a process of continuously advancing the progress of society’s productive forces, creating abundant material and cultural-ethical wealth, and satisfying the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. At the same time, it is a developmental process in which material and cultural-ethical wealth are continuously innovated and created, guided by the rising needs of the people’s life. In this two-way interactive process, advancing Chinese-path modernization requires, on the one hand, adhering to economic construction as the central task, upholding reform and opening up at a higher level, focusing on solving the prominent problems of unbalanced and inadequate development, vigorously developing society’s productive forces, building socialist material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, and satisfying the people’s material and spiritual needs. On the other hand, it must be driven by the elevation of the people’s level of needs, the expansion of the scope of needs, and the diversification of needs in the course of production development. Starting from people’s basic needs, developmental needs, and enjoyment needs, it must continuously remove institutional and mechanistic obstacles, develop and perfect the layout of productive forces, create more diverse and abundant material wealth, continuously innovate socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and flourish socialist cultural undertakings and cultural industries. With higher-quality achievements in material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, it must satisfy the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life, thereby opening up a new path for the all-round development of the human person.

再次，人的需要的满足是一个渐进的过程。人的需要是通过生产劳动这一手段来实现的，马克思指出：“劳动这种生命活动、这种生产生活本身对人来说不过是满足一种需要即维持肉体生存的需要的一种手段。”因此，生产劳动的水平决定着人的需要实现的程度，“需要是同满足需要的手段一同发展的，并且是依靠这些手段发展的。”同时，需要的满足又会创造出新的需要，进而推动生产的进一步发展。马克思在《〈政治经济学批判〉导言》中指出：“消费创造出生产的动力；……消费在观念上提出生产的对象，把它作为内心的图像、作为需要、作为动力和目的提出来。消费创造出还是在主观形式上的生产对象。没有需要，就没有生产。而消费则把需要再生产出来。”也就是说，人的需要通过生产来实现，而需要的实现又会为生产提出新的目标和动力，需要与生产之间相互促进。中国式现代化是一个不断推进社会生产力进步，创造出丰裕的物质财富和精神财富，满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要的过程，同时，也是一个以人民生活需要日益提高为引导的物质财富和精神财富不断创新创造的发展过程。在这个双向作用的过程中，推进中国式现代化一方面要坚持以经济建设为中心，在更高的水平上坚持改革开放，着力解决发展不平衡不充分的突出问题，大力发展社会生产力，建设社会主义物质文明和精神文明，满足人民物质和精神生活的需要；另一方面要以生产发展过程中人民需求层次的提高、需要范围的扩大、需要的多样化为牵引，从人的基本需要、发展需要、享受需要出发，不断破除体制机制障碍，发展和完善生产力布局，创造更加丰富多样的物质财富，不断创新中国特色社会主义文化，繁荣社会主义文化事业和文化产业，以更高质量的物质文明和精神文明成果满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，为人的全面发展开辟新道路。

Finally, only the joint satisfaction of material and spiritual needs can cultivate a person with rich individuality and broad needs, truly realizing the all-round development of the human person. Marx held that in social stages with a low level of productive forces, all of a person’s practical activities are aimed at satisfying the sole need for survival; during this period, human development is also one-sided, making it difficult to achieve a state of individual freedom. When productive forces reach a certain level and human survival is secured, higher-level spiritual needs emerge. The richness of human needs, and thereby human free individuality, is grounded in the high development of the economy and society, and is concentratedly manifested in the dual satisfaction of material and spiritual needs. Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and cultural-ethical progress are coordinated. It is committed to promoting high-quality development of China’s economy and society, strengthening cultural confidence, stimulating the creative vitality of the entire nation’s culture, and enriching the spiritual life of the people. As the cause of Chinese-path modernization advances, the degree of all-round development of the human person and comprehensive social progress will inevitably be raised simultaneously.

