Introduction
In the middle of the 18th century, the "Jenny Spinning Machine" opened the curtain of the Industrial Revolution, and the Western countries began the process of modernization.
More than 250 years have passed, and the tide of modernization is still rolling forward. China, which was once plagued by disasters and storms, is embarking on a new journey of modernization full of glory and dreams under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
Chinese modernization is socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, which has the common characteristics of the modernization of all countries, and more importantly, the distinctive characteristics based on its own national conditions: it is the modernization of a huge population, the modernization of common prosperity for all the people, the modernization of the coordination of material civilization and spiritual civilization, the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and the modernization of taking the path of peaceful development.
Is there a model of modernization in the world that is fixed to one statue? Is there a one-size-fits-all standard for modernization? This report provides a negative answer with the theory and practice of Chinese-style modernization.
Based on the in-depth development of history, the report explores the century-old context and outstanding exploration of the CPC leading the Chinese people to achieve modernization. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has made great achievements in the fields of scientific and technological development, economic and ecological civilization construction, and has achieved world-renowned achievements.
The report summarizes the practical path of Chinese-style modernization: under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, follow its own path independently, make good use of the key measures of reform and opening up, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, achieve self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, and systematically promote various undertakings of modernization. Under the strong leadership of the world's largest Marxist ruling party, China will become a pioneer in the global exploration of green, low-carbon and high-quality development, a practitioner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and a doer who calmly responds to major changes unseen in a century.
According to the analysis of the report, Chinese-style modernization has created a new form of human civilization. Different from Western-style modernization, Chinese-style modernization abandons the supremacy of capital and pursues the supremacy of the people in terms of value orientation, falsifies the "final conclusion of history" in system construction, and constantly improves and innovates. On the development path, we will get out of "one-way" and "alienation" and move towards comprehensive coordination; In the form of democracy, we should not engage in democracy among a small number of people and realize that the people are the masters of the country; In terms of cultural identity, it never separates the tradition and insists on inheriting and innovating; We should refrain from unilateralism in global governance and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
The report pointed out that modernization is not only economic modernization, but also modernization of all-round human development. Chinese modernization has set an example for developing countries to move toward modernization independently, and has explored a way for developing countries to move toward modernization. The theory and practice of Chinese-style modernization have provided a brand-new choice for those countries and nations that wish to accelerate development while maintaining their independence, and have brought hope, strengthened confidence, and provided inspiration for more developing countries to explore a path of modernization suited to their national conditions.
The road is long and obstructive, and the line is coming; The sun rises in the east, and its path is bright.
Chapter I
The development process of Chinese-style modernization
Since its birth, the Communist Party of China has made it its original mission to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. Over the past 100 years, all the struggles, all sacrifices, and all creations that the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people to carry out can be summed up in one theme: realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. （1）
- Xi Jinping
Overlooking the Shenzhen Park of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone in the Hetao (photo taken on August 23, 2023). Photo by Liang Xu/This magazine
In 1921, in the South Lake of Jiaxing, a red boat raised the sails of China's century-old journey of modernization. "The beginning is simple, and the end is also huge", silent, but like thunder, the founding of the Communist Party of China has written a glorious beginning for the magnificent epic of struggle. From Shikumen to Tiananmen Square, from Xingye Road to Fuxing Road, all the efforts, all the struggles, and all the sacrifices made by our party over the past 100 years have been for the happiness of the people and the rejuvenation of the nation. Generation after generation of Chinese communists have led the Chinese people and the Chinese nation to explore and advance step by step on the road of pursuing Chinese-style modernization, promoting the cause of Chinese-style modernization to achieve great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, and making brilliant and outstanding contributions to the cause of human progress.
Elderly people practice calligraphy at the "One Old and One Young" Happiness House in Hehe Community, Hezhou Street, Fengcheng City, Jiangxi Province (photo taken on March 11, 2024). Photo by Zhou Liang/This magazine
1. The centennial journey has created a new glory of the times
In the development of human society, the Chinese nation has created a long and splendid Chinese civilization, which has stood tall among the nations of the world for a long time and made indelible contributions to the progress of human civilization. However, after the middle of the 17th century, bourgeois revolutions broke out in some Western countries, and the industrial revolution was completed one after another, and the bourgeoisie became rapidly powerful under the impetus of the new mode of production, and the bourgeoisie began the primitive accumulation of blood and fire and colonial plunder.
China, with its vast territory, abundant resources, and large population, has gradually fallen behind in the tide of world modernization, industrialization, and modernization, and has naturally become a market coveted and contested by the Western powers. Beginning in 1840, the Western powers continued to launch wars of aggression, forcing China to cede land, pay reparations, and greedily seize various privileges, which seriously inhibited China's economic development and modernization process.
"The country has been humiliated, the people have suffered, and the civilization has been dusted" (2) is a profound summary of China's forced involvement in the Western-led wave of modernization during this period. Countless people with lofty ideals have gone through countless hardships to try to learn advanced systems and technologies from Western countries and pursue China's path of prosperity and progress. In the process of modern China's pursuit of modernization, the Westernists represented by Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, etc., the reformist faction represented by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and the revolutionaries represented by Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing, in the process of modern China's pursuit of modernization, constantly tried various plans to save the country, but in the end they all ended in failure and failed to change the poor and weak appearance of old China.
