Understanding Chinese-Path Modernization through the Lens of the Two Integrations

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “Chinese-path modernization is deeply rooted in fine traditional Chinese culture, embodies the advanced nature of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all outstanding achievements of human civilization, represents the direction of progress in human civilization, and presents a new picture different from the Western model of modernization; it is a completely new form of human civilization.” Therefore, our understanding of Chinese-path modernization must, from the grand historical scale of the cultural origins of Chinese civilization and the cultural model and development path it has created, truly and deeply reveal the inner necessity of its essential unfolding that differs from Western-style modernization, because it fundamentally guides the basic direction and internal logic of the modernization of the Chinese nation.

习近平总书记指出：“中国式现代化，深深植根于中华优秀传统文化，体现科学社会主义的先进本质，借鉴吸收一切人类优秀文明成果，代表人类文明进步的方向，展示了不同于西方现代化模式的新图景，是一种全新的人类文明形态。”因此，我们对中国式现代化的理解必须从中华文明之文化源头及其所缔造的文化模式与发展路径的大历史尺度上，真正深入呈现其不同于西方式现代化之本质性展开的内在必然性，因为它从根本上范导着中华民族之现代化的基本走向与内在逻辑。

The Influence of Cultural Models on Modernization

文化模式对现代化的影响

A cultural model is an organic whole and cultural configuration of values, behavioral norms, and modes of thinking that are internally coherent and logically self-consistent, created by the diverse civilizations of human society when responding to their respective survival needs through selectively strengthening or suppressing certain potential traits. A cultural model is not a collection of scattered cultural customs, but a unified whole formed by integrating various cultural elements according to a specific logic. This integration not only implies deep reflection on the nature of the universe, one’s own destiny, and social order, but also means that a specific cultural structure lays down the respective cultural tone for diverse human civilizations. Therefore, a cultural model not only deeply guides the value beliefs and spiritual temperament of each nation, but also internally determines the manifestation form and development direction of each civilization system. It possesses exceptionally strong vitality and continuity, opening up a visible cultural path for the modernization of human society.

文化模式是人类社会之多元文明在应对各自的生存需求时，通过选择性地强化或抑制某些潜在特质所造就的价值观念、行为规范、思维方式内部连贯、逻辑自洽的有机整体和文化构型。文化模式并非零散的文化习俗之集合，而是各种文化要素依照特定的逻辑整合而成的统一整体，这种整合不仅意味着对宇宙本质、自身命运、社会秩序的深度思考，更意味着以特定的文化结构为多元人类文明奠定了各自的文化基调。因此，文化模式既深层地范导着各个民族的价值信念与精神气质，亦内在地规定着各个文明系统的表现形态与发展走向，具有异常强大的生命力与传承性，为人类社会现代化的道路开辟了显在的文化路径。

Marx pointed out: “History is nothing but the succession of the separate generations, each of which exploits the materials, the forms of capital, the productive forces handed down to it by all preceding ones, and thus on the one hand continues the traditional activity in completely changed circumstances and, on the other, modifies the old circumstances with a completely changed activity.” [1]1 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–1846). In fact, the objects of this inheritance and change are not only materials, capital, and productive forces, but also the spiritual intercourse and cultural production based on them. “Religion, family, state, law, morality, science, art, etc., are only particular modes of production and fall under its general law.” [2]2 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*. They are mutually reinforcing and intertwined with the construction of social and political organizations. At the same time, culture includes not only practical culture directly tied to actual production and social order, but also idealistic culture that transcends real life and points to ultimate values. It expresses the ultimate life ideal of a nation, supports and regulates its civilization system, and also achieves its own renewal and reshaping in the transcendence of the finitude of individual life and social organizations facing the “whole,” thereby guiding the form and path of modernization within the value system and the structural system that carries it. This is particularly evident in the process of Western-style modernization. The external-transcendence, subject-object dualism cultural model of Western Christian civilization not only led to a structural system of binary opposition between ecclesiastical polity and secular polity, but also created a value system of otherworldly theological individualism. It defined the basic logic of Western-style modernization: from the 15th-century Renaissance, which transformed the relationship between humanity and God, using secular life to challenge religious authority; to the 16th-century Reformation, which, with a conscience facing God directly, deprived the church of its legislative power as God’s agent; to the 17th-century Enlightenment, which replaced God’s divinity with the subject’s reason, sweeping away the sacred teleology of the cosmos; until the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution and bourgeois revolutions occurred. The logic within this is nothing other than the embedding of modern factors into the value system and structural system of the Christian tradition, realizing the transformation of the dual structure of church and secular polity into the dual structure of state and civil society, and of otherworldly theological individualism into secular individualism.

