Originally published in China Youth Magazine, Issue 8, 2024
@韩子勇, Gao Jiabin
In his important speech at the opening ceremony of the seminar on studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that Chinese-style modernization is deeply rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, embodies the advanced nature of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, represents the development direction of human civilization progress, shows a new picture different from the Western modernization model, and is a new form of human civilization.
The modern civilization of the Chinese nation is a cultural form of Chinese-style modernization, a product of the mutual compatibility and mutual achievement of the basic tenets of Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, a product of the self-renewal and continuous growth of Chinese civilization, a new form of civilization created by socialism with Chinese characteristics, a product of dispelling the myths of Western modernization theory and the phantom of civilization, and the product of opening up and developing on the profound foundation of Chinese civilization for more than 5,000 years, and integrating the achievements of human civilization, and a confident answer to the question of "where is the Chinese nation going".
Modernization is not the same as Westernization
Modernization generally refers to the profound changes that have taken place in human society since the Industrial Revolution, that is, the transformation from a traditional society dominated by agriculture to a modern society dominated by industry. In this process, the development of productive forces and scientific and technological progress can be diverse. The earliest large-scale modernization was the modernization of the West, which completed the accumulation and expansion of capital through the great maritime discoveries, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. This process of capital accumulation is a process of colonial expansion, aggression and plunder, enslavement and oppression of other nations and countries, and a relationship of polarization and dependence has been formed within the country in the process of modernization. The industrialized suzerain, which was the first to complete the accumulation of capital, was in an advantageous position in the subsequent development, realizing its dominant position in the world political and economic structure, turning the colonial peoples into its economic vassals. With the surging national independence and liberation movements of the colonial peoples, the world colonial system of the old imperialism has collapsed, but the economies of Asian, African and Latin American countries are still unable to shake off their status as cheap raw materials and labor suppliers, and have been mired in political turmoil and economic dependence for a long time, making it difficult to achieve real modernization. After the Second World War, although the methods of the imperialist countries became more and more hidden, they still inherited their old mantle in their bones. In short, the modernization of the West, no matter what kind of banner and theory it uses to embellish and camouflage, can hardly hide its objective process of accumulation of bones and bloody oppression.
Western countries often see their own modernization as a one-size-fits-all model. In modern times, China has been stimulated by the expansion of the Western modernization model, and in order to get rid of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal predicament in which it finds itself, people of insight have eagerly explored the path of modernization. Whether it is the Wuxu Reform, the Westernization Movement, or the Old Democratic Revolution, they all regard the West as the coordinates of the road of the modern world and take the modern picture of the West as their return, without taking into account the actual situation in China, and the result is also a failure. Only the Communist Party of China has found a path of modernization that suits China's national conditions and can bring about national independence, people's liberation, national prosperity and strength, and people's happiness. The population of Chinese-style modernization is huge, and other countries that follow the path of Western-style modernization, whether in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, have never had a population base of 1.4 billion; Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people, and internal poverty alleviation and common prosperity do not rely on exploitation and plunder, but through scientific planning and resource pooling, relying on technological progress and income distribution adjustment to drive common wealth growth; Chinese modernization emphasizes the coordination between material civilization and spiritual civilization, and modernization is not only a solid warehouse, sufficient food and clothing, but also a knowledge of etiquette, honor and disgrace, and a high degree of unity between the comprehensive enrichment of things and the all-round development of people. Western-style modernization not only polarizes the rich and the poor at the material level, but also has the black dogma that the profit-seeking nature of capital trumps human nature at the spiritual level. In sharp contrast, China's modernization process has followed a path of orderly development, from the preparation of the "First Five-Year Plan" in 1953 to today's "14th Five-Year Plan", the national economy and society have been comprehensively planned, constructed and scientifically developed, people's material life and spiritual and cultural life have been greatly developed, forming an independent and relatively complete national economic system and cultural civilization system, and greatly promoting the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Chinese modernization pursues the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, emphasizing the coordination and promotion of urban and rural construction, economic development and ecological protection. The urbanization rate is one of the important indicators to measure modernization, but rapid urbanization will also bring many "urban diseases" and cause ecological damage. In the West, after the 60s of the 20th century, the urbanization rate reached more than 70%, but after that, many countries in Western Europe entered the stage of reverse urbanization. The growth of the urban population in the United States has not stopped, and the current urbanization rate is 83.3%. China is undergoing a stage of rapid urbanization, with