最后，只有物质需要和精神需要的共同满足才能培养出具有丰富个性和广泛需要的人，真正实现人的全面发展。马克思认为，在生产力水平较低的社会阶段，人的全部实践活动都是为了满足生存这个唯一需要，这一时期人的发展也是片面的，很难达到个性自由的状态。当生产力达到一定水平，人的生存得到保障之后，才会产生更高层次的精神需要。人的需要的丰富性、进而人的自由个性，立足于经济社会高度发展的基础之上，集中体现为物质需要和精神需要的双重满足。中国式现代化是物质文明和精神文明相协调的现代化，致力于推动中国经济社会高质量发展，增强文化自信，激发全民族文化创新创造活力，丰富人民群众的精神生活。随着中国式现代化事业的推进，人的全面发展和社会全面进步的程度必将同步得到提高。

II. Chinese-Path Modernization Is Conducive to Promoting People’s Free and Conscious Practice

二、中国式现代化有利于促进人的自由自觉实践

The species-being of the human person is free and conscious practice. People’s free and conscious practice turns their own life activity itself into an object of their will and their consciousness, thereby manifesting the full power of the human essence and distinguishing the human person from the direct life activity of animals. Marx critically points out that under the dominance of capital, people’s practical activity is not based on freedom and consciousness, but is a forced, alienated labor. Labor exists only for something outside labor itself; in labor, the person does not affirm but negates himself. As soon as external constraints disappear, people flee from labor as if from a plague. Chinese-path modernization adheres to putting people first and being people-centered, with everything for the people, relying on the people in everything, and letting the people share in the fruits of development. It both respects the people’s subject position in modernization, fully mobilizing the initiative, activity, and creativity of each individual, and attaches importance to letting the people share the fruits of modernization, thereby making modernization a free and conscious practical activity of hundreds of millions of people, manifesting the essential power of the human person in Chinese-path modernization.

人的类本质是自由自觉的实践。人的自由自觉的实践使自己的生命活动本身变成自己意志的和自己意识的对象，进而彰显人本质的全部力量，把人同动物直接的生命活动区别开来。马克思批判地指出，资本主导下人的实践活动，并不是建立在自由自觉的基础之上，而是一种被迫的、异化的劳动。劳动只是为了劳动以外的东西，人在劳动中不是肯定自身而是否定自身，一旦外在约束不存在，人们就像逃避瘟疫一样逃避劳动。中国式现代化坚持以人为本、以人民为中心，一切为了人民、一切依靠人民、发展成果让人民共享。既尊重人在现代化中的主体地位，充分发挥每一个人的积极性、主动性、创造性；又重视让人共享现代化成果，从而使现代化成为亿万人民自由自觉的实践活动，彰显中国式现代化中人的本质力量。

First, Chinese-path modernization provides an institutional guarantee for people’s free and conscious practice. Marxism holds that only when “the common association of all members of society jointly and systematically utilizes the productive forces, expanding production to a scale that can satisfy the needs of all people” can labor become a free and conscious practical activity for people. Chinese-path modernization adheres to the basic economic system in which public ownership is the mainstay and diverse forms of ownership develop together, in which distribution according to work is the mainstay and multiple modes of distribution coexist, and in which the socialist market economy system is maintained. It adheres to the fundamental political system of the people’s congresses and vigorously promotes whole-process people’s democracy. The “fundamental systems,” “basic systems,” and “important systems” of socialism with Chinese characteristics, along with the corresponding governance policies and measures, politically uphold the people’s status as masters of the country as granted by the constitution and laws, and economically uphold the equal right to labor and equal labor opportunities for the people. They ensure that, under the socialist market economy system, all laborers can obtain labor income according to their labor capacity, and all factors of production can participate in distribution according to their contribution as stipulated by law. This thereby incentivizes people to display their intelligence and talents in fair competition, to showcase their abilities, and, in the process of jointly discussing and jointly building Chinese-path modernization, to share the fruits of modernization development, enabling every person to shine in life and realize their personal life value.

