Displaying the Dual Attributes of Chinese-Path Modernization from the Perspective of Grand History

When a country moves toward modernization and chooses a modernization path suited to itself, it must both follow the general laws of modernization and conform to its own actual conditions, possessing its own characteristics. Chinese-path modernization is precisely this. It has both the common features of modernizations in various countries and the distinctive features based on its own national conditions. Universality resides in particularity. How can we, through an in-depth analysis of the Chinese characteristics of Chinese-path modernization, reveal the common features of modernizations in various countries that it contains? Using the perspective of grand history to display the dual attributes of Chinese-path modernization is one way to reveal both its Chinese characteristics and the common features of modernizations in various countries.

一个国家走向现代化，选择适合自身的现代化道路，既要遵循现代化一般规律，也要符合本国实际，具有本国特色。中国式现代化正是如此。它既有各国现代化的共同特征，也有基于自己国情的鲜明特色。普遍性寓于特殊性之中。如何通过深入分析中国式现代化的中国特色，揭示其蕴含的各国现代化共同特征呢？运用大历史观来展示中国式现代化的双重属性，是揭示其中国特色与各国现代化共同特征的一个途径。

First, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of a huge population.

第一，中国式现代化是人口规模巨大的现代化。

This is a Chinese characteristic determined by China’s national conditions. Western countries also encountered population problems in the process of modernization, only in different forms. In the initial stages of industrialization and modernization, these countries faced the problem of insufficient urban and industrial labor. Their methods of resolution were: first, annexing land or helping peasants shed their dependence on the land, emancipating serfs, etc.; second, the Black slave trade; third, large-scale use of machine production and the factory system. Regarding the third method, Marx has a brilliant exposition: “The special skill of each individual machine-operator, who has now been deprived of all significance, vanishes as an infinitesimal quantity in the face of the science, the gigantic natural forces, and the mass social labour which are embodied in the system of machinery and, together with that system, constitute the power of the ‘master’.” [1]1 This is a quotation from Karl Marx, *Capital*, Volume 1, Chapter 15, Section 3, describing the subordination of the worker to the machine system under capitalism. It can be seen that in the development of capitalist industrialization and modernization, the interests of the working class and the peasant class were sacrificed in exchange for the progress of science and technology and the development of productive forces, in order to achieve the goal of substantial capital appreciation.

这是由中国国情决定的中国特色。西方国家在现代化进程中，同样遇到了人口问题，只是表现形式不同。这些国家在工业化和现代化起步阶段，遇到的是城市和工业劳动力不足的问题。其解决的方式，一是兼并土地或帮助农民解除对土地的依附关系、解放农奴等；二是黑奴贸易；三是大规模使用机器生产和实行工厂制。对于第三种方式，马克思有一段精彩的论述：“变得空虚了的单个机器工人的局部技巧，在科学面前，在巨大的自然力面前，在社会的群众性劳动面前，作为微不足道的附属品而消失了，科学、巨大的自然力、社会的群众性劳动都体现在机器体系中，并同机器体系一道构成‘主人’的权力。”可见，在资本主义工业化和现代化发展中，是以牺牲工人阶级和农民阶级的利益为代价，来换取科学技术进步和生产力发展，以达到资本大幅度增值目的的。

A huge population and extreme poverty were the historical legacy left by old China. This burdened New China’s industrialization and modernization with a heavy population burden from the very start. However, from the perspective of historical materialism, Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China believed that “of all things in the world, people are the most precious. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, as long as there are people, any miracle can be performed. We are refuters of Acheson’s counter-revolutionary theory. We believe that revolution can change everything. A new China with a huge population, abundant products, a comfortable life, and flourishing culture will soon arrive. All pessimistic views are completely unfounded.” [2]2 This is a quotation from Mao Zedong’s article “The Bankruptcy of the Idealist Conception of History” (1949), written in response to U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s *White Paper* on U.S.-China relations. This reflects the opposition between two views of population on the issue of modernization. One is a negative view of population, which regards population merely as a burden on modernization. The other is a positive view of population, which both acknowledges that a large population is a challenge and sees that the organized masses possess creativity and initiative that should not be underestimated. This population is a driving force for modernization in the transition from a large country in human resources to a powerful country in human resources, and it can potentially form an international market with competitive potential. The key lies in how to make good use of the precious resource of “the modernization of a huge population.” As the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out: “The modernization of a huge population of over 1.4 billion in our country, a scale exceeding the total population of all existing developed countries, is unprecedented in its difficulty and complexity. The development path and the methods of advancement will inevitably have their own characteristics.”