The October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China with the sound of a cannon. Since then, the heavy responsibility of China's pursuit of modernization has historically fallen on the Chinese Communists. Under the leadership of generation after generation of Chinese communists, the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up, getting rich, and becoming strong. China's modernization process has achieved a historic transformation from being forced to be involved in Western modernization to leading the new trend of world modernization with the new path of Chinese-style modernization.
(1) 1921-1949: A Preliminary Study of Modernization in the Period of the New Democratic Revolution
In 1921, when the mountains and rivers were broken and slaughtered, the Communist Party of China was founded, and the Chinese people had hope to change their suffering and humiliation.
In the course of practice and exploration, the early Chinese Communists realized that the new productive forces could not be built on the basis of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism, and that China first needed a great social revolution. China's modernization must be based on the fundamental premise and foundation of striving for national independence and the people's liberation.
During this period, the Communist Party of China united and led the Chinese people in carrying out the new democratic revolution, established a new China in which the people were the masters of the country, achieved national independence and the liberation of the people, completely ended the history of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of old China, completely ended the history of a very small number of exploiters ruling the broad masses of working people, completely ended the situation of scattered sand in old China, and completely abolished the unequal treaties imposed on China by the great powers and all the privileges of imperialism in China. It has made a great leap from thousands of years of authoritarian politics to people's democracy, and created the fundamental social conditions for China's modernization.
(2) 1949-1978: Exploration of modernization in the period of socialist revolution and construction
The founding of the People's Republic of China was a historical turning point for China from modern decline to strength, and it created the premise for China to move forward in the direction of socialism and the goal of national modernization.
New China was established on the basis of poverty and whiteness, and China was extremely lacking in large-scale machine manufacturing and modern technology and equipment at that time. Mao Zedong once said vividly: "What can we build now?" You can make tables and chairs, you can make teabowls and teapots, you can grow grain, you can grind flour, you can make paper, but you can't make a car, an airplane, a tank, or a tractor. ”
In December 1953, Mao Zedong proposed the construction of "modern industry", "modernization of agriculture and transportation" and "modern national defense", and initially put forward the idea of realizing the "four modernizations". In September 1954, Zhou Enlai, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, for the first time clearly put forward the requirements of building a modern industry, a modern agriculture, a modern transportation industry and a modern national defense. At the first session of the Third National People's Congress, held from the end of 1964 to the beginning of 1965, Zhou Enlai officially announced to the people of the whole country the strategic goals of realizing the four modernizations of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology.
In order to achieve the strategic goal of "four modernizations", the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward a "two-step" development plan in 1964: the first step is to establish an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system; The second step is to comprehensively modernize agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology, so that China's economy will be at the forefront of the world.
Through the arduous struggle of the Chinese people, by the end of the 70s of the 20th century, China had established an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, and realized the first development strategy of the "four modernizations". The original theoretical achievements and tremendous achievements made in this stage have provided valuable experience, theoretical preparation, and material foundation for China's modernization drive.
(3) 1978-2012: a new situation of modernization in the new era of reform and opening up
At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, with the rise of a new round of scientific and technological revolution, modernization accelerated worldwide. The general trend of development at home and abroad requires the CPC to make political decisions and strategic choices as soon as possible on major policies that have a bearing on the future and destiny of the party and the country. In December 1978, the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee and made the historic decision to shift the focus of the work of the Party and the state to economic construction and implement reform and opening up. In March 1979, Deng Xiaoping proceeded from reality and creatively proposed "Chinese-style modernization". In December of that year, he also used the "moderately prosperous" rich in traditional Chinese cultural characteristics to interpret Chinese modernization, clarifying the level of modernization that China could achieve at the end of the 20th century, and thus "moderately prosperous" became a clear banner on China's road to modernization. In 1987, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formulated a "three-step" modernization development strategy: the first step was to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people by the end of the 80s of the 20th century; The second step is to make the people's living standards reach a moderately prosperous level by the end of the 20th century; The third step is to basically realize modernization by the middle of the 21 st century and reach the level of a moderately developed country.
In order to speed up the promotion of Chinese-style modernization, the Chinese communists have made bold explorations, successfully integrated the socialist system with the market economy, established the goal of reforming the socialist market economic system, and entered a new stage of reform, opening up, and modernization. On December 11, 2001, China formally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and deeply integrated into the process of globalization, which was an important milestone in the process of reform, opening up and socialist modernization on the mainland. China has taken the initiative to align with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and promoted trade liberalization and investment facilitation, which has injected strong impetus into the development of economic globalization and activated the "spring water" of the world economy while expanding opening up.
During this period, China achieved a historic breakthrough from a relatively backward productive force to the world's second largest economy, and a historic leap in the people's living standards from insufficient food and clothing to an overall well-off life and to an all-round well-off life, providing a new and dynamic institutional guarantee for Chinese-style modernization and the material conditions for rapid development.
(4) 2012 to the present: Chinese-style modernization in the new era is in full swing
In November 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, and socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era, and Chinese-style modernization was in full swing. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, on the basis of comprehensively summarizing and fully absorbing the experience of China's modernization, has continuously expanded the theoretical connotation of Chinese-style modernization, continuously promoted the practical development of Chinese-style modernization, and opened up a new realm of comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization.
