The New Form of Human Civilization’s Faithful Innovation and Development of Marx and Engels’ Theory of Civilization

In the 19th century, Marx and Engels, based on a world-historical perspective, formed a basic theory concerning the development of human civilization, pointed out the inevitable trend of socialist civilization replacing capitalist civilization, and made a scientific prediction of China’s fate in the future human world, providing important ideological guidance and methodological direction for humanity’s exploration of socialist civilization. Over the past century, Chinese Communists, standing at the height of world history, through the continuation, inheritance, and innovative practice of Marx and Engels’ theory of civilization, have led the people in creating Chinese-path modernization, creating a new form of human civilization, and opening up a new realm of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. At the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization are: upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics, achieving high-quality development, developing whole-process people’s democracy, enriching the people’s spiritual world, achieving common prosperity for all, promoting harmony between humanity and nature, building a community with a shared future for mankind, and creating a new form of human civilization.” The creation and enrichment of the new form of human civilization, as an inherent requirement of the development of Chinese-path modernization, has written a new chapter in Marx and Engels’ theory of civilization in terms of historical trends, development paths, and modes of interaction, profoundly influencing the course of world history and manifesting the righteous logic of the evolution of human civilization.

19世纪，马克思恩格斯基于世界历史视域形成了关于人类文明发展的基本理论，指出了社会主义文明取代资本主义文明的必然趋势，并对中国在未来人类世界的命运做出了科学的预判，为人类探索社会主义文明提供了重要的思想引领与方法论指导。百年来，中国共产党人站在世界历史的高度，通过对马克思恩格斯文明理论的赓续传承与创新实践，领导人民创造了中国式现代化，创造了人类文明新形态，开辟了马克思主义中国化时代化新境界。在中国共产党第二十次全国代表大会上，习近平总书记指出：“中国式现代化的本质要求是：坚持中国共产党领导，坚持中国特色社会主义，实现高质量发展，发展全过程人民民主，丰富人民精神世界，实现全体人民共同富裕，促进人与自然和谐共生，推动构建人类命运共同体，创造人类文明新形态。”人类文明新形态的创造和丰富，作为中国式现代化发展的题中应有之义，在历史趋势、发展道路和交往方式等方面谱写了马克思恩格斯文明理论的新篇章，深刻地影响了世界历史进程，彰显了人类文明演进的正道逻辑。

I. Historical Trend: The Ideal Pursuit of Socialist Civilization and the Historical Creation of the New Form of Human Civilization

一、历史趋势：社会主义文明的理想追求与人类文明新形态的历史性创造

In the view of Marx and Engels, the large-scale industry initiated by capitalism and the universal intercourse brought about by the expansion of capital promoted the formation of the world market and the opening of world history, prompting modern capitalist civilization to emerge as the times required. However, capitalist civilization, with capital as its core pillar and secular foundation, promotes the development and progress of civilization in a barbaric manner, inevitably plunging modern civilization into a self-reflexive contradictory paradox and bringing unprecedented crises and disasters to humanity. The false civilizational illusions and developmental ills of capitalism determine that it is merely a temporary form of existence for human civilization under the world-historical system; it is bound to come to an end as its own superiority is gradually exhausted. It is precisely in the dialectical revelation and rational critique of capitalist civilization that Marx and Engels, proceeding from the dual logic of science and morality, pointed out the historical trend of socialist civilization replacing capitalist civilization.

在马克思恩格斯看来，资本主义开创的大工业及资本扩张带来的普遍交往，推动了世界市场的形成和世界历史的开辟，促使现代资本主义文明应运而生。然而，以资本为核心支柱和世俗奠基的资本主义文明却以野蛮的方式推动着文明的发展进步，使现代文明不可避免陷入了自反性的矛盾悖论，给人类带来了史无前例的危机与灾难。资本主义虚假的文明幻象和发展弊病，决定了它只是世界历史体系下人类文明的一种暂时性存在形式，它必将在自身优越性的逐步耗尽中走向终结。正是在对资本主义文明的辩证揭示和理性批判中，马克思恩格斯从科学和道义的双重逻辑出发，指明了社会主义文明取代资本主义文明的历史趋势。

Marx and Engels believed that human civilization possesses distinct historical characteristics; any form of civilization has its specific historical preconditions for emergence and a real space for its unfolding. Similarly, this civilization inevitably has its own historical limits of existence. Standing on the principle and position of historicism, they conducted a comprehensive and scientific examination of modern capitalist civilization, revealing its dual nature. On the one hand, Marx and Engels fully affirmed the historically progressive role of capitalist civilization: compared with all previous forms of civilization, in bourgeois society where capital becomes the “universal light,” the application of machine production and the development of universal intercourse greatly improved labor productivity, stimulated the individual’s subjective consciousness and independent demands, and promoted progress and enlightenment in various social fields, enabling all material and spiritual “fundamental aspects” to break free from narrowness and limitation, moving from closure to openness. It is precisely because capitalist civilization is “more conducive to the development of productive forces, to the development of social relations, and to the creation of elements for a higher new form” that it was able to assume the mission of inaugurating the “age of civilization” in the modern and contemporary temporal-spatial field. On the other hand, Marx and Engels critically pointed out the historical limitations of capitalist civilization: capitalist civilization is a form of civilization premised on the law of capital’s movement, and the essence of capital is “not a thing, but a definite social relation of production belonging to a definite historical social formation.” Therefore, a capitalist society dominated by “class ownership that turns the labor of the many into the wealth of the few” inevitably moves toward the opposite of civilization. In capitalist civilization, the degree of exploitation of the worker reaches an extreme, causing severe and widespread labor alienation; human subjectivity is dominated by the power of things, and the proletariat is forced to become a tool for the valorization of capital. As Engels stated: “The age of civilization moves in a ‘vicious circle,’ it moves in contradictions that it constantly reproduces and is unable to overcome, so that the results it achieves are always the opposite of what it hopes or pretends to hope for.” The irreconcilable contradictory paradox of capitalist civilization proves the historical transience of its life and seals its historical fate of negating itself and being replaced by a higher form of civilization.