the urbanization rate of permanent residents increasing to 66.16% by 2023. In this process, there were some early developments at the expense of the environment, but after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the concept of ecological prosperity, ecological decline and civilization decline, and lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and people-centered urbanization has been accelerated, and cities are healthier, safer and more livable. Different from the painful process of violent land enclosure in the process of modernization in the West, which forced farmers to turn into industrial manpower, China has accelerated the new urbanization without neglecting the vast rural areas. Since the beginning of the "Sixth Five-Year Plan", the Central Committee has formed the practice of caring for and developing agricultural and rural work in the "No. 1 Document" every year, from the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to put forward the rural revitalization strategy of "prosperous industry, livable ecology, civilized rural customs, effective governance, and affluent life", to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to "build livable, workable and beautiful villages". Rural areas have increasingly become an important carrier of modern life and a happy home for farmers to live a better life. In the process of modernization, urban construction and rural revitalization promote and integrate each other. China's modernization process has followed the path of peaceful development, while the path of Western modernization has been characterized by violence, exploitation and unjust warfare. In order to grab huge profits, he relied on strong ships and artillery to open the door of China, and looted real money and silver through criminal opium trafficking. In order to harvest free labor, some countries forced blacks to identify as slaves through ocean voyages and human raids, burying the bones of millions of black slaves in large estates. In order to seize land and resources, the rising fascist states launched militaristic wars of aggression to meet their huge needs for the resources needed for modernization.
In short, compared with the modernization of the West, the process of Chinese-style modernization covers nearly one-fifth of the world's population in terms of scope, and the scale can be called the only one in human history. With a relatively high peace index, a relatively high happiness index for reform, a relatively high justice index for development, and a relatively strong orderly planning, Chinese-style modernization has broken the myth that "modernization is Westernization" and presented another picture for the world: it does not rely on violent, bloody and unjust capital accumulation, does not sacrifice the ecological environment and does not exchange development for the alienated human spirit, restrains the greedy expansion of capital as much as possible in the process of development, reduces the gap between the rich and the poor, and never expands and dominates the outside world. Modernization is also possible.
Modern civilization is not equal to Western civilization
From the perspective of the concept of "civilization", modern civilization is the sum of the material and spiritual civilization of modern society. From the perspective of development, modern civilization is the result of modernization, and it is the comprehensive progress of human society in terms of material, system, ideology, and culture on the basis of modernization, including progress from traditional economy to modern economy, traditional political system to modern political system, traditional society to modern society, and traditional civilization to modern civilization. From the perspective of modernization practice, there should be the modern civilization of the West formed and developed on the basis of Western-style modernization, the modern civilization of Latin America established on the basis of modernization in Latin America, and the modern civilization of the Chinese nation formed and developed on the basis of Chinese-style modernization.
Some people always mistakenly think that the Western world is a world of extreme wealth and wealth, and that it was the first "pioneer" to start modernization, and naturally equate modern civilization with Western civilization. Among them, there are two obvious logical problems: one is to take Western civilization as the modern civilization, and naturally take the old and new civilization as the criterion for the modernization of civilization; Second, the speed of modernization development should be taken as the absolute criterion for judging whether civilization is modernized or not.
First, the old and new civilizations do not determine which civilization is easier to modernize. Western civilization is not necessarily a new civilization, and the continuous Chinese civilization is not necessarily an old civilization. The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations centered on the Mediterranean coast, the literature, poetry, science and technology, and art of ancient Greece, and the legal codes and Christian culture of ancient Rome have constituted the thick background of Western civilization, and have also created the tradition of contemporary Westerners to "call them Greco-Roman". The formal formation of Western civilization was nearly 1,000 years from the beginning of the 6th century to the end of the 15th century, laying the foundation for the basic characteristics of Western civilization, such as religion, language, pluralism, and representative system. Western civilization shifted from tradition to modernity, through the Renaissance, the Reformation, economic expansion, the emergence of the capitalist system, overseas trade, and after the 16th century, it was a civilization based on foreign trade and capital expansion. Samuel Huntington, who wrote The Clash of Civilizations, wrote a unique account of the relationship between Western civilization and modernization, pointing out that the West did not begin to modernize until the 17th and 18th centuries. But the West was the West long before modernization, and the main characteristics that distinguish the West from other civilizations arose before Western modernization. Huntington's narrative is a bit more categorical. Modern civilization is by no means standing on the opposite side of the achievements of previous civilizations and overturning all the things of the past and starting over, but a form of civilization built by integrating tradition and integrating modern practice.