-- In terms of understanding, we have deepened our understanding of the connotation and essence of Chinese-style modernization, summarized the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements and major principles of Chinese-style modernization, and initially constructed a theoretical system of Chinese-style modernization, making Chinese-style modernization clearer, more scientific, and more feasible. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which came into being under this historical background, has achieved a new leap in the Sinicization of Marxism and provided a fundamental basis for Chinese-style modernization.
-- Strategically, we have set a timetable for building China into a great modern socialist country in two steps, that is, to basically realize socialist modernization from 2020 to 2035; From 2035 to the middle of this century, China will be built into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful modern socialist country. The overall layout of the "five-in-one" of economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction and the "four comprehensive" strategic layout of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, comprehensively deepening reforms, comprehensively governing the country according to law, and comprehensively and strictly governing the party have been gradually rolled out, and a series of major strategies such as the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, and the strategy of rural revitalization have been further promoted, providing solid support for Chinese-style modernization.
-- In practice, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the whole Party and the people of the whole country to make unremitting efforts to promote historic achievements and changes in the cause of the Party and the country in the new era, especially to solve the problem of absolute poverty that has plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years, to achieve the first centenary goal as scheduled, to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, to create a miracle in the history of human poverty reduction, and to take a solid step towards the goal of common prosperity for all people.
A series of transformative practices, breakthroughs and landmark achievements in the new era have provided a more perfect institutional guarantee, a more solid material foundation, and a more active spiritual force for Chinese-style modernization.
After more than 100 years of unremitting struggle, the Chinese path to modernization has come out of the world and achieved initial success. The theory and practice of Chinese-style modernization proceed from the specific reality of China, endow the Marxist development theory with a new connotation of the times, integrate and absorb the essence of China's excellent traditional culture, and present a theoretical cognition that is different from that of Western modernization. Chinese modernization has shattered the myth of "modernization = Westernization" and enriched and developed the knowledge picture of the world's modernization theory.
"But it is arduous, so it is great; However, it is arduous and more glorious." On the road of continuing to push forward the new rush for Chinese-style modernization, the CPC will certainly be able to unite and lead the Chinese people to hand over an answer sheet that can stand the test of history.
2. Chinese modernization has changed China
The Communist Party of China has led the Chinese to complete the industrialization process that the western developed countries have gone through for hundreds of years in a few decades, and the cause of Chinese-style modernization has made brilliant achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, writing the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. China has leapt from a poor and weak backward country to the world's second largest economy, and has achieved a historic leap in comprehensive national strength.
(1) Complete poverty alleviation and realize the millennium dream of being well-off in an all-round way
Being moderately prosperous is the thousand-year-old dream and long-cherished wish of the Chinese nation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has put poverty alleviation in a prominent position in governance, given full play to the political advantages of the party's leadership and the socialist system, adopted many original and unique major measures, and organized and implemented the largest and most powerful poverty alleviation campaign in human history. By the end of 2020, all 98.99 million rural poor people under China's current standards had been lifted out of poverty, all 832 poverty-stricken counties had been lifted out of poverty, and all 128,000 poverty-stricken villages had been listed, and regional poverty had been resolved. （3）
On July 1, 2021, at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping solemnly announced that through the continuous struggle of the whole party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country, we have achieved the first centenary goal, built a moderately prosperous society in all respects on the land of China, historically solved the problem of absolute poverty, and are marching towards the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects.
The building of a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way has achieved the phased goal of China's modernization drive, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has taken a key step. China's achievements in poverty reduction have also made outstanding contributions to the world, contributing more than 70% to global poverty reduction, which is an important milestone in the development of human history. (4) At the same time, China's targeted poverty alleviation has promoted the theoretical and practical innovation of poverty alleviation, which has reference significance for countries facing similar challenges around the world, marking that the way of poverty eradication in human society has gone beyond the limits of capitalism, and the world history will turn a new page in the cause of realizing the true equality of mankind.
(2) Rapid economic development and a historic leap in GDP
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's economy has achieved a historic leap, with its gross domestic product (GDP) increasing from 53.9 trillion yuan in 2012 to 126 trillion yuan in 2023, and the total economic output is about 18 trillion US dollars at the average annual exchange rate, ranking second in the world, and contributing more than 30% to world economic growth on average.
-- Global economic growth has been driven by both quantitative and qualitative growth. Over the past ten years, China has accelerated its transformation from a manufacturing country to a manufacturing power, the service industry has ranked first in the national economy, green has become a bright background color for economic development, consumption has become the first major engine to drive the economy, the urbanization rate has increased steadily, food security, energy security and people's lives have been effectively guaranteed, and the "three new" (new industries, new formats, and new business models) economic added value has accounted for more than 17% of GDP. From 2012 to 2021, China's share of the world economy increased from 11.4% to more than 18%. Over the past decade, China has driven more global economic growth than the G7 combined.