马克思恩格斯认为，人类文明具有鲜明的历史性特征，任何一种文明形态都有其生成的特定历史前提和现实的展开空间，同样，这种文明也必然具有自身存在的历史限度。站在历史主义的原则和立场上，他们对现代资本主义文明进行了全面、科学地审视，揭示了资本主义文明的二重性。一方面，马克思恩格斯充分肯定了资本主义文明的历史进步作用：相较于之前的一切文明形态而言，在资本成为“普照之光”的资产阶级社会，机器化生产的运用和普遍交往的发展，极大地提高了劳动生产效率，激发了个体的主体意识和独立诉求，促进了社会各领域的进步与开化，使一切物质的和精神的“基本面”摆脱狭隘与局限，由封闭走向开放。正是由于资本主义文明“更有利于生产力的发展，有利于社会关系的发展，有利于更高级的新形态的各种要素的创造”的进步性，使其能够在近现代的时空场域中承担起“文明时代”的开创使命；另一方面，马克思恩格斯又批判性地指出了资本主义文明的历史局限：资本主义文明是以资本运行规律为前提的文明形态，而资本的本质“不是物，而是一定的、社会的、属于一定历史社会形态的生产关系”。因此，“将多数人的劳动变为少数人的财富的阶级所有制”主导下的资本主义社会必然走向文明的对立面。在资本主义文明中，劳动者受剥削的程度达到了无以复加的地步，引发严重而普遍的劳动异化，人的主体性被物的力量主宰，无产阶级被迫沦为了资本增殖的工具。正如恩格斯所言：“文明时代是在‘恶性循环’中运动，是在它不断地重新制造出来而又无法克服的矛盾中运动，因此，它所达到的结果总是同它希望达到或者佯言希望达到的相反。”资本主义文明不可调和的矛盾悖论，证明了其生命的历史暂时性，注定了其否定自我、进而被更高文明形态所取代的历史宿命。

Through the analysis and revelation of the dual nature of capitalist civilization, Marx and Engels pointed out that socialist and communist civilization is the form of civilization that truly conforms to the world-historical trend: “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” The reason is that, fundamentally, the degree of development of civilization is internally consistent with the degree of realization of human liberation, and “the degree of liberation of each individual is consistent with the degree to which history has completely transformed into world history.” Therefore, only in a society “premised on the universal development of productive forces and the universal intercourse related to this” can individual persons break through the narrow boundaries of nationality and region, achieve genuine liberation, and humanity can inaugurate a new form of civilization. Although capitalism has created enormous civilizational achievements, it is undeniable that it severely hinders the free development of human beings, violating the openness of world history and the inherent requirements and objective laws of exchange and mutual learning among human civilizations. This means that capitalist civilization cannot be the end of human history; after its development reaches a certain historical limit, socialist and communist civilization, oriented toward the free and comprehensive development of human beings, will inevitably arrive.

通过对资本主义文明二重性的分析揭示，马克思恩格斯指出，社会主义、共产主义文明才是真正符合世界历史趋势的文明形态，“代替那存在着阶级和阶级对立的资产阶级旧社会的，将是这样一个联合体，在那里，每个人的自由发展是一切人的自由发展的条件”。原因在于：从根本上看，文明的发展程度与人的解放的实现程度具有内在一致性，而“每一个单个人的解放的程度是与历史完全转变为世界历史的程度一致的”。因此，只有在“以生产力的普遍发展和与此相联系的世界交往为前提”的社会，单一个体才能突破民族与地域的狭隘界限，获得真正的解放，人类才能开启崭新的文明形态。尽管资本主义创造了巨大的文明成果，但不可否认的是，它严重阻碍了人的自由发展，违背了世界历史的开放性与人类文明交流互鉴的内在要求及客观规律。这就意味着，资本主义文明不可能是人类历史的终结，在其发展抵达一定的历史极限后，指向人的自由全面发展的社会主义、共产主义文明必将到来。

In the 20th century, the birth of socialist Soviet Union and China turned Marx and Engels’ ideal pursuit of socialist civilization from a vision into reality. Regrettably, due to an abstract negation and rejection of capitalist civilization, Soviet socialist construction increasingly deviated from the righteous path of human civilization development, burying itself in closure and rigidity. However, this does not represent the failure of Marxism, nor the bankruptcy of socialist civilization. At the historical juncture when the world socialist movement fell into depression, by summarizing the historical lessons of the former Soviet Union, socialism with Chinese characteristics created a new paradigm of socialist civilization. Especially after entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continued and developed Marx and Engels’ basic views on socialist civilization, adhered to combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, led the Chinese people along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, enabling socialist civilization to display a majestic civilizational force on the basis of rising from “theoretical vision” to “practical movement,” promoting the formal establishment and “emergence” of the new form of human civilization, and inaugurating a new face of human civilization.

20世纪，社会主义苏联和中国的诞生使马克思恩格斯关于社会主义文明的理想追求由愿景变为了现实。遗憾的是，由于对资本主义文明采取了一种抽象的否定与排斥，苏联社会主义建设日益偏离了人类文明发展的正道，在封闭僵化中将自身埋葬。然而，这并不代表着马克思主义的失败，更不是社会主义文明的破产。在世界社会主义运动陷入萧条的历史境遇之际，通过总结前苏联的历史教训，中国特色社会主义开创出了社会主义文明的新型范式。特别是在进入新时代后，以习近平同志为核心的党中央赓续马克思恩格斯关于社会主义文明的基本观点，坚持把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合、同中华优秀传统文化相结合，带领中国人民沿着新时代中国特色社会主义道路开拓前进，使社会主义文明在由“理论愿景”上升为“现实运动”的基础上展现出磅礴的文明伟力，推动人类文明新形态正式定型“出场”，开创了人类文明的新面貌。

As a brand-new face of 21st-century socialist civilization, the new form of human civilization transcends the capitalist civilization’s logical principle of “capital first” with the value pursuit of “people first,” fully demonstrating the civilizational advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Marx pointed out that in capitalist civilization dominated by the logic of capital, the entire society follows the goal of capital valorization and operates along the track of maximizing interests. All social relations are reduced to pure interest relations; the subjective value of human beings is submerged, and they are forced to become appendages of things under the abstract rule of things, becoming “one-dimensional men.” [3]3 “One-dimensional men” (单向度的人) is a concept from Herbert Marcuse’s *One-Dimensional Man* (1964), referring to individuals in advanced industrial society who are incapable of critical thought or opposition to the existing system. Thus, the standpoint of capitalist civilization is civil society; it represents only the interests of a minority, the bourgeoisie, and cannot achieve genuine human emancipation. The standpoint of socialist civilization, by contrast, is “human society” or “socialized humanity”; it no longer represents the special interests of a particular class in society but seeks the realization of the common interests of all humanity. This is the fundamental divergence between socialist civilization and capitalist civilization. The new form of human civilization, socialist in nature, takes the individual’s state of being as it ought to be—namely, that “man appropriates his comprehensive essence in a comprehensive way” [4]4 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, MECW, vol. 3, p. 299.—as its fundamental value orientation. It consistently places the issue of “human beings” at the center of economic and social development and provides fundamental conditions and guarantees for the free and comprehensive development of each individual, thereby empirically demonstrating the essential attributes and superiority of socialist civilization. Facing the changes in the principal contradiction in the New Era, the Communist Party of China, centering on the original aspiration and founding mission of “seeking happiness for the people,” adheres to a people-centered approach, focuses on resolving the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development, and clearly states that “the people’s aspiration for a better life is our goal of struggle.” [5]5 This is a well-known statement by Xi Jinping, first articulated in his speech at the press conference following his election as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee on November 15, 2012. Thus, it successfully resolves the value confusion of modern civilizational development and reveals the bright value foundation of socialist civilization in the unity of historical regularity and purposiveness.