首先，中国式现代化为人的自由自觉实践提供了制度保障。马克思主义认为，只有当“由社会全体成员组成的共同联合体来共同地和有计划地利用生产力；把生产发展到能够满足所有人的需要的规模”，劳动才能成为人自由自觉的实践活动。中国式现代化坚持以公有制经济为主体多种所有制经济共同发展、坚持按劳分配为主体多种分配方式并存、坚持社会主义市场经济体制的基本经济制度，坚持人民代表大会根本政治制度，大力推进全过程人民民主。中国特色社会主义的“根本制度”“基本制度”“重要制度”以及与此相配套的一系列治理政策与措施，在政治上维护了宪法和法律赋予人民群众的国家主人翁地位，在经济上维护了人民群众平等的劳动权和劳动机会，确保在社会主义市场经济体制下，所有劳动者能够根据自己的劳动能力获得劳动收入，一切生产要素能够根据法律规定按照贡献大小参与分配，从而激励人们在公平竞争中发挥各自的聪明才智、展示各自才能，在共商、共建中国式现代化的进程中，共享现代化发展成果，让每个人的人生都出彩，实现每个人的人生价值。

Second, Chinese-path modernization lays a solid material foundation for people’s free and conscious practice. The high development of productive forces and the great abundance of material wealth are the material foundation of Chinese-path modernization and also the basic condition for people’s free and conscious activity. Marxism holds that under conditions of extremely low social productive forces and extreme scarcity of social wealth, people will compete for the necessities of survival, and there can be no talk of people’s free and conscious activity. On the one hand, Chinese-path modernization emphasizes taking economic construction as the central task, establishing a reasonable incentive mechanism through reform and opening up, allowing all forces that create wealth to burst forth and all sources of wealth creation to flow fully, liberating and developing social productive forces, striving to make the “cake” as big as possible, and creating the social wealth necessary for the all-round development of the human person. On the other hand, Chinese-path modernization takes common prosperity as its value goal, emphasizing the fair distribution of the “cake,” encouraging some regions and individuals with favorable conditions to get rich first, with the first rich helping the later rich, ultimately achieving common prosperity for all the people. At the same time, the state, by formulating macro policies, removes structural inequalities such as those between regions, urban and rural areas, and income levels, realizes equalization of basic public services, thereby eliminating poverty, improving people’s livelihoods, increasing people’s welfare, and achieving “affluent and prosperous life, confident and self-reliant spirit, livable and workable environment, harmonious and amicable society, and universal and inclusive public services,” creating a solid material condition for the all-round development of every person.

其次，中国式现代化为人的自由自觉实践奠定了雄厚的物质基础。生产力的高度发展、物质财富的极大丰裕，是中国式现代化的物质基础，也是人自由自觉活动的基本条件。马克思主义认为，在社会生产力极其低下、社会财富极端困乏的条件下，人们会为争夺生存必需品而竞争，根本谈不上人的自由自觉活动。中国式现代化一方面强调以经济建设为中心，通过改革开放建立合理的激励机制，让一切创造财富的力量竞相迸发、一切财富创造的源泉充分涌流，解放和发展社会生产力，尽力做大“蛋糕”，创造出人的全面发展所必需的社会财富；另一方面，中国式现代化以共同富裕为价值目标，强调分好“蛋糕”，鼓励一部分有条件的地区和个人先富起来，先富带后富，最终达到全体人民共同富裕。同时，国家通过制定宏观政策，破除地区、城乡和收入等结构性不平等因素，实现基本公共服务均等化，从而消除贫困、改善民生、增加人民福祉，实现“生活富裕富足、精神自信自强、环境宜居宜业、社会和谐和睦、公共服务普及普惠”，为每个人的全面发展创造雄厚的物质条件。