-- Building a high-level open economic pattern. In recent years, China has continuously lowered the overall level of tariffs, continued to relax market access, continued to expand the scope, fields and levels of opening up, continued to innovate foreign trade methods, further relaxed market access for foreign investment, accelerated the formation of a high-level open economic pattern, and opened the door wider and wider, promoting global development and prosperity. China is already a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions(5) and a major source of investment for a growing number of countries. At a time when the world economic recovery is lacking, China's steadily improving economy has brought rare certainty to a world full of uncertainties and injected stronger momentum into the global economic recovery.
(3) Balance vitality and order, development and stability, and hundreds of millions of people will work together to ensure national peace and security
While achieving rapid economic development, the Communist Party of China (CPC) takes common prosperity as its value-oriented, pays attention to the relationship between efficiency and fairness, balances vitality and order, development and stability, satisfies the universal aspirations of hundreds of millions of people for peace and security, creates a good social environment for comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization, and provides stability and constructive factors for world peace.
-- National security has been strengthened in an all-round way. In the face of a more severe domestic and international situation, China has implemented the overall national security concept, continuously improved the national security leadership system, the rule of law system, the strategic system and the policy system, consolidated the material foundation of high-level security with high-quality development, ensured high-quality development with high-level security, and realized the benign interaction between high-quality development and high-level security. We have deepened the struggle against terrorism and separatism, and maintained "zero occurrence" of violent and terrorist incidents for six consecutive years (6). Promote the long-term peace and stability of Hong Kong and Macao and the steady and successful implementation of "one country, two systems". Through comprehensive measures and sustained efforts, we will effectively enhance the enthusiasm and initiative of the whole society to safeguard national security, and further consolidate the people's defense line for security in all fields.
-- Improving people's lives in all aspects. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has strengthened social construction with a focus on ensuring and improving people's livelihood, doing its best and doing what it can, doing one thing after another, year after year, and making continuous efforts to educate the young, educate them, earn income from their work, provide medical treatment for the sick, provide for the elderly, provide for the elderly, provide for housing, and support the weak. Since 1949, the average life expectancy of Chinese has increased from less than 35 years to 78.2 years, the people's education level has decreased from 80% to 2.67%, and the people's sense of gain, happiness and security has been effectively guaranteed. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has solved the problem of urban employment for more than 130 million people, and built the world's largest education, social security and medical and health systems.
-- The modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity has been continuously improved. As of the end of 2022, China has accelerated the reform of the social governance system, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, from "strengthening and innovating social management" to "innovating the social governance system", from building a "new pattern of social governance" to building a "social governance community", the governance subjects have become increasingly diverse and diverse, demonstrating the principle that everyone is responsible, everyone is responsible, and everyone enjoys. By the end of 2021, the coverage rate of comprehensive service facilities in urban communities will increase from 82% at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan to full coverage, and the coverage rate of comprehensive service facilities in rural communities will increase from 31.8% to 84.6%, and we will strive to achieve full coverage of comprehensive service facilities in urban and rural communities by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan.
exegesis
(1) "Xi Jinping: Speech at the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China," Xinhua News Agency, July 1, 2021.
(2) "Xi Jinping: Speech at the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China," Xinhua News Agency, July 1, 2021.
(3) "Xi Jinping: Speech at the National Poverty Alleviation Summary and Commendation Conference," Xinhua News Agency, February 25, 2021.
(4) Wang Zhidong, "New China's 70 Years of Development Achievements Have World Historical Significance", Guangming Daily, October 16, 2019, p. 6.
(5) "Xi Jinping's Keynote Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation," Xinhua News Agency, October 18, 2023.
(6) "Ministry of Public Security: The Mainland Maintains 'Zero Occurrence' of Violent and Terrorist Cases for 6 Consecutive Years", People's Daily Online, January 10, 2023, http://society.people.com.cn/n1/2023/0110/c1008-32603569.htm.
Chapter II
The practical path of Chinese-style modernization
Practice has proved that Chinese-style modernization is the only correct path for building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation. （1）
- Xi Jinping
A cargo ship slowly berths at a container terminal at Lianyungang Port in Jiangsu Province (photo taken on May 9, 2024). Photo by Geng Yuhe/This magazine
The success of Chinese-style modernization did not fall from the sky or emerge from the ground, but the CPC upheld its original mission and united and led the Chinese people to come out step by step, one pass after another, and one generation after another.
In leading the practice of promoting Chinese-style modernization, the Communist Party of China adheres to the overall leadership of the cause of Chinese-style modernization, adheres to the people-centered development philosophy, adheres to the path of independence, persists in reform and opening up, persists in the development of new quality productive forces, and persists in systematic advancement, so as to ensure the steady and long-term development of Chinese-style modernization.
In the theme square of Liuliao Village, Fushi Town, Rong'an County, Guangxi, town and village cadres and villagers are deliberating. Rong'an County, Guangxi Province, combines the construction of grassroots party organizations with villager autonomy to help rural revitalization (photo taken on January 5, 2024). Photo by Huang Xiaobang / This magazine
1. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the fundamental guarantee
Chinese-style modernization is socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The leadership of the Party has a direct bearing on the fundamental direction, future and destiny, and ultimate success or failure of Chinese-style modernization, and is the fundamental guarantee for the steady and far-reaching development of Chinese-style modernization.