作为21世纪社会主义文明的崭新面貌，人类文明新形态以“人民至上”的价值追求超越了资本主义文明“资本至上”的逻辑原则，充分彰显了中国特色社会主义的文明优势。马克思指出，在由资本逻辑统摄的资本主义文明中，整个社会遵循着资本增殖的目标，沿着利益最大化的轨道运行，一切社会关系都沦为纯粹的利益关系，人的主体性价值被淹没，不得不在物的抽象统治中沦为物的附属品，成为“单向度的人”。由此可见，资本主义文明的立足点是市民社会，它只是少数资产阶级利益的代表，无法实现真正的人的解放。社会主义文明的立足点则是“人类社会”或“社会化的人类”，它不再是社会某一阶级特殊利益的代表，而是寻求全人类共同利益的实现。这是社会主义文明与资本主义文明的根本分野。社会主义性质的人类文明新形态以个体的应然存在状态即“人以一种全面的方式，……占有自己的全面的本质”为根本的价值旨归，始终将“人”的问题置于经济社会发展的中心，并为每个人的自由全面发展提供根本的条件保障，实证了社会主义文明的本质属性和优越性。面对新时代社会主要矛盾的变化，中国共产党围绕着“为人民谋幸福”的初心和使命，坚持以人民为中心，着力解决发展的不平衡不充分的问题，明确提出“人民对美好生活的向往，就是我们的奋斗目标”，从而成功破解了现代文明发展的价值迷思，在历史合规律性与合目的性的统一中展现了社会主义文明鲜亮的价值底色。

In Marx’s view, although communism is “insulated” from capital, its first stage, socialism, does not develop on its own foundation; it “in every respect, economically, morally, and intellectually, still bears the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges.” [6]6 Karl Marx, *Critique of the Gotha Programme* (1875), MECW, vol. 24, p. 85. Therefore, socialist society must confront the unavoidable objective fact of the existence of capital and recognize the rationality and necessity of the principles of commodity exchange and distribution according to labor. Constrained by the limitations of their era, Marx and Engels did not discuss how socialism in its primary stage should treat the commodity economy so as to better serve socialist construction. The new form of human civilization, through the rational management of capital, creatively answers the question of how to guide capital to assist socialist civilization construction in the current world-historical process where capital is “continuously present.” Facing the contemporary trend of interaction between capital and globalization, the Chinese Communists have deeply realized that in the primary stage of socialism, the level of development of productive forces is not yet sufficient for capital to exit the stage; capital’s value must be rationally examined. It is necessary both to activate “the civilizing aspect of capital” [7]7 “The civilizing aspect of capital” (资本的文明面) is a phrase used by Marx in *Capital*, vol. 3, referring to capital’s historical role in developing productive forces and creating the material conditions for a higher social formation. and to leverage capital’s positive role in wealth creation, while also forming effective constraints on capital to avoid the negative effects of capital’s greed. In response, the Communist Party of China has explicitly defined the basic socialist economic system as “public ownership playing the dominant role and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side, distribution according to work playing the dominant role and diverse modes of distribution coexisting, and the socialist market economy system.” [8]8 This formulation was established at the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017 and codified in the Chinese Constitution. On the one hand, by letting the market play a decisive role in resource allocation and better leveraging the role of the government, it further unleashes and develops social productive forces and enhances social vitality. On the other hand, starting from the intermediary of relations of production, it “uses public ownership and its capital forms to manage the traditional logic of capital,” and through the socialist market economy “sublates the social attributes of capital, fundamentally curbs the power-ization of capital, and resolves the inherent contradiction between socialized production and capitalist private ownership.” [9]9 The quoted phrases are from contemporary Chinese Marxist scholarship on the socialist market economy. Thus, at the institutional level, it deconstructs the internal paradox of capitalist civilization, eliminates the disastrous malady of capital alienation, and achieves a transcendence of capitalist civilization and an innovation over traditional socialist civilization.

在马克思看来，尽管共产主义与资本是“绝缘”的，但其第一阶段的社会主义并不是在自身基础上发展起来的，它“在各方面，在经济、道德和精神方面都还带着它脱胎出来的那个旧社会的痕迹”。因此，社会主义社会必须直面资本存在不可规避的客观事实，正视商品交换原则和按劳分配原则存在的合理性与必要性。囿于时代的局限，马克思恩格斯并未谈及社会主义的初级阶段如何对待商品经济，以促使其更好地为社会主义服务的问题。人类文明新形态对资本的合理驾驭，创造性地回答了在现时资本“持续在场”的世界历史进程中如何引导资本助力社会主义文明建设。面对当前资本与全球化相互作用的时代趋势，中国共产党人深刻意识到：在社会主义初级阶段，生产力发展水平还尚不足以达到使资本退场的时机与程度，必须理性审视资本价值，既要激活“资本的文明面”，发挥资本在财富创造上的积极作用，又要形成对资本的有效制约，以规避资本贪婪的负面作用。对此，中国共产党明确将社会主义基本经济制度确定为“公有制为主体、多种所有制经济共同发展，按劳分配为主体、多种分配方式并存，社会主义市场经济体制等”。一方面，通过让市场在资源配置中起决定性作用和更好发挥政府作用，进一步解放和发展社会生产力，增强社会活力；另一方面，从生产关系这一中介入手，“用公有制及其资本形态驾驭传统的资本逻辑”，以社会主义市场经济“扬弃资本的社会属性，从根源上遏制资本的权力化，化解生产社会化与资本主义私人占有之间的固有矛盾”，从而在制度之维解构了资本主义文明的内在悖论，破除了资本异化的灾难性弊病，实现了对资本主义文明的超越和对传统社会主义文明的创新。

II. Development Path: The Special Path of Crossing the “Caudine Forks” and the New Direction of Chinese-Path Modernization

二、发展道路：跨越“卡夫丁峡谷”的特殊道路与中国式现代化的新路向

Marx and Engels not only pointed out the historical trend of the development of human civilization but also focused on the issue of the path of civilizational development. Initially, they believed that the “civilized countries” of Western European capitalism would, by virtue of their highly developed productive forces, become the flashpoints for proletarian revolution, thereby advancing the evolution of human civilization. Backward nationalities would be passively drawn into world history through the baptism of capitalist civilization and, enveloped in the capitalist world system, would embark on the path of modern civilizational development. Thus, at this stage, Marx and Engels’ understanding of the civilizational development path of backward countries was largely placed within the “dominance-subordination” relationship prescribed by capitalist civilization. However, in their later years, facing changes in the revolutionary situation in the East and the new circumstances emerging in Russia, they immediately shifted their research focus within the concrete historical environment, exploring the question of the path for Eastern societies to move toward socialist civilization. This led to further reflection and refinement of the dialectical relationship between the laws of civilizational development and the paths of development.