人口众多、一穷二白，是旧中国留下的历史遗产。这使新中国的工业化和现代化从起步之日，就背上了沉重的人口包袱。但毛泽东和中国共产党从历史唯物主义看来，“世间一切事物中，人是第一个可宝贵的。在共产党领导下，只要有了人，什么人间奇迹也可以造出来。我们是艾奇逊反革命理论的驳斥者，我们相信革命能改变一切，一个人口众多、物产丰盛、生活优裕、文化昌盛的新中国，不要很久就可以到来，一切悲观论调是完全没有根据的”。这里体现出了现代化问题上两种人口观的对立。一种是消极的人口观，把人口仅仅视作现代化的包袱；另一种是积极的人口观，既承认人口多是一种挑战，也看到组织起来的人民群众具有不可低估的积极性和创造力，是由人力资源大国向人力资源强国迈进的现代化动力，并且可能形成具有竞争潜力的国际大市场，关键看如何运用好“人口规模巨大的现代化”这个宝贵资源。正如党的二十大报告所指出的：“我国十四亿多人口整体迈进现代化社会，规模超过现有发达国家人口的总和，艰巨性和复杂性前所未有，发展途径和推进方式也必然具有自己的特点。”

Second, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all the people.

第二，中国式现代化是全体人民共同富裕的现代化。

This is both a Chinese characteristic that conforms to China’s national conditions and the will of the people, and an essential requirement of socialism. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “The essence of socialism is to liberate and develop the productive forces, eliminate exploitation and polarization, and ultimately achieve common prosperity.” One of the greatest achievements of modernization is the full utilization of social resources, the rapid growth of social wealth, and the swift enhancement of comprehensive national power. The problem that arises from this is: who will possess and who will share these fruits of modernization? The history of capitalist development shows that the capitalist mode of modernization can only solve the former problem. This is determined by the irrationality and inherent contradictions of the capitalist mode of possession. Not only can it not solve the latter problem, but it will also cause the problem of the gap between rich and poor to expand increasingly, evolving into an insurmountable social chasm, and ultimately distorting the development of the former problem, encountering the paradox of development that is “too tangled to unravel.” [3]3 This is a Chinese idiom (剪不断，理还乱) originally from the poet Li Yu of the Southern Tang dynasty, meaning a situation that is difficult to resolve or sort out.

这既是符合中国国情和人民意愿的中国特色，也是社会主义的本质要求。邓小平指出：“社会主义的本质，是解放生产力，发展生产力，消灭剥削，消除两极分化，最终达到共同富裕。”现代化的一个最大成果，是社会资源的充分利用、社会财富的快速增长、综合国力的迅速提升。而由此带来的问题，便是这些现代化成果由谁来占有、由谁来分享。资本主义发展的历史表明，资本主义现代化方式，只能解决前一个问题，这是由资本主义占有方式的不合理性和固有矛盾所决定的，他们不仅不能解决后一个问题，而且会使贫富悬殊问题日益扩大化，演变为不可逾越的社会鸿沟，最终还会使前一个问题畸形发展，遇到发展中“剪不断，理还乱”的悖论。

The choice of the socialist modernization path is a completely new modernization plan proposed in response to the shortcomings of capitalist modernization. Practice has proven that when the concept of common prosperity is put into practice, it will inevitably encounter various problems. At certain times, the wealth gap between groups and regions may even widen. However, as long as we unswervingly follow the path of common prosperity, adopt effective measures to safeguard the fundamental and long-term interests of the people, and establish an effective distribution system along with employment and social security systems, the phenomenon of “polarization” can be completely avoided.