马克思指出：“历史不外是各个世代的依次交替。每一代都利用以前各代遗留下来的材料、资金和生产力；由于这个缘故，每一代一方面在完全改变了的环境下继续从事所继承的活动，另一方面又通过完全改变了的活动来变更旧的环境。”其实，这种继承与改变的对象并不仅仅是材料、资金和生产力，还有以此为基础的精神交往与文化生产。“宗教、家庭、国家、法、道德、科学、艺术等等，都不过是生产的一些特殊的方式，并且受生产的普遍规律的支配”，它与社会和政治组织的构建互为表里、相互推进。同时，文化不仅包括与现实生产、社会秩序直接绑定的实用性文化，也包括超越现实生活、指向终极价值的理想性文化。它表达了一个民族的终极生活理想，支撑和调节着一个民族的文明系统，也在生命个体、社会组织面向“整体”的有限性超越中实现着自身的更新和重塑，从而在价值系统以及承载它的结构系统中范导着现代化的形态和道路。这一点在西方式现代化的进程中尤为明显。西方基督教文明的外在超越之主客二元论文化模式，不仅导致了教会政体与世俗政体二元对峙的结构系统，也造就了出世的神学个人主义价值系统。它规定了西方式现代化的基本逻辑：从15世纪的文艺复兴转换人神关系，以世俗的生活冲击宗教的权威；到16世纪的宗教改革以直面上帝的良心，剥夺教会代理天国的立法权；再到17世纪的启蒙运动以主体的理性代替上帝的神性，荡涤了宇宙苍穹的神圣目的论；直至18世纪发生工业革命以及资产阶级革命。其中的逻辑无非是现代性的因素嵌入基督教传统的价值系统、结构系统之中，实现教会与世俗政体之二元结构向国家与市民社会之二元结构、出世的神学个人主义向世俗的个人主义转变。

Cultural Models and Socialist Modernization

文化模式与社会主义现代化

Chinese civilization is a composite civilizational form with the Central Plains’ agricultural civilization as its main body, supplemented by steppe civilization and maritime civilization. It created a monistic, ethical-holistic cultural model of “the unity of Heaven and humanity” (天人合一). This cultural model not only formed, within the internal transcendence of the “family-state-all-under-Heaven” (家—国—天下) community, a holistic ethical network and communitarian value system extending from “humanity” to “Heaven” and from “family” to “all-under-Heaven as one family” (天下一家), but also carried the political legitimacy of “Heaven sees as my people see, Heaven hears as my people hear” (天视自我民视，天听自我民听), [3]3 A classical phrase from the *Book of Documents* (《尚书》), expressing the idea that the will of Heaven is manifested through the will of the people. the social normativity of “Heaven is watching when people act” (人在做，天在看), and the life meaning of the “three immortalities” (三不朽) of “establishing virtue, establishing merit, and establishing words” (立德、立功、立言). [4]4 A concept from the *Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals* (《左传》), referring to three forms of achieving immortality through moral virtue, meritorious service, and enduring words. More importantly, the ethical-holistic cultural model was also mutually reinforcing with the civilizational form of “great unity” (大一统). [5]5 A traditional Chinese concept of political and cultural unity, historically associated with the unification of the realm under a single sovereign and the integration of diverse regions and peoples. It not only achieved the integration of diverse cultures and the transformation of foreign cultures through three mechanisms—the pluralistic integration of “the unity of politics and religion” (政教一体), the absorption of elements through the “vortex effect” (旋涡效应), [6]6 A term used by some scholars to describe the centripetal force of Chinese civilization, which draws surrounding peoples and cultures into its orbit. and the cultural transformation of “internal transcendence” (内在超越)—but also, through the competition and integration of diverse ethnic groups within the “all-under-Heaven order” (天下秩序) in their pursuit of “matching virtue with Heaven” (以德配天), [7]7 A classical Chinese political and moral concept from the *Book of Documents*, holding that a ruler’s legitimacy depends on his virtue matching Heaven’s mandate. formed the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization: continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peacefulness. This created the common belief of the Chinese people that the territory must not be divided, the state must not be thrown into chaos, the nation must not be scattered, and the civilization must not be broken.