(1) Ensure that Chinese-style modernization is smoothly promoted on the right track
The flag determines the direction, the direction determines the road, and the road determines the destiny. What banner to hold and what road to take is a fundamental issue in a country's development. The Communist Party of China (CPC) holds high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, unswervingly follows the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and ensures the smooth progress of Chinese-style modernization on the right track.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has continuously promoted theoretical innovation based on practice to provide scientific and theoretical guidance for Chinese-style modernization. We will continue to modernize the national governance system and governance capacity to provide a strong institutional guarantee for Chinese-style modernization. We will continue to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, and provide a strong spiritual force for Chinese-style modernization.
Xi Jinping pointed out: "Only by unswervingly adhering to the party's leadership can Chinese modernization have a bright future and prosperity; Otherwise, you will go off course, lose your soul, and even make subversive mistakes. ”（2）
(2) Ensure the steady and far-reaching implementation of the goal of anchoring Chinese-style modernization
The Communist Party of China (CPC) adheres to its original mission of seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation, and insists on unifying lofty ideals with phased goals.
Promoting Chinese-style modernization is a relay race of history. In particular, since the beginning of reform and opening up, China's goal of pursuing modernization has been consistent and gradual in an orderly manner, and has been continuously enriched and improved along with the development of practice. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) drew a grand blueprint for building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in an all-round way with Chinese-style modernization. This spirit of anchoring the goal of struggle from generation to generation has profoundly embodied the strategic determination and institutional advantages of the Communist Party of China.
(3) Gather the majestic force of building Chinese-style modernization
There is no hope in scattered sand, and only unity and unity have strength. In a big country like China, which has a large population and complex national conditions, in order to unite forces from all quarters to build modernization, it is first necessary to have a united and unified party.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has gradually developed from a small party with a few dozen members to a century-old party with more than 98 million members and a long-term ruling party in a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion. The Communist Party of China (CPC) insists on arming the whole party with the latest achievements of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, so that the whole party can unify its thinking, will and action.
Chinese-style modernization is the cause of hundreds of millions of people themselves, and the people are the main body of Chinese-style modernization. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has its roots in the people, its blood in the people, and its strength in the people, and it does not have any special interests of its own, does not represent any interest group, any powerful group, or any privileged stratum, and always represents the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people. The Communist Party of China (CPC) inspires, inspires and inspires people with the beautiful vision of Chinese-style modernization, effectively promotes harmonious relations between political parties, ethnic groups, religions, social classes, and compatriots at home and abroad, promotes the unity and struggle of the Chinese people at home and abroad, and gathers the majestic power of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.
2. Adhere to the people-centered development philosophy
Development is the eternal theme of human society. Modernization conforms to mankind's yearning for a better life and is the goal that all countries in the world are striving for. Chinese modernization adheres to the people-centered development philosophy, safeguards the interests of the people, enhances the well-being of the people, and continuously realizes that development is for the people, development depends on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people, so that the fruits of modernization can benefit all people in a more equitable manner.
(1) Persist in taking development as the first priority of governing and rejuvenating the country
The goal of modernization must be achieved through development. The Communist Party of China (CPC) adheres to the principle that "development is the first priority of the Party's governance and rejuvenation of the country", stresses that "development is the last word", "development is the key to solving all problems in China", and "concentrates on construction and wholeheartedly seeks development", and regards development as the main line of promoting Chinese-style modernization.
In the process of world modernization, Chinese modernization is a latecomer type of modernization. It is not easy for latecomers to catch up, and there are only a handful of successful countries. Many late-developing countries have fallen into various development dilemmas on the road to modernization. In the final analysis, how to maintain sustained and healthy economic development is a worldwide problem.
Since the reform and opening up, after more than 40 years of rapid development, China's economic aggregate has risen rapidly, and now it has ranked second in the world. In 2023, the per capita GDP of Chinese will be 89,358 yuan, an increase of 5.4% over the previous year, and the average annual exchange rate will reach 12,700 US dollars, remaining above 12,000 US dollars for three consecutive years.
(2) Continuously meet the people's growing needs for a better life
Governing the country is permanent, and benefiting the people is the foundation. Chinese modernization practices the people-centered development philosophy, adheres to the principle that development is for the people, development depends on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people, and constantly meets the people's growing needs for a better life, so that the fruits of modernization can benefit all people in a more equitable manner.
The country is the people, and the people are the country. Fighting the country and guarding the country is the heart of the people. Xi Jinping pointed out: "The people's yearning for a better life is our goal. "The Communist Party is to do things for the people, that is, to make the people's lives better day by day, and to live better and better year by year."
Under the guidance of this philosophy, China attaches great importance to ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the process of development, and has taken strong and effective measures to solve people's livelihood issues that are closely related to people's lives, such as education, employment, medical and health care, social security, and social stability, so as to continuously enhance people's sense of gain, happiness and security.
(3) Grasp the general logic of China's development of "three new and one high".
Chinese modernization is a work in progress, not a completion. Practice has proved that Chinese-style modernization is a broad road to building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation. However, the road is not equal to a flat river, and it cannot be achieved overnight. It will take arduous efforts to turn the grand blueprint of Chinese-style modernization into successful practice.