马克思恩格斯不仅指明了人类文明发展的历史趋势，也重点探讨了文明的发展道路问题。最初，他们认为西欧资本主义“文明国家”将率先凭借高度发达的生产力优势成为无产阶级革命的爆发点，进而推动人类文明的演进。落后民族国家将经由资本主义文明的洗礼被动卷入世界历史，在资本主义世界体系的裹挟中走上现代文明发展之路。可见，这时对落后国家文明发展道路的认识，马克思恩格斯更多地是将其置于资本主义文明所规设的“支配-从属”关系中。然而，到了晚年，面对东西方革命形势的变化以及俄国呈现的新情况，他们随即在具体的历史环境中做出了研究目光的转向，探讨了东方社会迈向社会主义文明的道路问题，使文明发展规律与发展道路的辩证关系被进一步反思与完善。

The development of human civilization is a historical process from lower to higher levels, from simple to complex, from backward to advanced. The historical transformation of civilizational forms is, in a certain sense, manifested as the replacement of social formations—this is the “eternal historical law” of the development of human civilization. However, as Marx said: “Abstractions in themselves, divorced from real history, have no value whatsoever… They by no means afford a recipe or formula for the construction of historical epochs.” [10]10 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–46), MECW, vol. 5, p. 37. The general law of the development of human civilization is not a dogmatic formula of the philosophy of history; it does not exclude the diverse choices of different countries on the path of civilizational development. In fact, for any specific, historical form of civilization, it can only follow a civilizational development path suited to its own national conditions, based on the particularities and differences of its natural environment, historical conditions, and cultural traditions. In his later years, in his letter to Vera Zasulich, through an investigation of the Russian rural commune and Russian social structure, Marx proposed a “theoretical possibility”: “The ‘rural commune’ in Russia can preserve itself by developing its foundation, the common ownership of land, and by eliminating the principle of private property that it also contains; it can become the direct starting point for the economic system toward which modern society is tending, and can gain a new life without having to commit suicide.” [11]11 Karl Marx, “Drafts of the Letter to Vera Zasulich” (1881), MECW, vol. 24, p. 346. The “Caudine Forks” (卡夫丁峡谷) is a historical metaphor from ancient Rome, referring to a humiliating defeat; Marx used it to mean avoiding the full capitalist stage of development. In his view, Russia had the hope of utilizing the favorable factors of the rural commune, with the support of the European proletarian revolution and by “appropriating all the positive achievements created by the capitalist system,” to cross the “Caudine Forks” of the capitalist system and move toward socialism, thereby inaugurating a new form of civilization different from capitalist civilization. This actually demonstrates that different nationalities can, while following the laws of the development of human civilization, explore different modes of realizing these laws according to their specific circumstances, forming special civilizational development paths. In the course of the development of human civilization, one must never use a “linear view of history” to deny the diversity and richness of civilizational development paths. Therefore, although capitalism inaugurated modern civilization, the path to modern civilization is not singular. From beginning to end, Marx and Engels strongly opposed the practice of discarding concrete historical environments and treating a “wholesale Westernization” civilizational plan as the only standard model for reaching modern civilization. This pointed the correct direction for backward countries seeking a civilizational development path suited to their own conditions within the context of world history.

人类文明的发展是一个从低级到高级、从简单到复杂、从落后到先进的历史过程，文明形态的历史嬗变在一定意义上表现为社会形态的更替，这是人类文明发展“永恒的历史规律”。但是，犹如马克思所言：“抽象本身离开了现实的历史就没有任何价值……它们绝不提供可以适用于各个历史时代的药方或公式”。人类文明发展的一般规律也不是教条化的历史哲学公式，它并不排斥各国在文明发展道路上的多样化选择。事实上，对任何一种具体的、历史的文明形态而言，都只能根据自身所处的自然环境、历史条件、文化传统的特殊性和差异性，走适合本国国情的文明发展道路。马克思晚年在给查苏利奇的回信中，通过对俄国公社和俄国社会结构的考察，提出了一种“理论上的可能”：“俄国‘农村公社’可以通过发展它的基础即土地公有制和消灭它也包含着的私有制原则来保存自己；它能够成为现代社会所趋向的那种经济制度的直接出发点，不必自杀就可以获得新的生命”。在他看来，俄国有希望利用好农村公社的有利因素，借助欧洲无产阶级革命的支援以及“占有资本主义制度所创造的一切积极的成果”，跨越资本主义制度的“卡夫丁峡谷”走向社会主义，从而开启一种不同于资本主义文明的全新文明形态。这实际说明了，不同的民族国家可以在遵循人类文明发展规律的前提下，依据具体情况的不同，探索规律的不同实现方式，形成特殊的文明发展道路。在人类文明的发展历程中，绝不能以偏概全地以“线性史观”否认文明发展道路的多样性与丰富性。因此，尽管资本主义开创了现代文明，但走向现代文明的道路并不是唯一的。马克思恩格斯自始至终都极力反对那种抛弃具体历史环境，将一种“全盘西化”的文明方案视作唯一走向现代文明的标准模式的做法，这为落后国家在世界历史条件下寻求适合自身的文明发展道路指明了正确方向。

The new form of human civilization created by socialism with Chinese characteristics has, in both theory and practice, confirmed the possibility Marx posited for backward countries to choose a special path toward socialist civilization. Relying on Chinese-path modernization, it has opened up a new direction for the development of human civilization and achieved a renovation and upgrading of the form of human civilization. The birth of the new form of human civilization is, in the final analysis, the product of the path of Chinese-path modernization. The essence of this path is “taking one’s own road.” There is no doubt that China has embarked on the road of modernization development under a historical background completely different from that of Western capitalist countries. If it were to completely copy capitalist civilization, not only would it be unable to fully enjoy the positive achievements created by that civilization, but it would instead destroy itself amid the negative effects of that civilization. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “The successful path of the Party’s century-long struggle was independently explored and opened up by the Party leading the people. The Chinese chapter of Marxism was put into practice by the Chinese Communists relying on their own strength. A basic point running through all of this is that China’s problems must be solved by the Chinese themselves, starting from China’s basic national conditions.” [1]1 The 20th National Congress of the CPC: The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in October 2022, at which Xi Jinping delivered a report outlining the Party’s guiding principles for the next five years and beyond. Therefore, the path to realizing modernization can only be chosen and explored by China itself. It is precisely in the process of exploring an independent and self-reliant path of modernization development that the civilizational substance contained in socialism with Chinese characteristics has been able to be profoundly highlighted, and the new form of human civilization has been able to be created.