Third, Chinese-path modernization provides ample time guarantees for the free and conscious practice of the human person. Marxism holds that the drastic reduction of socially necessary labor time and the great extension of disposable free time are the foundation of the free and conscious activity of the human person. Only with the extension of disposable free time can the human person have sufficient time to develop capacities in all areas, and can they “move from one branch of production to another, as social need or their own inclination dictates,”[10]10 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The German Ideology*, in *Marx & Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1976), p. 66. [The quotation is from Marx’s description of communist society in *The German Ideology*.] truly becoming all-round developed persons. Chinese-path modernization adheres to implementing an innovation-driven development strategy, strengthens the national strategic scientific and technological forces, vigorously develops new quality productive forces that are high-tech, high-efficiency, and high-quality, and bases the increase in social productivity on scientific and technological innovation, thereby liberating the human person from heavy labor. This breaks through the constraint of sacrificing the human person’s free time in exchange for wealth growth, allowing people to have more free time to develop their innate talents. Chinese-path modernization adheres to a people-centered development concept, breaks technological monopolies through law, invigorates enterprise vitality, cultivates enterprise technical backbones, accelerates the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the efficiency of industrialization, and ensures that the fruits of technological innovation become means to liberate and develop the human person, rather than shackles that enslave them, nor tools for a few individuals to seek private gain, thereby providing a broader prospect for the free and conscious practice of the human person.

再次，中国式现代化为人的自由自觉实践提供充分的时间保障。马克思主义认为，社会必要劳动时间的极大缩短、自由支配时间的极大延长，是人自由自觉活动的基础。只有自由支配时间的延长，人才能够有充分的时间增长各方面才能，才能够“根据社会需要或者他们自己的爱好，轮流从一个生产部门转到另一个生产部门”，真正成为全面发展的人。中国式现代化坚持实施创新驱动发展战略，强化国家战略科技力量，大力发展高科技、高效能、高质量的新质生产力，把社会生产率的提高建立在科技创新之上，从而把人从繁重的劳动中解放出来，这就突破了以牺牲人的自由时间换取财富增长的约束，让人们可以拥有更多的自由时间去发展自己的天赋才能。中国式现代化坚持以人为本的发展理念，通过法律打破技术垄断，激发企业活力，培养企业技术骨干，加快科技成果转化和产业化效能，促使技术创新成果在全社会应用，从而保证技术创新成果成为解放人、发展人的手段，而不是奴役人的枷锁，也不只是个别人谋取私利的工具，为人的自由自觉实践提供更广阔的前景。

III. Chinese-Path Modernization Is Conducive to Promoting the Development of the Free Individuality of the Human Person

三、中国式现代化有利于推进人的自由个性发展

Marx held that the freedom of individuality “is not to reduce necessary labor time in order to posit surplus labor, but rather to reduce the socially necessary labor time of society as a whole to a minimum, which then corresponds to the artistic, scientific, etc., development of the individuals in the time set free and with the means created for all of them.”[11]11 Karl Marx, *Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy*, trans. Martin Nicolaus (London: Penguin, 1973), p. 706. [The passage discusses the reduction of necessary labor time as the condition for the free development of individuality.] In the stage of “free individuality,” the human person is no longer constrained by necessary labor time and physical survival, but has ample free time to develop their interests and hobbies in multiple fields, display their creative talents, and realize their free individuality. From the perspective of the unity of the human person and social development, Marx divided the development of the human person and society into three progressive stages: “personal dependence,” “material dependence,” and “free individuality.” The stage of “free individuality” is the inevitable result of the development of the stages of “personal dependence” and “material dependence,” and is also a transcendence of those stages; it is the ideal state in which the independence, subjectivity, and creativity of the human person are fully developed. Chinese-path modernization adheres to a people-centered development outlook and provides guarantees for the realization of the free individuality of the human person from the institutional and systemic levels.