Second, the speed of modernization does not indicate which civilization is better. There is no distinction between superior and inferior civilizations, but in some civilizations, there may be some characteristics that are more in line with the needs of modernization, and it is easier for a country to have a "first-mover" advantage in modernization. For example, Western civilization, starting with ancient Greece and Rome, is a typical maritime commercial civilization, pursuing trade, adventure, and wealth. Opportunity is at sea, wealth is at sea, and in the 14th century it was the Portuguese belief in wealth. China, which is looking for "gold everywhere", is one of the important motivations for them to start their nautical program, and it is an important driving force for the West to start modernization. In the process of modernizing the West, the desire for wealth of the new bourgeoisie has always been a powerful driving force, and the nature of profit-seeking has promoted the discovery of sea routes, as well as the reconstruction of the civilized order and the breaking of the old order, that is, the shackles of religious theocracy. The Renaissance and the Reformation followed, creating a favorable ideological environment for the modernization of Western civilization. Overseas expansion accumulated a large amount of capital necessary for modernization, provided an expanding market for industrial development, and promoted the large-scale machine production methods and technological innovations required by emerging markets, thus giving birth to the industrial revolution and the scientific and technological revolution, promoting the growth of the emerging bourgeoisie, and leading to the emergence of political revolutions. The Industrial Revolution established a new mode of production, which is the basic content of the modernization of Western civilization at the material level. The scientific and technological revolution has produced modern science and technology, which is the main content of the modernization of Western civilization at the cultural level. The political revolution overthrew the rule of feudalism and established the capitalist system, which is the fundamental content of the modernization of Western civilization at the institutional level. In this process, liberalism is an important driving force for the modernization of the West. The intrinsic factors of these civilizations are intertwined with each other, resulting in a series of superimposed reactions, thus promoting the great changes in the overall nature of Western society and accelerating the process of Western modernization. However, some characteristics of Western civilization, such as individualism, liberalism, the law of the jungle, and survival of the fittest, have also made Western modernization too utilitarian and materialistic. Just as Gu Hongming said, Western modern civilization is a kind of material materialist civilization, and all aspects of society run through the spirit of materialism, mechanism, and authoritarianism. Although the modernization of the West is extremely rich in material terms, it has many problems in terms of civilization and spirituality, and the continuous periodic crises and the two world wars are all derived from the West, and people have to deeply reflect on whether the West is the only standard of modern civilization and explore a new path of modernization.
New cultural mission in the new era
Chinese-style modernization is the result of long-term exploration by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people. It has the common characteristics of the modernization of all countries, and it also has Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions, emphasizing both material and spiritual prosperity, and is the modernization of the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization. The modern civilization of the Chinese nation is the concentrated embodiment of Chinese-style modernization at the civilization level, the concentrated embodiment of the socialist modernization civilization with Chinese characteristics, and a new form of civilization that is different from the modern civilization of the West.
On June 2, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the symposium on cultural inheritance and development: "It is our new cultural mission in the new era to continue to promote cultural prosperity, build a cultural power, and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation at a new starting point. It can be seen that the proposal and practice of the concept of "modern civilization of the Chinese nation" has special considerations at the time point, and it is inevitable to meet the needs of the times, conform to the law, and follow the general trend.
First, when the time comes. From the point of view of time, "building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation" was put forward at the critical moment when the new era started a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and marched towards the second centenary goal. After the glorious journey of the people led by the Communist Party of China over the past century, the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up, getting rich to becoming strong, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process. "Building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation" was put forward at the critical moment of advancing towards the second centenary goal, and it includes progress achievements in economic, political, cultural, social, ecological and other fields, and is an overall achievement.