中国特色社会主义创造的人类文明新形态，在理论与实践上确证了马克思关于落后国家选择特殊道路迈向社会主义文明的可能性，以中国式现代化为依托开辟了人类文明发展的新路向，实现了人类文明形态的革新升级。人类文明新形态的诞生，归根结底就是中国式现代化道路的产物。这条道路的实质，就是“走自己的路”。毫无疑问，中国是在与西方资本主义国家完全不同的历史背景下走上现代化发展道路的，倘若完全照搬资本主义文明，不但无法充分享受其创造的积极成果，反而会在这一文明的负面效应中将自身葬送。正如习近平总书记所指出的：“党的百年奋斗成功道路是党领导人民独立自主探索开辟出来的，马克思主义的中国篇章是中国共产党人依靠自身力量实践出来的，贯穿其中的一个基本点就是中国的问题必须从中国基本国情出发，由中国人自己来解答。”因此，实现现代化的途径只能由中国自己去选择和探索。正是在探索独立自主的现代化发展道路中，中国特色社会主义蕴含的文明底蕴才得以深层次地凸显出来，人类文明新形态才得以创造。

Although Marx and Engels, based on prudent consideration and prediction, put forward the “theoretical conjecture” of backward countries leaping over the “Caudine Forks,” [2]2 The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core: A standard formulation in Chinese political discourse, referring to the collective leadership of the Communist Party of China centered on Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Party Central Committee. they did not provide a detailed exposition of how socialist civilization should be consolidated and developed after the leap was completed. The opening up of the path of Chinese-path modernization and the new form of human civilization it has endogenously generated have, however, provided an indisputable scientific answer through the objective facts of existing reality. It should be acknowledged that in the early period of the exploration of socialist modernization, the experience of “taking the Soviet Union as a teacher” had historical inevitability. But after the drawbacks of the Soviet model became apparent, China began a turn toward independently exploring the path of socialist modernization. With the implementation of the strategy of reform and opening up, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics gradually took shape and has been increasingly developed and perfected. Over more than 40 years, under the guidance of Marxism, Chinese Communists have rationally grasped the world trend and the correct direction of the development of the times. Through reflection on the combination of “underdeveloped socialism” and “modernization,” on the basis of upholding the “correctness” of socialist civilization, they have kept pace with the times, broken through conventions, neither taking the old closed and rigid road nor the evil road of changing the banner, [3]3 “One-dimensional men” (单向度的人) is a concept from Herbert Marcuse’s *One-Dimensional Man* (1964), referring to individuals in advanced industrial society who are incapable of critical thought or opposition to the existing system. and unswervingly, in the integration of the basic principles of scientific socialism with China’s specific realities, opened up the path of Chinese-path modernization, laying the road foundation for the creation of the new form of human civilization. On the one hand, the path of Chinese-path modernization inherits the modernization pursuit of Western civilization, truly returning China’s socialism to the position Marx referred to as “pre-capitalist socialism” that needs to absorb the achievements of capitalist civilization, incorporating the positive factors of capitalism that conform to the trend of civilizational development into its own construction. On the other hand, in the integration of the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, it has promoted the adaptation of Marxism to the times and the modernization of Chinese civilization, realizing the rebirth of ancient Chinese civilization from the ashes, thereby creatively interpreting the question of how a large backward Eastern country, after completing the leap over the socialist civilizational form, can further advance the construction of socialist civilization, and forcefully demonstrating the strong vitality and influence of scientific socialism in the 21st century.

尽管马克思恩格斯基于审慎的思考和预测提出了落后国家跨越“卡夫丁峡谷”的“理论设想”，但他们并没有对完成跨越后社会主义文明究竟要如何巩固发展的问题做出细致的论述，而中国式现代化道路的开辟和其内生出的人类文明新形态则以现实存在的客观事实做出了无可争议的科学应答。应当承认，在社会主义现代化探索的初期，“以苏为师”的经验借鉴具有历史必然性。但苏联模式弊端显现后，中国便开启了独立探索社会主义现代化道路的转向。随着改革开放的战略实施，中国特色社会主义道路逐步形成并日益发展完善。40多年以来，中国共产党人在马克思主义的指导下，理性把握世界趋势和时代发展的正确方向，通过对“不发达社会主义”与“现代化”结合的思考，在守社会主义文明之“正”的基础上，与时俱进，突破常规，既不走封闭僵化的老路，也不走改旗易帜的邪路，坚定不移地在科学社会主义基本原则与中国具体实际的结合中开辟了中国式现代化道路，铺垫了人类文明新形态得以创造的道路基石。中国式现代化道路一方面承继了西方文明的现代化追求，使中国的社会主义真正回归到马克思所说的有待于吸收资本主义文明成果的“资本主义前的社会主义”的位置上，将资本主义符合文明发展趋势的积极因素融入自身的建设之中；另一方面，在马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合、同中华优秀传统文化相结合中，推动了马克思主义的时代化和中华文明的现代化，实现了古老中华文明的涅槃重生，从而创造性地诠释了落后的东方大国在完成社会主义文明形态跨越后如何进一步推进社会主义文明建设的问题，力证了科学社会主义在21世纪的强大生命力和影响力。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, [4]4 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, MECW, vol. 3, p. 299. the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has scientifically summarized historical experience, centered on major epochal topics such as “what kind of strong modern socialist country to build and how to build a strong modern socialist country,” continued to advance along the path of Chinese-path modernization, systematically expounded many forward-looking and creative ideological theories, endowed Chinese-path modernization with new epochal connotations and civilizational implications, and provided fundamental guidance for comprehensively building a strong modern socialist country and comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In response to the limitations and drawbacks of the one-dimensional development of capitalist material civilization, General Secretary Xi Jinping, based on the practical requirements of comprehensive reform, has incorporated the construction of ecological civilization into the overall layout of socialism with Chinese characteristics, made common prosperity for all the people an important component of building a strong modern socialist country, emphasized the mutual coordination of material civilization, political civilization, cultural-ethical progress, social civilization, and ecological civilization, focused on the universal sharing of development achievements, and concretely enriched the target connotations of Chinese-path modernization. Facing the development situation and characteristics at home and abroad in the New Era, the CPC has accurately grasped the pulse of the times, put forward the new “two-step” strategic arrangement, [5]5 This is a well-known statement by Xi Jinping, first articulated in his speech at the press conference following his election as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee on November 15, 2012. clarified the goal of basically realizing modernization by 2035 and the higher goal of comprehensively building a strong modern socialist country by 2050, comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, and drawn up a grand blueprint for a strong modern socialist country. In order to effectively respond to the many problems and challenges encountered in comprehensively deepening reform, the CPC has put forward the new proposition of “promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity,” [6]6 Karl Marx, *Critique of the Gotha Programme* (1875), MECW, vol. 24, p. 85. through perfecting and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, transforming institutional advantages into governance effectiveness, promoting the upgrading and development of modernization from the material level to the institutional level, and laying an important institutional foundation for the path of Chinese-path modernization. After achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects on schedule, the CPC has incorporated “comprehensively building a modern socialist country” into the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, [7]7 “The civilizing aspect of capital” (资本的文明面) is a phrase used by Marx in *Capital*, vol. 3, referring to capital’s historical role in developing productive forces and creating the material conditions for a higher social formation. achieving a progressive elevation of strategic goals and providing clear strategic guidance for the governance of the country in the New Era. Practice has proven that the path of Chinese-path modernization successfully opened up by the CPC leading the Chinese people is not only “a broad road rooted in the land of China, reflecting the will of the Chinese people, and adapting to the requirements of China’s and the times’ development and progress,” but also, unprecedentedly, has opened up a non-Western path to modernization for the vast number of developing countries, expanding their pathways to modernization, and “providing new choices for humanity to realize modernization.” [8]8 This formulation was established at the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017 and codified in the Chinese Constitution.