马克思认为，人的个性自由“并不是为了获得剩余劳动而缩减必要劳动时间，而是直接把社会必要劳动缩减到最低限度，那时，与此相适应，由于给所有的人腾出了时间和创造了手段，个人会在艺术、科学等等方面得到发展”。在人的“自由个性”阶段，人不再受制于必要劳动时间和肉体生存的约束，能够有充分的自由时间，在多个领域发展自己的兴趣爱好，展示自己的创造天赋，实现自己的自由个性。马克思从人与社会发展相统一的角度，把人和社会的发展划分为“人的依赖”“物的依赖”“自由个性”三个递进的阶段，“自由个性”阶段是“人的依赖”和“物的依赖”阶段发展的必然结果，又是对“人的依赖”和“物的依赖”阶段的超越，是人的独立性、主体性和创造性得到充分发展的理想状态。中国式现代化坚持以人民为中心的发展观，从制度和体制上为人的自由个性实现提供了保障。

First, Chinese-path modernization establishes the prerequisite for the independence of the human person. Individuals can become truly independent and free persons only by casting off “personal dependence” and “material dependence.” In pre-capitalist societies, productive forces were low, and individuals could only survive by attaching themselves to the collective, while the survival of the collective presupposed the sacrifice of individual individuality. Thus, the commonality of the collective suppressed the individuality of the individual, making the individual an appendage of the collective. In capitalist society, although individuals have broken free from the bonds of narrow territorial communities and cast off personal dependence, gaining a certain degree of independence, they have fallen into the domination of the logic of capital. This independence is built on the foundation of “material dependence.” Chinese-path modernization is a modernization of a socialist nature; all power in the state belongs to the people. The people enjoy equal political status in the political and economic life of the state, which institutionally discards the rule of the few over the many and breaks the relations of personal dependence. Chinese-path modernization adheres to emancipating the mind, liberating productive forces, and stimulating social vitality, continuously breaking down the constraints of old systems and mechanisms on the human person, constantly raising the living standards of the people, and creating conditions for breaking the human person’s dependence on things. Chinese-path modernization vigorously develops advanced socialist culture, continuously raises the people’s ideological and moral standards and scientific-cultural literacy, advocates the core socialist values, cultivates the independent spirit and independent consciousness of the human person, and breaks down feudal ideas of personal subordination and the worship of money. Chinese-path modernization actively constructs a socialist harmonious society, creating a social environment of fairness and justice, honesty and fraternity, full of vitality, stability, and order for the independent and free development of the human person. Chinese-path modernization vigorously advances ecological progress, taking the improvement of the ecological environment as an important aspect of raising people’s quality of life and enriching the content of their lives, actively constructing a community of life for the human person and nature, and creating a “space of possibility” for the independent and free development of humanity.

首先，中国式现代化为人的独立性确立了前提。个体只有摆脱“人的依赖”和“物的依赖”，才能成为真正独立的、自由的人。在前资本主义社会，生产力低下，个人只能依附于集体而生存，而集体的生存是以牺牲个体的个性为前提的，这样集体的共性就压抑个体的个性，个体成了集体的附属物。在资本主义社会，个人虽然从狭隘的地域共同体的束缚中挣脱出来，摆脱了对人的依赖，获得了一定程度上的独立性，但又陷入了资本逻辑的支配之中，这种独立性是建立在“物的依赖”基础之上。中国式现代化是社会主义性质的现代化，国家一切权力属于人民，人民在国家政治经济生活中享有平等的政治地位，从制度上摒弃了少数人对多数人的统治，打破了人对人的依赖关系。中国式现代化坚持解放思想、解放生产力、激发社会活力，不断破除旧体制机制对人的束缚，不断提高人民群众的生活水平，为破除人对物的依赖创造条件。中国式现代化大力发展社会主义先进文化，不断提高人民的思想道德水平和科学文化素养，倡导社会主义核心价值观，培养人的独立精神和独立意识，破除人身依附的封建思想和金钱崇拜。中国式现代化积极构建起社会主义和谐社会，为人的独立自由发展创造了公平正义、诚信友爱、充满活力、安定有序的社会环境。中国式现代化大力进行生态文明建设，把改善生态环境作为提高人们生活质量和丰富人们生活内容的重要方面，积极构建人与自然的生命共同体，为人类的独立自由发展创造了“可能性空间”。