社会主义现代化道路的选择，就是针对资本主义现代化弊端提出的全新现代化方案。实践证明，共同富裕这个构想在付诸实施过程中，必然会遇到这样那样的问题，甚至在一定时期群体之间、地区之间的贫富差距还会拉大，但是只要坚定不移走共同富裕的道路，采取维护人民根本利益和长远利益的有效措施，建立有效的分配制度和就业、社会保障制度，“两极分化”现象就完全可以避免。

At the same time, we must also properly handle the relationship between efficiency and fairness, and between vitality and order. We must accelerate the establishment of a social fairness guarantee system with equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules as its main content, break down the institutional and mechanistic barriers to class solidification, smooth the channels for social advancement, and effectively prevent the spread of harmful ideas such as contempt for labor, getting something for nothing, overnight wealth, reaping without sowing, and passive lying flat. This will enable Chinese-path modernization to not only create higher efficiency than capitalist modernization but also more effectively maintain social fairness, better achieving the mutual consideration, promotion, and unity of efficiency and fairness. It will enable Chinese-path modernization to achieve a dynamic balance of being active without chaos and orderly with vitality, overcoming the worldwide challenge in the historical process of modernization posed by the relationship between vitality and order.

同时，我们还要处理好效率与公平的关系、活力与秩序的关系，加快建立以权利公平、机会公平、规则公平为主要内容的社会公平保障体系，破除阶层固化的体制机制障碍，畅通社会上升通道，切实防止轻视劳动、不劳而获、一夜暴富、坐享其成、消极躺平等不良思想滋长蔓延，使中国式现代化既能创造出比资本主义现代化更高的效率，又能更有效地维护社会公平，更好实现效率与公平相兼顾、相促进、相统一，使中国式现代化实现活而不乱、活跃有序的动态平衡，攻克活力与秩序的关系这道现代化历史进程中的世界性难题。

Third, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress in coordination.

第三，中国式现代化是物质文明和精神文明相协调的现代化。

This is likewise both a Chinese characteristic that conforms to China’s national conditions and the will of the people, a fundamental requirement of socialism, and a common law of modernizations in various countries.

这同样既是符合中国国情和人民意愿的中国特色，也是社会主义的根本要求，还是各国现代化的共同规律。

After the successful bourgeois revolutions in Western countries, once they consolidated their political rule, they also faced the problem of establishing a moral system across society to maintain their rule and social order. After several hundred years of effort, Western countries finally, while establishing a legal system, constructed a social moral system based on Protestant ethics, liberalism, and individualism, and provided a complete system of humanities and social sciences as its scholarly support. This entire system of humanities and social sciences and social morality played a certain role in alleviating class contradictions and social contradictions, but it could not fundamentally solve various social contradictions and social problems. On the one hand, this is because the social moral system can only play a “treating the symptoms” role, powerless against the deep-seated social problems triggered by the inherent contradictions of capitalist society. On the other hand, it is also due to the hypocrisy and class limitations of the capitalist social moral system, which adopts a pragmatic double standard in moral yardsticks and measurement criteria, takes an extreme individualist value orientation in the relationship between benefit and principle, and between profit and righteousness, placing individual interests above social interests.

西方国家的资产阶级革命成功后，在巩固自身的政治统治后，同样面临着在全社会建立起维护自身统治和社会秩序的道德体系问题。经过几百年的努力，西方国家终于在建立法治体系的同时，构建起以新教伦理、自由主义、个人主义为基础的社会道德体系，并为这一道德体系提供了完整的人文社会科学体系作为学理支撑。这一整套人文社会科学体系和社会道德体系对于缓和阶级矛盾和社会矛盾起到一定的作用，但并不能从根本上解决各种各样的社会矛盾和社会问题。这一方面是因为社会道德体系等只能起“治标”的作用，对于由资本主义社会固有矛盾引发的深层社会问题无能为力；另一方面也是由于资本主义社会道德体系的虚伪性和阶级局限性，在道德尺度和衡量标准上采取实用主义的双重标准，在利与理、利与义的关系上采取极端个人主义价值取向，将个人利益凌驾于社会利益之上。

Material abundance and spiritual enrichment are the fundamental requirements of socialist modernization. Material poverty is not socialism, nor is spiritual impoverishment. Marxism is the soul of the CPC’s founding of the Party and the state, and the fundamental guiding ideology for governing and rejuvenating the country. In building socialist cultural-ethical progress, we must always adhere to the coordination of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress in the process of modernization, “uphold the fundamental system of Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological domain, adhere to serving the people and serving socialism, adhere to the policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, adhere to creative transformation and innovative development, take the core socialist values as the guide, develop advanced socialist culture, promote revolutionary culture, inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, meet the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, consolidate the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country, and continuously enhance the country’s cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture.”