党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央科学总结历史经验，围绕着“建设什么样的社会主义现代化强国、怎样建设社会主义现代化强国”等重大时代课题，沿着中国式现代化道路继续前进，系统阐发了诸多富有前瞻性和创造性的思想理论，赋予中国式现代化新的时代内涵和文明意蕴，为全面建设社会主义现代化强国、全面推进中华民族伟大复兴提供了根本遵循。针对资本主义物质文明单向度发展的局限弊端，习近平总书记基于全面改革的实践要求，将生态文明建设纳入中国特色社会主义的总体布局中，把全体人民共同富裕作为建设社会主义现代化强国的重要内容，强调物质文明、政治文明、精神文明、社会文明、生态文明相互协调，注重发展成果的普惠共享，具象化地充实了中国式现代化的目标内涵；面对新时代国内外发展形势和发展特征，中国共产党准确把握时代脉搏，提出新“两步走”的战略安排，明确了到2035年基本实现现代化的奋斗目标和2050年全面建成社会主义现代化强国，以中国式现代化全面推进中华民族伟大复兴的更高目标，擘画了现代化强国的宏伟蓝图；为了有效应对全面深化改革遭遇的诸多问题与挑战，中国共产党提出了“推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化”的新命题，通过完善和发展中国特色社会主义制度，将制度优势转化为治理效能，推动了现代化建设由器物层面向制度层面的升级发展，奠定了中国式现代化道路的重要制度基础；在如期实现了全面建成小康社会的目标后，中国共产党将“全面建设社会主义现代国家”纳入“四个全面”的战略布局，实现了战略目标的递进提升，为新时代治国理政提供了清晰的战略指引。实践证明，中国共产党领导中国人民成功开辟的中国式现代化道路，既“是根植于中国大地、反映中国人民意愿、适应中国和时代发展进步要求”的康庄大道，也史无前例地为广大发展中国家开辟了一条通向现代化的非西方之路，拓展了它们走向现代化的途径，“为人类实现现代化提供了新的选择”。

III. Mode of Interaction: The Lawful Prophecy of “Two Poles Interconnected” and the Constructive Plan of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind

三、交往方式：“两极相联”的规律预言与人类命运共同体的建构性方案

In the work of Marx and Engels, the question of civilization is always unfolded within a holistic world-historical perspective, and an important aspect that cannot be avoided is the relationship between the “East” and the “West” in modern civilization. In the *Communist Manifesto*, Marx and Engels pointed out that with the opening up of world history and the development of universal interaction, capitalist civilization would inevitably break the relatively closed state of different national regions, “just as it makes the countryside subordinate to the town, so it makes the barbarian and semi-barbarian countries subordinate to the civilized countries, the peasant peoples subordinate to the bourgeois peoples, the East subordinate to the West.” [9]9 The quoted phrases are from contemporary Chinese Marxist scholarship on the socialist market economy. At that time, they believed that the conquest and transformation of backward civilizations by advanced civilizations was an inevitable law of historical evolution. However, after examining the specific circumstances of China’s Taiping Rebellion [10]10 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–46), MECW, vol. 5, p. 37. and the European revolutions, Marx broke through this one-dimensional path of exploring the relationship between human civilizations, profoundly revealed the interactive relationship between China and the Western world with the dialectical thought of “two poles interconnected,” [11]11 Karl Marx, “Drafts of the Letter to Vera Zasulich” (1881), MECW, vol. 24, p. 346. The “Caudine Forks” (卡夫丁峡谷) is a historical metaphor from ancient Rome, referring to a humiliating defeat; Marx used it to mean avoiding the full capitalist stage of development. and made a scientific prediction about China’s fate in the future human world.

在马克思恩格斯那里，文明问题始终是在整体性的世界历史视野中展开的，其中不可回避的一个重要方面就是“东方”与“西方”在现代文明中的关系问题。在《共产党宣言》中，马克思恩格斯指出，随着世界历史的开辟和普遍交往的发展，资本主义文明必将打破不同民族地域的相对封闭状态，“正像它使农村从属于城市一样，它使未开化和半开化的国家从属于文明的国家，使农民的民族从属于资产阶级的民族，使东方从属于西方”。此时，他们认为落后的文明被先进的文明所征服和改造是历史演进的必然法则。但在考察了中国太平天国运动与欧洲革命的具体情况后，马克思突破了这种探究人类文明关系的单向度路径，以“两极相联”的辩证思想深刻揭示了中国与西方世界的互动关系，并对中国在未来人类世界的命运做出了科学的预判。