Second, Chinese-path modernization creates conditions for establishing the subjectivity of the human person. The subjectivity of the human person is the key to realizing free individuality. The human person is an individual engaged in objectifying activity; only when the object can confirm the individuality of the individual is the individual the subject and the object the object. Only when the human person establishes their subject position can they speak of all-round development and gradually enter the realm of freedom. Chinese-path modernization consistently adheres to a people-centered development orientation, regarding the all-round development of the human person as the goal of Chinese-path modernization and regarding things as means to serve the human person and realize their all-round development. This breaks through the capital-centered logic of capitalist modernization and establishes the subject position of the human person in the process of Chinese-path modernization.

其次，中国式现代化为确立人的主体性创造了条件。人的主体性是实现自由个性的关键。人是对象化活动的个人，只有对象能够确证个体的个性，个体才是主体，对象才是客体。人只有确立主体地位才能谈得上全面发展，才能逐步进入自由王国。中国式现代化始终坚持以人民为中心的发展导向，把人的全面发展看作是中国式现代化的目的，把物看作是服务人、实现人全面发展的手段，这就突破了资本主义现代化以资本为本的逻辑，确立了人在中国式现代化进程中的主体地位。

Third, Chinese-path modernization encourages people to creatively exercise their talents, grasping the soul of realizing free individuality. Creative activity is the highest realm of free individuality. The ability of individuals to freely engage in creative activities such as art and science, and to freely exercise their talents in all areas, is a manifestation of the full development of the free individuality of the human person. Chinese-path modernization creates broad space and provides a relaxed environment for the human person to freely exercise their intelligence and talent. While encouraging people to actively create material and cultural-ethical wealth, it also continuously enhances the capacity for the all-round development of the human person, displaying individual individuality and the essence of the human person in creative activities. Chinese-path modernization emphasizes that science and technology are the primary productive forces and that human resources are the primary resource. It continuously develops science and technology, raises labor productivity, greatly shortens socially necessary labor time, and increases the disposable free time for people to exercise their creativity. At the same time, in the process of Chinese-path modernization, we also adhere to a people-centered approach in advancing comprehensive education reform. By “highlighting the effectiveness of moral education, raising the level of intellectual education, strengthening physical exercise, enhancing aesthetic education, and reinforcing labor education,”[12]12 This is a formulation from Chinese education policy documents, emphasizing the five dimensions of education (moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor) as a comprehensive approach to human development. we strengthen the organic integration of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education, comprehensively develop people’s capacities in all areas, enhance people’s skills, and create basic conditions for the free and all-round development of the human person.

再次，中国式现代化鼓励人们创造性的发挥个人的才能，抓住了实现自由个性的灵魂。创造性活动是自由个性的最高境界。个人能自由的开展艺术、科学等创造性活动，自由地发挥自己各方面的才能，是人自由个性充分发展的表现。中国式现代化为人自由发挥自己的聪明才智创造了广阔的空间，提供了宽松的环境，在鼓励人们积极创造物质财富和精神财富的同时，还不断提高人的全面发展能力，在创造性活动中展现自身个性和人的本质。中国式现代化强调科学技术是第一生产力、人力资源是第一资源，不断发展科学技术、提高劳动生产率，大大缩短了社会必要劳动时间，增加了供人发挥创造性的自由支配时间。与此同时，在中国式现代化进程中，我们还坚持以人为本推进教育综合改革，通过“突出德育实效、提升智育水平、强化体育锻炼、增强美育熏陶、加强劳动教育”，加强德育、智育、体育、美育和劳动教育的有机融合，全面发展人的各方面能力，增强人的技能，为人的自由全面发展创造了基本条件。