中华文明是以中原农耕文明为主体、草原文明与海洋文明为补充的复合型文明形态，它造就了“天人合一”之一元论伦理整体性文化模式。这种文化模式不仅在“家—国—天下”之共同体的内在超越中形成了从“人”到“天”、从“家”到“天下一家”的整体性伦理网络与共同体主义价值系统，也承载着“天视自我民视，天听自我民听”的政治合法性、“人在做，天在看”的社会规范性、“立德、立功、立言”之“三不朽”的生命意义。更为重要的是，伦理整体性的文化模式亦与“大一统”的文明形态互为表里，既以“政教一体”的多元整合、“旋涡效应”的要素吸纳、“内在超越”的文化改造三大机制实现了多元文化的融合与外来文化的改造，也以多元族群在“天下秩序”中“以德配天”的角逐与交融形成了中华文明之连续性、创新性、统一性、包容性、和平性的突出特性，从而缔造了中国人民之国土不可分、国家不可乱、民族不可散、文明不可断的共同信念。

The ethical-holistic cultural model guides the basic path of Chinese-path modernization and also brings about the modern transformation of traditional Chinese civilization. In modern times, China carried out various explorations under the historical mission of national salvation and survival. The Chinese people ultimately chose Marxism and the path of socialist modernization. This essentially came from the internal guidance of the cultural model of Chinese civilization. Not only are there profound correspondences between Marxism’s new collectivism, its theory of practical interaction, its social definition of humanity, its dialectics, and its communist ideal, on the one hand, and Chinese civilization’s communitarianism, the unity of knowledge and action (知行合一), [8]8 A key concept in Neo-Confucian philosophy, particularly associated with Wang Yangming, emphasizing the unity of moral knowledge and moral action. transcendence through reality, the dialectics of change and contradiction, and the ideal of great harmony (大同), on the other, but the “great unity” of Chinese civilization also provided a deep structural foundation for the socialist modernization path. Not only was the great harmony ideal of “all-under-Heaven as one family” transformed into the modern communist ideal, and the social structure of “the unity of politics and religion” realized the socialist transformation of the party-state institutions, Marxist ideology, party organizations, and grassroots units, along with the substantive transformation of people’s democracy, but the integrative force of “pluralistic unity” (多元一体) was also transformed into the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, a crisscrossing network of party organizations, and party members with lofty communist convictions. This created a new type of socialist state of great unity where the people are the masters of the country, and promoted the comprehensive development of various undertakings of socialist modernization. In essence, while Marxism writes its own Chinese form in the process of Chinese-path modernization, Chinese civilization also realizes its own modern transformation in the process of socialist modernization.

伦理整体性的文化模式范导着中国式现代化的基本路径，也造就着传统中华文明的现代转型。近代中国在救亡图存的时代使命中进行了各种探索，中国人民最终选择了马克思主义与社会主义现代化道路，这本质上就来自中华文明之文化模式的内在范导。不仅马克思主义的新集体主义、交往实践论、人的社会性规定、辩证法、共产主义理想与中华文明的共同体主义、知行合一、现实性超越、矛盾变化、大同理想之间大道相通，“大一统”的中华文明也为社会主义现代化道路提供了深层的结构性基础。不仅是“天下一家”的大同理想完成了向共产主义理想的现代转换，“政教一体”的社会结构实现了政党—国家机构、马克思主义意识形态、党组织—基层单位的社会主义转型与人民民主的实质性转换；“多元一体”的整合力量更转变为党中央的集中统一领导、纵横交错的党组织网络、具有共产主义崇高信念的党员群体，从而缔造了人民当家作主之新型大一统的社会主义国家，推进了社会主义现代化各项事业的全面发展。质言之，马克思主义在中国式现代化进程中书写着自身之中国形态的同时，中华文明也在社会主义现代化的进程中实现着自身的现代转型。

The Two Integrations as the Action Program for Chinese-Path Modernization

“两个结合”是中国式现代化的行动纲领

The Two Integrations—that is, integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with the best of fine traditional Chinese culture—are both our Party’s summary of experience on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the action program for Chinese-path modernization. If the First Integration means that Chinese-path modernization is a modernization that creates a new form of human civilization and embodies the essential requirements of socialism, then the Second Integration means that Chinese-path modernization is a modernization guided by the cultural model and structural system of Chinese civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “For thousands of years, the Chinese nation has followed a path of civilizational development different from other countries and nations. It is no accident that we have opened up the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; it is determined by our country’s historical heritage and cultural tradition.”