In the mid-19th century, capitalist civilization began to open up world markets in backward countries, and the closed-off feudal China became a target of colonialism. Standing at the height of world history, Marx recognized that the frenzied aggression and brutal exploitation of China by Western powers, on the one hand, brought unprecedented great historical disasters to the Chinese people, and on the other hand, delivered the “order” of Western civilization to China, prompting its “barbaric, closed-door, isolated from the civilized world state to be broken, and it began to have contact with the outside world,”[22]22 “When successful, benefit the whole world” (达则兼济天下): A classical Chinese idiom from Mencius, expressing the ideal that a person who achieves success should use their position to benefit all under heaven. and would objectively stimulate the emergence of revolutionary factors within the nation, accelerating the disintegration of the feudal dynasty’s social system. The outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion[23]23 “The interconnection of opposites” (两极相联): A dialectical concept used by Marx, referring to the unity and mutual transformation of opposites, as in the opening of the Communist Manifesto. precisely responded to Marx’s prophecy. But Marx’s focus did not stop there; from the holistic perspective of world history, he regarded this revolution as an important component of the world revolutionary movement and believed it would inevitably have a profound impact on the European revolution and the entire human world. In his 1853 article “Revolution in China and in Europe,” Marx, borrowing Hegel’s dialectical thought of “the union of opposites,” i.e., “matter is the unity of repulsion and attraction,” specifically analyzed the counter-effect of China’s Taiping Rebellion on the European revolution. In his view, the Taiping Rebellion caused by European colonial aggression, due to its wide scope, would inevitably affect Western powers’ trade with China, making “the expansion of the market still fail to keep pace with the growth of British industry,” thereby to a certain extent triggering the “long-gestating general crisis” on the European continent and inspiring the European people’s “struggle for republican freedom, for a clean government.” Therefore, “while the Western powers, with the warships of England, France, and the United States, send ‘order’ to Shanghai, Nanjing, and the mouth of the Grand Canal, China sends turmoil to the Western world.”[24] In this sense, Marx predicted: if one pole of world history is the West, then the other pole is China, and the future fate of the Western world and the human world will largely depend on China’s fate. Thus, through his analysis of the world significance of the Taiping Rebellion, Marx had already foreseen that, with the formation of world history through universal intercourse and the strong invasion of capitalist civilization, China as the “pole” of world history would inevitably exert a significant influence on “civilized” Europe in a specific way. “Whether the principle of ‘the union of opposites’ is a universal principle or not, the likely impact of the Chinese revolution on the civilized world is a clear example of this principle.”[25]

19世纪中叶，资本主义文明开始向落后国家开拓世界市场，闭关自守的封建中国成为殖民主义的目标。站在世界历史的高度，马克思认识到，西方列强对中国的疯狂侵略和残酷剥削，一方面给中国人民带来了前所未有的巨大历史灾难，另一方面也将西方文明的“秩序”送到了中国，促使其“野蛮的、闭关自守的、与文明世界隔绝的状态被打破，开始同外界发生联系”，并将在客观上刺激民族内部革命因素的产生，加速封建王朝社会体系的瓦解。太平天国运动的爆发恰好回应了马克思的这一预言。但马克思的关注点不止于此，他从世界历史的整体视野出发，将这场革命视作世界革命运动的重要组成部分，并认为其必将对欧洲革命和整个人类世界产生深远影响。在1853年《中国革命和欧洲革命》一文中，马克思就借用黑格尔“两极相联”即“物质是斥力和引力的统一”的辩证思想，具体分析了中国太平天国运动对欧洲革命的反作用。在他看来，欧洲殖民侵略所导致的太平天国运动，由于波及范围之广，必将影响到西方列强的对华贸易，使“市场的扩大仍然会赶不上英国工业的增长”，从而在一定程度上引起欧洲大陆“酝酿已久的普遍危机”，激发欧洲人民“争取共和自由、争取廉洁政府的斗争”。所以，“当西方列强用英、法、美等国的军舰把‘秩序’送到上海、南京和运河口的时候，中国却把动乱送往西方世界”。在此意义上，马克思预言道：如果世界历史的一极是西方，那么另一极便是中国，西方世界和人类世界未来的命运，将在很大程度上取决于中国的命运。由此可见，通过对太平天国运动世界意义的分析，马克思已经预见到，随着普遍交往的世界历史的形成，面对资本主义文明的强势入侵，世界历史的中国一“极”必将以特定的方式对“文明”的欧洲产生重大影响，“‘两极相联’是否就是这样一个普遍的原则姑且不论，中国革命对文明世界很可能发生的影响却是这个原则的一个明显例证”。

The development of practice has provided the best footnote to Marx’s theoretical prediction of “the union of opposites.” Precisely based on the dialectical relationship of interconnection and interaction between China and the world, Deng Xiaoping made the great decision of reform and opening up after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee,[26] emphasizing that “building a country behind closed doors cannot succeed; China’s development cannot be separated from the world.” China, while adhering to the principles of socialism, should actively integrate into the international community, absorb and draw on all modern civilizational achievements created by capitalist societies, and achieve socialist modernization. Entering the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping further pointed out: “China’s door of opening up will

实践的发展为马克思“两极相联”的理论预判做了最好的注脚。正是基于中国与世界相互联系、相互作用的辩证关系，邓小平在十一届三中全会后做出了对外开放的伟大决策，强调“关起门来搞建设是不能成功的，中国的发展离不开世界”，中国应在把握好社会主义原则的前提下，积极融入国际社会，吸收借鉴包括资本主义社会创造出来的全部现代文明成果，实现社会主义现代化。进入新时代后，习近平总书记进一步指出：“中国开放的大门不会关闭，只会越开越大”，必须坚持高水平对外开放，加快构建以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局，着力推动高质量发展，促进共同富裕。随着对外开放的深入推进，中国特色社会主义取得了举世瞩目的辉煌成就，逐步冲破了资本主义文明塑造的“支配-从属”关系，日益走近世界舞台的中央。积极推动构建人类命运共同体使得我国国际影响力、感召力、塑造力显著提升，成为世界历史发展的重要引领力量。在马克思看来，中国与西方的相互关联和作用是以革命的形式呈现的，而今天人类命运共同体理念的提出及实践，则意味着在世界历史深入推进和全球化进程加速演进的历史背景下，两者之间的辩证关联和影响可以相互成就，从而形成全球共同繁荣、互利共赢的发展态势和结果。作为中国主动融入世界历史进程、推动世界历史变革的积极选择，人类命运共同体以和平开放的姿态重构了全球化时代的文明交往方式，提供了21世纪东西方不同文明和谐相处的中国智慧，从而开启了人类文明关系的新样态。

In modern times, by virtue of their first-mover advantage in modern civilization, capitalist countries have continuously opened up new market spaces in barbaric ways, forcibly incorporating backward countries into their own civilizational systems through forms such as colonial plunder and trade aggression, “compelling them to adopt what is called civilization” in their own territories, in order to seek the broadest possible “universal appropriation.” As Marx stated, from the day of its birth, capitalism was “written in the annals of mankind in letters of blood and fire.” To this day, the Western world still attempts to suppress dissidents with the norms and standards of capitalist civilization, trumpeting the superiority of Western civilization, fabricating arguments about confrontation and conflict between different civilizations, and bringing endless antagonistic divisions and disorderly chaos to the world. This narrow and confrontational mode of civilizational development has severely damaged the global civilizational ecology, hindered the development of civilizational diversity, and constitutes the fundamental shackle on the progress of human civilization. “Where should human civilization go?” “How exactly should human civilization be constructed?” “Conflict” or “coexistence,” “confrontation” or “dialogue”—these have become the common epochal issues facing the entire world.