On the new journey, how to continue to write the miracle of development? China has put forward the development logic of "three new and one high": based on the new stage of development, implementing the new development concept, building a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development. That is, based on the new development stage of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, we will thoroughly implement the new development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international cycles reinforcing each other, and continue to promote high-quality development.
The new development stage anchors the historical orientation, the new development concept establishes the guiding principles, and the new development pattern points out the development path, and the three are unified in the theme of high-quality development. High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. In the past, China's development was more about solving the problem of "whether it is good or not", and in the future, it will pay more attention to solving the problem of "whether it is good or not", and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of development.
3. Independence is the only way to go
Chinese-style modernization is a unique path that the Communist Party of China unites and leads the Chinese people to be independent, explore for a long time, and make unremitting efforts to meet China's national conditions and meet the needs of the Chinese people. This is determined by China's national conditions and national nature, as well as the conditions of the times, historical orientation, and external environment in which Chinese-style modernization takes place.
(1) Rely on the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China and work together to achieve modernization
Chinese is a huge population and a developing country with a population of more than 1.4 billion, and in order to achieve common prosperity for all its people in the process of modernization, it will inevitably face complicated contradictions and problems. To handle and resolve these contradictions and problems, relying on the strong leadership of the CPC and the united struggle of all Chinese people is our only correct choice. Only by giving full play to the political advantages of the socialist system can we effectively arouse the enthusiasm of all quarters, concentrate forces on major tasks, and gather together a powerful synergy for modernization.
(2) Rely on the arduous exploration of all Chinese people to find their own way
Some developing countries have pinned their hopes on imitating and copying the Western path to achieve their own modernization, but in the end they have failed, because such imitation and replication ignore their own realities. After the 80s of the last century, some Latin American countries accepted the policy recommendations of the "Washington Consensus" in their entirety and implemented neoliberal reforms to varying degrees.
What is different is that China's modernization has always adhered to its own path, insisted on integrating with China's specific reality, and through continuous and arduous exploration, it has clearly defined the goals, tasks, basic characteristics, and essential requirements of Chinese-style modernization.
(3) Only by being independent can we avoid being controlled by others
If you want to be self-reliant, you must first be independent, and put your country's lifeline, future and destiny in the hands of others, not only will modernization come to naught, but may even eventually lead to the result of being slaughtered by others, collapse and extinction. For more than 100 years, the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people to persevere and relay struggle, overcome unimaginable difficulties one after another, and win one major victory after another. While the economy has continued to develop, the living standards of more than 1.4 billion people have continued to improve, and the CPC has achieved a well-off life in an all-round way, the ruling position of the Communist Party of China has been further consolidated, and the ship of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been steadily and far-reaching. All these achievements have been achieved under the condition of independence and self-determination.
Fourth, reform and opening up is a key move
Throughout the history of the world's modernization, economic modernization is not only the core content and material foundation of national modernization, but also an important power source for the entire modernization. China's reform and opening up, which began in 1978, is an important magic weapon for China to catch up with the times in great strides, a key move to determine the fate of contemporary China, and a crucial move to continue to promote Chinese-style modernization.
(1) Without reform and opening up, there would be no China today
Before the reform and opening up, China was once rigid and lagging behind the times. Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's socialist reform, opening up, and modernization, advocated China's reform and opening up with great political courage. He said: "If we do not carry out reform now, our cause of modernization and socialism will be buried." Deng Xiaoping regarded reform and opening up as an important way to liberate and develop the productive forces, and linked it with the future and destiny of Chinese socialism. After reform and opening up, the CPC led the Chinese people to emancipate their minds, seek truth from facts, boldly try and make bold reforms, constantly adjust production relations that are not suited to the development of productive forces, catch up with the times in great strides, and create a new world.
In Wuyi Village, Chengxi Street, Yiwu, Zhejiang, the new Chinese-style townhouses with white walls and black tiles are fashionable and elegant, making people mistakenly think that they have walked into the villa area in the city. Yiwu has taken the lead in carrying out the reform of the "separation of three rights" of rural homestead ownership, qualification rights and use rights, and has gone further under the premise of ensuring that "every household has a place to live" to realize the cross-village adjustment of homestead qualification rights and interests. Since the pilot, the reform has given farmers more property rights and activated 10 billion yuan of dormant assets in rural areas, providing new momentum for rural development.
Under the background of the current tortuous global economic recovery, the business environment of any country is good, the investment attraction is strong, the vitality of business entities there is high, and the endogenous growth momentum and resilience of the country's economy are good. China has vigorously promoted the reform of "delegating power, delegating power, delegating power, and improving services", creating a market environment of fair competition, so that state-owned enterprises dare to work, private enterprises dare to enter, and foreign enterprises dare to invest...... During the new crown epidemic, various localities have introduced various relief measures for market operators to help industry enterprises tide over the difficulties, and "green mountains are always there and full of vitality".
China's ranking in the World Bank's Doing Business report jumped nearly 50 places, up from 78th in 2018 to 31st in 2020, making it one of the top 10 economies in the world with the largest improvement in improving its business environment for the second consecutive year.