Second, conform to the law. Judging from the law of the modernization process, modernization is the transformation of human material and civilization concentration to modernity, and is essentially the renewal and reengineering of material civilization and spiritual civilization. Western-style modernization overemphasizes the material aspect, resulting in the excessive erosion of capital on people's living conditions, and after experiencing the corresponding pains, some people are also constantly reflecting, hoping to promote the solution of the imbalance between material and spiritual, man and nature. In the process of Chinese-style modernization, the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is indispensable. Chinese-style modernization has endowed the Chinese civilization with modern strength, and Chinese-style modernization is the practical form of the new life of the Chinese nation. The Chinese civilization is one of the oldest civilizations, but it has also encountered the dust of civilization in modern times and almost fell into ruin. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the people of all ethnic groups to save the country, continue civilization, and seek new life, and China's path to modernization was launched under such dangerous internal and external conditions. The Chinese civilization has endowed Chinese modernization with a profound foundation, and the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is a new form of Chinese civilization to regain its glory. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and under the guidance of Marxism, the modern civilization of the Chinese nation has inherited the essence of traditional civilization and continued to evolve and develop, pointing out the direction for practice and clarifying the pursuit of values.
Third, follow the general trend. From the perspective of the general trend of national rejuvenation, the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is indispensable and irreversible. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly put forward the mission and task of "comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization", and the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is an important part of promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Judging from the law of the development of civilization, civilization is the product of the development of human productive forces to a certain stage, and the more developed the productive forces, the greater the possibility of civilization evolution. In the new era, the GDP has increased from 53.9 trillion yuan to 126.05 trillion yuan, and its share in the world economy has increased from 11.4% to more than 18%. The Chinese people are more confident, self-reliant, self-reliant, more ambitious, backbone, and confident, and can look up to the world at a glance. From the "subject three" that detonated the Internet and young foreigners rushed to learn to jump, to the "Fengshen Part 1" that entered the mainstream theaters in the West, was full, and it was difficult to find a ticket, Pinduoduo's overseas version of temu landed on four continents and dozens of countries overseas, and has become the world's second largest e-commerce giant after Amazon.
The "two combinations" are the only way for the Chinese nation to move toward modern civilization
It is the only way to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics on the basis of more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture. The modern civilization of the Chinese nation is a new form of civilization that has grown on the basis of the "two combinations," and adhering to the "two combinations" is the key condition for building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.
The modern civilization of the Chinese nation is the product of the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality. Civilization belongs to the category of practice, and takes sociality as its basic connotation. Engels said in The Eighteenth Century in The English Condition: "Civilization is a practical thing, a quality of society. Marx also used the sum of concepts, systems, behaviors, and social relations to explain civilization. These assertions reveal that civilization is the result of the creation, accumulation, and precipitation of human practical activities, and the degree of development of civilization fundamentally indicates the degree of human practice and the level of social development. Modern civilization is a collection of human practices and social development in the process of modernization, and different practices and social realities give birth to different modern civilizations, and the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is a collective form formed by the accumulation of various practical activities of Chinese-style modernization and the actual conditions of Chinese society. All theoretical innovations and practical creations carried out by the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, including material, political, spiritual, social and ecological civilizations, should be attributed to the "modern civilization of the Chinese nation", and the connotation of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation can be best embodied in Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has thoroughly summarized the fresh experience of the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and is a glorious example of the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality. Among them, Xi Jinping's cultural thought is a constantly unfolding and open ideological system, which will be enriched and developed with in-depth practice, which indicates that the modern civilization of the Chinese nation will continue to be updated with the practice of Chinese-style modernization, showing a new form of civilization.