IV. Chinese-Path Modernization Is Conducive to Promoting the Richness and Harmony of Social Relations

四、中国式现代化有利于促进社会关系的丰富和谐

The human person is not a pure natural being or a merely biological human being, but a social being who lives within certain social relations and satisfies needs through practical activity. Marx pointed out, “the essence of the human person is not an abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations”[13]13 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” in *Marx & Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1976), p. 4. [Thesis VI, a classic formulation of Marx’s concept of the human essence as social relations.] and “social relations actually determine the extent to which a person can develop.”[14]14 This is a paraphrase of Marx’s argument in *The German Ideology* that the level of development of social relations determines the scope of individual development. Only by establishing rich social relations with others can the human person utilize all the conditions created by humanity to realize their own all-round development. Chinese-path modernization not only breaks down the reified relations between people but also comprehensively generates new types of economic, political, cultural, and other social relations, transforming the social relations of the human person from impoverished to rich, from one-sided to all-round, and from antagonistic to harmonious.

人不是纯粹的自然物或单纯的生物学意义上的人，而是生活在一定的社会关系中，通过实践活动来满足需要的社会性的人。马克思指出，“人的本质不是单个人所固有的抽象物，在其现实性上，它是一切社会关系的总和”，“社会关系实际上决定着一个人能够发展到什么程度”。人只有与他人建立丰富的社会关系，才可以运用一切人所创造的条件，实现自身的全面发展。中国式现代化不但破除了人与人之间的物化关系，还全面生成了新型的经济关系、政治关系和文化关系等多种社会关系，使人的社会关系由贫乏变得丰富，由片面变得全面，由对抗变得协调。

First, Chinese-path modernization breaks through the relations of production of exploitation between human and human and between human and nature that exist under capitalist modernization, and generates a new type of relations of production — a harmonious relationship between human and human and between human and nature. Social relations are complex and multifaceted, and among them the relations of production are the foundation of all social relations. As Marx said, what individuals are depends on the material conditions of their production, “both with what they produce and with how they produce.” [15]15 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–1846), in *Marx/Engels Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 31. The productive practice of humanity is a process in which humans, through cooperative labor with others, transform nature to satisfy their own needs. As long as humans engage in production, they enter into relations with others and with nature. Chinese-path modernization adheres to the public sector of the economy as the mainstay with diverse forms of ownership developing together; the goal of social production is to serve all the people. This fundamentally eliminates the exploitation and oppression of human by human under capitalist conditions, ensures the equal status of all people in social production, and lays the foundation for establishing harmonious relations among humans. At the same time, Chinese-path modernization upholds the harmonious coexistence of human and nature, advocates green modes of production and lifestyles, develops production on the basis of respecting the laws of nature, protects nature while utilizing it, and promotes the establishment of a community of life for human and nature.

首先，中国式现代化突破了资本主义现代化进程中人与人、人与自然间的剥削与被剥削的生产关系，生成了一种新型的生产关系——人与人、人与自然的和谐关系。社会关系是复杂的、多方面的，其中生产关系是一切社会关系的基础。正如马克思所说，个人是什么样的，取决于他们进行生产的物质条件，“既和他们生产什么一致，又和他们怎样生产一致”。人类的生产实践是人通过与他人的协作劳动来改造自然界以满足自身需要的过程，人只要进行生产，就要与他人、与自然发生关系。中国式现代化坚持以公有制经济为主体、多种所有制经济共同发展，社会生产的目的是服务于全体人民，这就从根本上杜绝了资本主义条件下人对人的剥削和压榨，确保了所有人在社会生产中的平等地位，为确立人与人之间的和谐关系奠定了基础。同时，中国式现代化坚持人与自然和谐共生，倡导绿色生产方式和生活方式，在尊重自然规律的基础上发展生产，在利用自然的同时保护自然，促进了人与自然生命共同体的建立。