Reform and opening up are only in progress, not completed. At a new historical crossroads, extremely extensive and profound changes are taking place in China's domestic and foreign environment, and reform has entered the "deep water zone," and it is inevitable that it will encounter "hard bones" that are difficult to bite. In the future, to achieve Chinese-style modernization, we must unswervingly deepen reform and opening up in an all-round way. One of the important aspects is to adhere to the direction of socialist market economic reform, give full play to the structural advantages of the socialist market economy, and promote a better combination of an effective market and a promising government.
(2) Reform has a direction, a standpoint, and a principle
At present, China is constantly deepening the practice of comprehensively deepening reform, but comprehensively deepening reform does not mean that all reforms will be changed, China's reform has a direction, a position, and a principle, and resolutely reform what should be changed and can be changed, and resolutely not change what should not be changed and cannot be changed.
The socialist orientation is the fundamental direction of China's reform. The most fundamental stance of reform is the stand of the people. One of the clearest principles in China's reform is to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. These are all things that must be upheld and must never be changed.
On the premise of upholding and developing the socialist system, China's reform is to coordinate the "visible hand" and the "invisible hand" by adjusting the parts and links that are incompatible between the relations of production and the productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base, so that the socialist system with Chinese characteristics will continue to improve and the productive forces will continue to develop.
China has deepened the implementation of fair competition policies and strengthened anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition by innovating the supervision of market activities. For example, in the face of global problems such as the management of monopoly capital, on the premise of giving full play to the positive role of capital as a factor of production, China has improved the legal system, strengthened effective supervision in accordance with the law, and set up "traffic lights" for it, so as to prevent capital from turning from real to virtual and barbaric, and give better play to the important role of capital in promoting the development of productive forces, the creation of social wealth, and the protection and improvement of people's livelihood.
(3) Promote reform and development with high-level opening-up
Opening up to the outside world is an important driving force for China's economic and social development, and promoting reform and development through opening up is an important magic weapon for China to continuously make new achievements in development.
After the reform and opening up, China opened its door, seized the strategic opportunity of economic globalization and joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in line with the trend of world development, ushering in an economic take-off in its own efforts and global development.
Since the beginning of the new era, China has unswervingly expanded its opening-up, implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, built a global network of high-standard free trade zones, and formed a pattern of opening up to the outside world on a larger scale, in a wider range of fields and at a deeper level.
"Despite the challenges, U.S. and Chinese companies have shown great resilience." Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, brought a set of data: the total trade in goods between the United States and China in 2022 reached a record high; U.S. exports to China support nearly one million U.S. jobs. (4) According to a survey conducted by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, more than 60% of EU companies surveyed consider China to be one of their top three investment destinations. Woodke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said that the choice of EU companies in China fully reflects their confidence in the open Chinese market and "hopes to be part of China's development story".
Facing the future, "China's door to opening up will only get bigger and bigger".
further improve the legal protection system for intellectual property rights, and establish and improve laws and regulations on the protection of intellectual property rights in the context of the digital economy; The Foreign Investment Law and its implementing regulations have been promulgated, and the pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management system has been implemented, and the negative list for foreign investment access has continued to be "slimmed......
China has unswervingly promoted high-level opening-up, and continued to expand from the flow of commodities and factors to the opening up of rules, regulations, management, standards and other institutions. We will adhere to the correct direction of economic globalization, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, continuously enhance the impetus and vitality of Chinese-style modernization in the process of opening up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the world with China's new development.
Volkswagen Anhui MEB (Modular Electric Drive Platform) factory floor (photo taken on October 25, 2023). Photography / This magazine
Fifth, speed up the development of new quality productive forces
High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, and the development of new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development. The new quality productivity is the quality of advanced productivity in which innovation plays a leading role, gets rid of the traditional economic growth mode and productivity development path, has the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency and high quality, and conforms to the new development concept. It is born by the revolutionary breakthrough of technology, the innovative allocation of production factors, and the deep transformation and upgrading of the industry, with the basic connotation of laborers, labor materials, labor objects and their optimal combinations, and the substantial increase in total factor productivity as the core symbol, characterized by innovation, the key is high quality, and the essence is advanced productivity. (5) Accelerating the development of new quality productive forces is a strategic choice to seize the commanding heights of a new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, open up new fields and new tracks for development, cultivate new momentum for development, and enhance new competitive advantages.
(1) Scientific and technological innovation is the core element
Scientific and technological innovation can give birth to new industries, new models and new kinetic energy, and is the core element of the development of new quality productive forces. To develop new productive forces, it is necessary to strengthen scientific and technological innovation, especially original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation, accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, expand strategic emerging industries, and actively develop future industries.
According to the Global Innovation Index 2023 published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China is the only middle-income economy in the top 30, ranking 12th, and occupying three of the world's top five science and technology clusters. In 2023, the total expenditure on research and experimental development (R&D) will be 3.3 trillion yuan, with a ratio of 2.64% to GDP. (6) The main position of enterprise innovation has been further strengthened, and the number of high-tech enterprises in China has increased from 49,000 in 2012 to about 400,000, an increase of eight times, and the number of the world's top 100 scientific and technological innovation clusters has jumped to the first place in the world.
At the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin Binhai New Area, a "super brain" is running day and night. As China's first petascale supercomputer, hundreds of thousands of ordinary laptops can only catch up with its speed by computing at the same time.