“两个结合”即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，既是我们党对中国特色社会主义道路的经验总结，亦是中国式现代化的行动纲领。如果说“第一个结合”意味着中国式现代化是创造人类文明新形态、体现社会主义本质要求的现代化，那么“第二个结合”则意味着中国式现代化是中华文明之文化模式与结构系统所范导的现代化。习近平总书记指出：“数千年来，中华民族走着一条不同于其他国家和民族的文明发展道路。我们开辟了中国特色社会主义道路不是偶然的，是我国历史传承和文化传统决定的。”

On the one hand, Chinese-path modernization, rooted in the value system of fine traditional Chinese culture—which esteems benevolence, emphasizes the people as the foundation, upholds good faith, advocates justice, values harmony, and seeks common ground [9]9 This phrase summarizes the core values of traditional Chinese culture, often cited in official discourse: benevolence (仁), people as foundation (民本), good faith (诚信), justice (正义), harmony (和合), and common ground (大同).—and in Marxism’s “people-centered” principle, is fundamentally different from Western-style modernization, which is capital-centered, follows the law of the jungle, leads to polarization, and relies on hegemonic power. Chinese-path modernization not only breaks the myth that modernization equals Westernization and opens up a path of modernization that is compatible with its own civilizational system, but the spiritual temperament of Chinese civilization also provides enlightening wisdom for capitalist modernization, which is mired in various difficulties. On the other hand, the construction of a new socialist modernity and the modernization of the national governance system, unfolding within a pluralistic and integrated structural system [10]10 “Pluralistic and integrated” (多元一体) is a concept from Chinese anthropology, originally used to describe the structure of the Chinese nation as a unified entity composed of diverse ethnic groups. and under the comprehensive leadership of the Party and the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, have created a crisscrossing, new pluralistic and integrated governance structure, as well as a cultural model of a new type of ethical wholeness based on pluralistic sharing. This model drives the development of various socialist modernization undertakings and the modern transformation of fine traditional Chinese culture. Consequently, Chinese-path modernization, guided by the cultural model and development path of Chinese civilization, presents a continuous cultural thread in the pairings of “the people are the foundation of the state” [11]11 “The people are the foundation of the state” (民惟邦本) is a classical phrase from the *Book of Documents* (《尚书》), an ancient Chinese text. with “whole-process people’s democracy,” “the unity of heaven and humanity” [12]12 “The unity of heaven and humanity” (天人合一) is a key concept in traditional Chinese philosophy, emphasizing harmony between nature and human society. with “harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature,” “one worries not about scarcity but about inequality” [13]13 “One worries not about scarcity but about inequality” (不患寡而患不均) is a saying from Confucius’s *Analects* (《论语》). with “common prosperity for all the people,” and “harmony among all nations” [14]14 “Harmony among all nations” (协和万邦) is a classical phrase from the *Book of Documents* (《尚书》), advocating peaceful coexistence among states. with “a community with a shared future for mankind.” It continuously advances the creation of the modern form of Chinese civilization.

一方面，植根于中华优秀传统文化讲仁爱、重民本、守诚信、崇正义、尚和合、求大同之价值系统以及马克思主义“人民至上”的中国式现代化，绝不同于资本至上、弱肉强食、两极分化、霸道强权之西方式现代化。中国式现代化不仅打破了现代化等于西方化的迷思，开辟了与自身文明系统相协调的现代化道路，中华文明的精神气质也为陷入各种困境的资本主义现代化提供了启示性智慧。另一方面，多元一体之结构系统中展开的社会主义新型现代性构建与国家治理现代化，在党的全面领导和党中央集中统一领导下，造就了纵横交错的、新的多元一体治理结构，以及多元共享的、新型伦理整体性的文化模式，这一模式推动着社会主义现代化各项事业发展和中华优秀传统文化的现代性转化。由此，中华文明之文化模式及其发展路径所范导的中国式现代化，在“民惟邦本”与“全过程人民民主”，“天人合一”与“人与自然和谐共生”，“不患寡而患不均”与“全体人民共同富裕”，“协和万邦”与“人类命运共同体”中呈现出连续的文化脉络，不断推进着中华文明现代形态的缔造。

(The author is a professor at the School of Marxism, Zhejiang Normal University)

（作者系浙江师范大学马克思主义学院教授）