近代以来，凭借在现代文明中的先发优势，资本主义国家不断以野蛮的方式开辟新的市场空间，通过殖民掠夺、贸易侵略等形式强行把落后国家纳入自己的文明体系，“迫使它们在自己那里推行所谓的文明”，以寻求最为广泛的“普遍占有”。如马克思所言，资本主义从其产生之日起，就是“用血和火的文字载入人类编年史的”。直至今日，西方世界仍试图以资本主义文明的规制和标准打压异己，鼓吹西方文明优越论，制造出不同文明对抗冲突的论调，给世界带来了无休止的对抗撕裂和无序混乱。这种狭隘对抗的文明发展方式严重破坏了全球文明生态，阻碍了文明多样性的发展，是人类文明前进的根本桎梏。“人类文明该往何处去”，“人类文明究竟如何建构”，“冲突”还是“共生”，“对抗”还是“对话”，成为全世界面临的共同时代课题。

Standing at the “crossroads” of changes unseen in a century in the world, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, grounded in the world situation where countries are interdependent and share weal and woe, focusing on the realization of the common interests of all humanity, “standing on the right side of history and on the side of human progress,” has put forward the Chinese solution of building a community with a shared future for mankind with the humanistic breadth of “when successful, benefit the whole world,” actively promoting the construction of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, thereby establishing a mode of civilizational interaction conducive to the common development of all humanity. First, the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind transcends the boundaries of ethnicity, nation, ideology, and culture, embodying a civilizational spirit of equal respect, recognition of differences, and harmony without uniformity, advocating the replacement of civilizational conflict with civilizational coexistence, effectively deconstructing the “theory of the superiority of Western civilization,” and opening a new path for promoting peaceful interaction in the world. Second, the community with a shared future for mankind follows the laws of human civilizational development and interaction, emphasizes exchange and mutual learning among different civilizations, advocates exchanges and cooperation between countries, highlights the diversity of human civilization, and points the way forward for the flourishing of human civilization. Finally, through the practice of the Belt and Road Initiative, the community with a shared future for mankind has formed strong and close ties with neighboring countries and the Western world, effectively driving the economic and social development of countries and regions along the route, building a practical platform for promoting international cooperation and win-win outcomes, establishing the era image of China as a responsible major country, and opening a path of opportunity toward global common prosperity. In sum, as a creative application and development of Marx’s dialectical thought of “the interconnection of opposites,” the community with a shared future for mankind is Chinese wisdom contributed by Chinese Communists, who rationally grasp the general trend of world development, to promote the sustainable development of human civilization. It heralds the generation of a new global civilizational concept and the opening of a new pattern of civilizational relations, manifesting the world significance of the new form of human civilization.

站在世界百年未有之大变局的“十字路口”，以习近平同志为核心的党中央立足于各国相互依存、休戚与共的世界局势，着眼于全人类共同利益的实现，“站在历史正确的一边，站在人类进步的一边”，以“达则兼济天下”的人类胸怀提出了构建人类命运共同体的中国方案，积极推动建设相互尊重、公平正义、合作共赢的新型国际关系，确立起一种有利于全人类共同发展的文明交往方式。首先，人类命运共同体理念超越了民族、国家、意识形态和文化的界限，蕴含着平等尊重、承认差异、和而不同的文明精神，主张以文明共生取代文明冲突，有力地解构了“西方文明优越论”，为推动世界和平交往开辟了新路径；其次，人类命运共同体遵循人类文明发展与交往规律，强调不同文明间的交流互鉴，倡导国家间交流合作，彰显了人类文明的多样性，为人类文明繁盛指明了前进的方向；最后，人类命运共同体通过“一带一路”倡议实践,与周边国家和西方世界形成了强有力的密切关联，并切实带动了沿线国家和地区的经济社会发展，为促进国际合作共赢搭建了实践平台，树立了中国负责任大国的时代形象，打开了通向全球共同繁荣的机遇之路。总之，人类命运共同体作为马克思“两极相联”辩证思想的创造性运用与发展，是中国共产党人理性把握世界发展大势，为推动人类文明可持续发展贡献的中国智慧，它昭示着一种新的全球文明理念的生成和文明关系新样态的开启，彰显了人类文明新形态的世界意义。

In summary, standing at the height of world history, Marx and Engels formed the basic views on the development of human civilization, revealed the inevitable trend of socialist civilization replacing capitalist civilization, explored the possibility of backward countries taking a special path toward socialist civilization, and predictively pointed out that China would exert a profound influence on world civilization through a dialectical relationship of interaction with the West. While inheriting the basic views of Marx and Engels’ theory of civilization, Chinese Communists have combined Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the finest traditional Chinese culture, achieving faithful innovation of Marx and Engels’ theory of civilization in terms of historical trends, development paths, and modes of interaction, creating a new form of human civilization and writing a new chapter in 21st-century human civilization. The creation of the new form of human civilization not only solves the questions of “where socialism is headed” and “where socialist civilization is headed,” but also points the way for the questions of “where human society is headed” and “how human civilization is actually to be constructed.” The opening up of a new face for socialist civilization, the opening up of a new path for Chinese-path modernization, and the opening up of a new mode of interaction for a community with a shared future for mankind have profoundly changed the trends and patterns of world development, demonstrated universal world-historical significance, and inaugurated a new narrative of human civilization. The new form of human civilization created by socialism with Chinese characteristics will surely continue to contribute Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength to guiding the positive turn of modern civilization and resolving the difficulties in the development of human civilization.

综上，马克思恩格斯站在世界历史的高度形成了关于人类文明发展的基本观点，揭示了社会主义文明取代资本主义文明的必然趋势，探讨了落后国家选择特殊道路迈向社会主义文明的可能性，并预判性地指出了中国将在与西方相互作用的辩证关系中对世界文明产生深远影响。中国共产党人在承继马克思恩格斯文明理论基本观点的同时，将马克思主义与中国具体实际相结合、与中华优秀传统文化相结合，从历史趋势、发展道路、交往方式等方面实现了对马克思恩格斯文明理论的守正创新，创造了人类文明新形态，书写了21世纪人类文明的新篇章。人类文明新形态的创造，不仅破解了“社会主义向何处去”、“社会主义文明向何处去”的问题，也为“人类社会向何处去”、“人类文明究竟如何建构”的问题指明了方向。社会主义文明新面貌的开创，中国式现代化新路向的开辟，人类命运共同体新型交往方式的开启，深刻地改变了世界发展的趋势和格局，展现出了普遍的世界历史意义，开启了人类文明的崭新叙事。中国特色社会主义创造的人类文明新形态，必将为引领现代文明的积极转向和化解人类文明发展难题继续贡献中国智慧、中国方案和中国力量。

(Author’s bio: Liu Hao, Assistant Researcher at the School of Marxism, Nankai University, and Specially Appointed Researcher of the Tianjin Municipal Universities Research Alliance for

（作者简介：刘昊，南开大学马克思主义学院助理研究员，天津市高校习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究联盟特约研究员）

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