物质富足、精神富有是社会主义现代化的根本要求。物质贫困不是社会主义，精神贫乏也不是社会主义。马克思主义是中国共产党立党立国之魂，是执政兴国的根本指导思想。建设社会主义精神文明，在现代化进程中要始终坚持物质文明和精神文明相协调，“坚持马克思主义在意识形态领域指导地位的根本制度，坚持为人民服务、为社会主义服务，坚持百花齐放、百家争鸣，坚持创造性转化、创新性发展，以社会主义核心价值观为引领，发展社会主义先进文化，弘扬革命文化，传承中华优秀传统文化，满足人民日益增长的精神文化需求，巩固全党全国各族人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础，不断提升国家文化软实力和中华文化影响力”。

After the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Development the new cultural mission of working together to create a new culture belonging to our era and to build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. This points the correct direction for more consciously and more actively achieving the coordinated development of material progress and cultural-ethical progress in advancing Chinese-path modernization, and also provides Chinese experience and Chinese solutions for developing countries seeking a non-capitalist path to modernization, in promoting their own cultural traditions and upholding cultural confidence.

党的二十大后，习近平总书记在文化传承发展座谈会上提出共同努力创造属于我们这个时代的新文化，建设中华民族现代文明的文化新使命。这为在推进中国式现代化中更加自觉、更加主动地实现物质文明和精神文明协调发展指明了正确方向，也为广大发展中国家在寻求非资本主义现代化道路中，弘扬本国文化传统、坚守文化自信提供了中国经验、中国方案。

Fourth, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature.

第四，中国式现代化是人与自然和谐共生的现代化。

Advancing modernization often comes at the cost of environmental degradation and the destruction of natural resources. In particular, the capitalist mode of modernization, aiming at the maximum appreciation of capital, often adopts short-sighted practices that drain the pond to catch all the fish. On this issue, General Secretary Xi Jinping has engaged in profound reflection on the "pollute first, treat later" path taken by Western modernization. He points out: "Since the advent of the industrial civilization era, traditional industrialization has developed rapidly. While creating immense material wealth, it has also accelerated the plundering of natural resources, disrupted the original cycles and balance of the Earth's ecosystem, and created tensions in the relationship between humanity and nature... In the more than 200 years of human modernization, no more than 30 countries have achieved industrialization, with a population of no more than 1 billion. To advance ecological progress in our country, the largest developing country with a population of over 1.3 billion, and to build a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful, the impact will be global in scope."

推进现代化，往往以自然环境的恶化、自然资源的破坏为代价。尤其是资本主义现代化方式，以资本最大限度地增值为目标，常常因目光短视而竭泽而渔。在这个问题上，习近平总书记对西方现代化走的“先污染、后治理”道路有过深刻的思考。他指出：“人类进入工业文明时代以来，传统工业化迅猛发展，在创造巨大物质财富的同时也加速了对自然资源的攫取，打破了地球生态系统原有的循环和平衡，造成人与自然关系紧张……在人类200多年的现代化进程中，实现工业化的国家不超过30个、人口不超过10亿人。在我们这个13亿多人口的最大发展中国家推进生态文明建设，建成富强民主文明和谐美丽的社会主义现代化强国，其影响将是世界性的。”

As the principal contradiction in our society has transformed into the contradiction between the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, the people's need for a beautiful ecological environment has become an important aspect of this contradiction. Humanity and nature form a community of life. The ecological environment has no substitute; it is taken for granted when in use, but hard to recover once lost. In advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must adhere to harmony between humanity and nature, uphold the green development concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, uphold that a good ecological environment is the most inclusive form of public wellbeing, uphold the building of a community of life for mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, uphold the protection of the ecological environment with the strictest systems and the most rigorous rule of law, uphold the joint pursuit of global ecological progress, and unswervingly follow a civilized development path of increased production, affluent living, and healthy ecosystems, so as to achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.