Second, the nature of Chinese-path modernization determines the people’s principal position in the state. Chinese-path modernization is modernization led by the Communist Party of China. “The Communist Party of China has always represented the fundamental interests of the broadest majority of the people, sharing weal and woe and life and death with the people, and has no special interests of its own; it has never represented any interest group, any power group, or any privileged stratum’s interests.” [16]16 Xi Jinping, “Upholding and Perfecting the System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Advancing the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Capacity” (October 31, 2019), in *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China*, vol. 3 (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2020), p. 125. This fundamentally eliminates the class differentiation and antagonism that may emerge in the process of modernization, and ensures that the people enjoy equal political and social status in the process of modernization. At the same time, Chinese-path modernization adheres to the path of socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics, upholds the fundamental political system of the people’s congresses and the basic political systems of the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of grassroots self-governance, adheres to developing whole-process people’s democracy, guarantees the people’s status as masters of the state in national politics, and provides institutional support for constructing equal and democratic political relations.

其次，中国式现代化的性质决定了人民在国家中的主体地位。中国式现代化是中国共产党领导的现代化，“中国共产党始终代表最广大人民根本利益，与人民休戚与共、生死相依，没有任何自己特殊的利益，从来不代表任何利益集团、任何权势团体、任何特权阶层的利益”，这就从根本上杜绝了现代化进程中可能出现的阶级分化与对立，确保了人民在现代化进程中享有平等的政治地位和社会地位。同时，中国式现代化坚持中国特色社会主义民主政治之路，坚持人民代表大会这一根本政治制度和中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度、民族区域自治制度以及基层群众自治制度这些基本政治制度，坚持发展全过程人民民主，保障人民在国家政治中的主人翁地位，为构建平等、民主的政治关系提供了制度支撑。

Third, Chinese-path modernization advocates and constructs the consciousness of the Chinese national community, providing rich cultural nourishment for establishing harmonious and friendly social relations. In China, a unified multi-ethnic state, ethnic relations are an important component of social relations. “The origin, formation, and development of the Chinese national community are rooted in the origin, formation, and development of Chinese civilization; the characteristics and forms of Chinese civilization determine the characteristics and forms of the Chinese nation.” [17]17 Source not provided in the original text; the quotation appears to be a paraphrase of a standard formulation in Chinese academic discourse on the Chinese national community. Culture is the “cement” that constructs social relations. Chinese-path modernization uses Chinese culture to strengthen the identity recognition of people of all ethnic groups, uses a common spiritual lineage to strengthen the emotional identification of people of all ethnic groups, uses common values to strengthen the value identification of people of all ethnic groups, continuously consolidates the consciousness of the Chinese national community, forms a new situation of ethnic unity and common development and prosperity, and creates favorable social relations for the all-round development of every individual of the Chinese nation.

再次，中国式现代化倡导和构建中华民族共同体意识，为建立和谐友善的社会关系提供了丰厚的文化滋养。在中国这样一个统一的多民族国家里，民族关系是社会关系的重要内容。“中华民族共同体的起源、形成与发展根植于中华文明的起源、形成与发展，中华文明的特质与形态决定中华民族的特质与形态”。文化是建构社会关系的“水泥”，中国式现代化用中华文化强化各族人民的身份认同，用共同的精神谱系强化各族人民的情感认同，用共同的价值观念强化各族人民的价值认同，不断铸牢中华民族共同体意识，形成民族团结、共同发展繁荣的新局面，为中华民族每一个人的全面发展创造了良好的社会关系。

In sum, the modernization of the human person is the essential requirement and fundamental value of modernization. Chinese-path modernization insists on satisfying the multiple needs of the human person, promoting the free and conscious practice of the human person, advancing the free individuality of the human person, enriching the social relations of the human person, and ensuring the coordination of sustainable social development with the all-round progress of the human person. In contemporary China, Chinese-path modernization is the necessary path to the all-round development of the human person and the all-round progress of society.

总之，人的现代化是现代化的本质要求和根本价值所在。中国式现代化坚持满足人的多种需要、促成人的自由自觉实践、推进人的自由个性、丰富人的社会关系，确保社会的可持续发展和人的全面进步相协调。在当代中国，中国式现代化是通向人的全面发展和社会全面进步的必由之路。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