The modern civilization of the Chinese nation is the product of the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture. When General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected Yinxu in Anyang in Henan Province in 2022, he pointed out: "I have been longing for Yinxu for a long time, and this time I want to learn and understand Chinese civilization more deeply, use the past for the present, and provide reference for better building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation." "Yinxu, the birthplace of Shang civilization, records the bronze culture in its heyday, and interprets the height of civilization established by our ancestors three thousand years ago. At the symposium on cultural inheritance and development held in June 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping once again explained the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, emphasizing: "Only by having a comprehensive understanding of the history of Chinese civilization can we more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, more effectively promote the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation." It can be seen that the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is inseparable from the exploration of the history of past civilizations and the transformation of traditional civilizations. The long-standing Chinese civilization is the source of innovation in modern civilization and the life code inherited from the mother body of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. During the period of China's old democratic revolution and new democratic revolution, the "theory of total westernization" and "the theory of the abandonment of Chinese civilization" were once very popular, and there was even a "movement" to abandon the use of Chinese characters and use Roman, Latin, and Esperanto, which once led Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation to a dead end. The Communist Party of China has dispelled this fallacy and promoted the nirvana of Chinese civilization. Rebirth. In the new era of reform, opening up and socialist modernization, the Party has pioneered the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. ”
The "two combinations" promote the renewal of life and the modern transformation of Chinese civilization. The "two combinations" are the fundamental way to promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, and are also the methods and ways to build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. The "two combinations," especially the "second integration," are our party's profound grasp of the law governing the development of Chinese civilization. Only through this combination can the tree of Marxist truth take deep roots, give new vitality to the fine traditional Chinese culture, and create a new cultural life for the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. "Combination" brings mutual fit and mutual achievement. Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, one west and one east, come from different sources, but they have a strong compatibility with each other, and the two resonate at the same frequency. "Integration" promotes the mutual achievement of the two, allows Marxism to absorb the core content of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, better integrate into a nation through the language and form of the nation, adapt to its cultural habits and cultural psychology, form the theoretical achievements of Marxism in China and the times, and guide the practice of Chinese-style modernization and the construction of civilization. For example, the value pursuit of Marxism and the traditional wisdom of "the world is in harmony", "God rewards diligence" and "being good for the rich" are in harmony with and combined with each other, showing the value pursuit of a new form of human civilization. "Combination" lays a solid foundation for the road. Every step of the development of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is based on China's national conditions and the practical exploration of Chinese culture, and it has also been transformed into the civilization achievements of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation. Combined with the traditional people-oriented thinking that the people are the foundation of the state and the government is supporting the people, our party has put forward the principle that "the country is the people, and the people are the country", and adhered to the people-centered development thinking, which has made the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics have a broader and far-reaching historical depth and expanded the cultural foundation of the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. "Combination" opens up the space for innovation. The transition from an ancient civilization to a modern civilization must inevitably undergo a profound cultural transformation, and the driving force of this transformation comes from oneself and can also come from the reference of others. The Chinese civilization has always been confident, open, tolerant and innovative, and the "combination" has broken through the boundaries between ancient and modern Chinese and foreign civilizations, allowing the Chinese civilization to continuously absorb nutrients throughout its 5,000-year history, and can also absorb the crystallization of civilization through exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations, so that the development space of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is more broad. "Combination" consolidates cultural subjectivity. This subjectivity was established by the Communist Party of China under the leadership of the Chinese people on the land of China; It was established on the basis of creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, the inheritance of the revolutionary culture, and the development of the advanced socialist culture, and on the basis of drawing on and absorbing all the outstanding achievements of human civilization. With cultural subjectivity, there is a firm self in the cultural sense, and cultural self-confidence has a fundamental basis. During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon, the whole people participated in Fujian's "Youshen" online, the New Year robe "Horse Face Skirt" became a hit, the Spring Festival Gala national style song "Shangchun Mountain" was accompanied by a folk dance, and the Lantern Festival Gala Cantonese opera and ballet jointly performed "Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon...... More and more traditional cultural elements are becoming the "choice" and trend of the public. Cultural subjectivity can be transformed into a solid cultural force and cultural foundation, providing spiritual power and cultural support for the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.
Just as no two leaves in the world are exactly the same, no two civilizations in the world are exactly the same. The pursuit of modernization is the trend of the world, and human civilization is moving towards modern civilization in this trend. In the tide of modernization, Western civilization is not the only "answer" for the transformation of modern civilization in various countries. Standing on the foundation of 5,000-year-old civilization, we have embarked on the great path of Chinese-style modernization by learning and drawing on all the outstanding achievements of human civilization with an open mind. Chinese modernization is still in progress, and Chinese civilization is also self-renewing and growing, and it will surely blend and cohesive in the nourishment of the "two combinations". All countries should join hands to create a modern civilization based on the common values of all mankind and build a community with a shared future for mankind, so that the flower of modern civilization can bloom in every corner of the world.
Han Ziyong
Gao Jiabin
(The author, Han Ziyong, is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a professor and second-level researcher of Shandong University of the Arts, and the winner of the 2nd Lu Xun Literature Award.) Gao Jiabin currently works at the National Arts Fund Management Center)
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