随着我国社会主要矛盾转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，人民群众对优美生态环境的需要已经成为这一矛盾的重要方面。人与自然是生命共同体。生态环境没有替代品，用之不觉、失之难存。要在推进中国式现代化中，坚持人与自然和谐共生，坚持绿水青山就是金山银山的绿色发展理念，坚持良好生态环境是最普惠的民生福祉，坚持构建山水林田湖草沙生命共同体，坚持用最严格制度、最严密法治保护生态环境，坚持共谋全球生态文明建设，坚定不移走生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路，实现中华民族永续发展。

Fifth, Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of peaceful development.

第五，中国式现代化是走和平发展道路的现代化。

The modernization of Western capitalism externally followed a path of aggression, expansion, colonization, and plunder, adhering to the logic that "a strong country is bound to seek hegemony," bringing endless disasters and painful memories to the peoples of the world. Particularly in the first half of the 20th century, two world wars broke out, high technology was used in large-scale warfare, causing immense suffering and setting human civilization back by several years.

西方资本主义的现代化对外走的是一条侵略扩张、殖民掠夺的道路，奉行的是“国强必霸”逻辑，给世界各国人民带来了无穷的灾难和痛苦的记忆。特别是在20世纪上半叶，爆发了两次世界大战，高科技被用于大规模战争，造成生灵涂炭，人类文明倒退了若干年。

Modern Chinese history is a history of misery and humiliation, of backwardness and being beaten, and also a history of great struggle by the Chinese nation to resist foreign aggression and achieve national independence. The Chinese people, who have endured hardship, cherish peace and will never impose the tragic experiences they once suffered on other nations. There is no gene in the blood of the Chinese nation for invading others or dominating the world. The Chinese people do not accept the logic that "a strong country is bound to seek hegemony" and are willing to live in harmony, develop harmoniously, and jointly seek, uphold, and share peace with the peoples of the world. China will not take the old path of some countries that achieved modernization through war, colonization, plunder, etc. That old path of harming others for one's own benefit, full of bloodshed and sin, has brought profound suffering to the peoples of developing countries. In the process of comprehensively advancing Chinese-path modernization and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China firmly stands on the right side of history and on the side of human civilization and progress, holds high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, seeks its own development while firmly safeguarding world peace and development, and in turn better safeguards world peace and development through its own development.

中国近代史，是一部充满灾难、落后挨打的悲惨屈辱史，也是一部中华民族抵抗外来侵略、实现民族独立的伟大斗争史。历经苦难的中国人民珍惜和平，绝不会将自己曾经遭受过的悲惨经历强加给其他民族。中华民族的血液中没有侵略他人、称霸世界的基因，中国人民不接受“国强必霸”的逻辑，愿意同世界各国人民和睦相处、和谐发展、共谋和平、共护和平、共享和平。中国不走一些国家通过战争、殖民、掠夺等方式实现现代化的老路，那种损人利己、充满血腥罪恶的老路给广大发展中国家人民带来深重苦难。中国在全面推进中国式现代化、实现中华民族伟大复兴的进程中，坚定站在历史正确的一边、站在人类文明进步的一边，高举和平、发展、合作、共赢旗帜，在坚定维护世界和平与发展中谋求自身发展，又以自身发展更好地维护世界和平与发展。

In summary, the Chinese characteristics contained in Chinese-path modernization are inseparable and highly unified with the common features of modernization in all countries. This inherent high degree of unity stems both from the dual attributes of modernization itself and from the historic achievements and historic transformations of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.

总之，中国式现代化所包含的中国特色与各国现代化共同特征是密不可分、高度统一的。这种内在的高度统一，既源自现代化本身的双重属性，也源自中国特色社会主义在新时代取得的历史性成就、发生的历史性变革。

(The author is a Distinguished Professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Marxism, Tsinghua University, and President of the Chinese Society of History.)

（作者为清华大学马克思主义学院特聘教授、博士生导师，中国史学会会长）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心