From the first release of a global image of Mars to a supercomputer that achieves 10 billion calculations per second, China has continuously strengthened its originality and leading scientific and technological research, and promoted independent innovation to new highs. In recent years, China has continuously strengthened basic research and original innovation, solved the "bottleneck" problem, and achieved breakthroughs in some key core technologies.
From "Shenzhou Flying to the Sky" to "Jiaolong Entering the Sea", from "Chang'e Reaching the Moon" to "Tianwen Exploring Fire", from "Beidou Guiding the Way" to "Mozi Messenger...... The heavy weapons of a great power have witnessed China's pace of climbing the world's scientific and technological peaks.
The key to Chinese-style modernization lies in scientific and technological modernization, and accelerating the development of new-quality productive forces provides a solid material and technological foundation for Chinese-style modernization and high-quality development.
(2) Talent is the first resource
Talent is the most active and decisive dynamic factor in the formation of new quality productivity. In accordance with the requirements of developing new quality productivity, China is smoothing the virtuous cycle of education, science and technology, and talents, improving the guarantee of working mechanisms, intensifying talent training, and focusing on income distribution and incentives, further cultivating the soil for talent growth, creating a good atmosphere that encourages innovation and tolerates failure, and transforms the "key variables" of innovative talents into the "maximum increment" of accelerating the formation of new quality productivity.
In Qingdao, Shandong Province, a lidar device can turn wind field information within 10,000 meters into visual data through 3D scanning, which can not only observe the wind, but also predict the wind. This technology was produced at the Ocean University of China more than 20 years ago, and it provided meteorological support for the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Everest scientific expedition, but it did not leave the laboratory in time. In recent years, Shandong has optimized the allocation of resource elements, supported enterprises to cooperate with universities and scientific research institutes to carry out technical research, matched market development teams for scientific researchers, promoted the integration of experimental technology products and application scenarios, introduced angel investment, analyzed and judged scientific research achievements in accordance with market logic, and promoted scientific research achievements to market application. Today, wind lidar has empowered thousands of industries. In just five years, the annual output value of Qingdao Leice Chuangxin Technology Co., Ltd. has exceeded 100 million yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 70%. （7）
The full-time equivalent of China's R&D personnel has increased from 3.247 million person-years in 2012 to 6.354 million person-years in 2022, ranking first in the world, and the international academic influence of top scientific and technological talents has continued to increase, with the number of highly cited researchers in the world increasing from 111 in 2014 to 1,169 in 2022, ranking second in the world. （8）
(3) Develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions
China has a vast territory and a large population, and its resource endowments and development levels vary widely. The development of new quality productivity in China is not to ignore or abandon traditional industries, but to selectively promote the development of new industries, new models and new kinetic energy based on reality, transform and upgrade traditional industries with new technologies, and actively promote high-end, intelligent and green industries.
The robotic arm dances in an orderly manner in the air, cutting edges, quality checking, and labeling...... Walking into the rare earth steel cold-rolled plate factory of Baotou Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd., there are almost no people in the huge workshop, but all the equipment is working step by step, and an automated, intelligent and information-based factory comes into view. Although the downward pressure on the steel industry has been great in recent years, relying on the support of local policies and its own comprehensive transformation, Baotou Steel Group has not only turned losses into profits, but also found a new outlet for transformation with the help of new opportunities for the rapid development of new energy.
In order to accelerate the formation of new quality productivity, Guizhou has actively promoted the opening of application scenarios in various industries to HUAWEI CLOUD, and has selected eight major industries: soy sauce and wine, coal mining, chemical industry, non-ferrous metals, electric power, new materials, iron and steel, and building materials, as well as four major areas: urban intelligent transformation, rural digital construction, tourism scenario innovation, and convenient government services.
Sixth, as a system engineering to promote
Chinese modernization is a comprehensive modernization, involving all fields of economy, politics, culture, society, and ecological civilization, and is related to reform, development, stability, internal affairs, foreign affairs, national defense, governance of the party, governance of the country, and governance of the army. Correspondingly, the promotion of Chinese-style modernization is also composed of many fields, many links, and many levels, which need to be taken into account, systematically planned, and promoted as a whole.
(1) Promote Chinese-style modernization in systematic planning
Promoting Chinese-style modernization is a broad and profound social change, which often affects the whole body, and requires macro and systematic planning.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) not only made strategic arrangements for building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, clarified the goals of each stage and the timetable and roadmap for achieving the goals, but also accelerated the construction of a new development pattern, implemented the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, developed whole-process people's democracy, and adhered to the rule of law in an all-round way. 12 aspects, including the modernization of the national security system and capabilities, have made systematic plans and scientific arrangements for all aspects of work in various fields.
Promoting Chinese-style modernization is an unprecedented pioneering undertaking, many things are unprecedented, many unknown areas need to be gradually advanced, and many undertakings need to be advanced in exploration, growth in practice, and promotion in innovation. The Communist Party of China has always paid attention to handling the relationship between top-level design and practical exploration in promoting the development of the cause, not only giving full play to the leading, planning and guiding role of top-level design, but also constantly emancipating the mind, boldly exploring, crossing the river by feeling the stones, and supporting and encouraging the grassroots to carry out pilot experiments, such as supporting Shanghai Pudong New Area to build a leading area for socialist modernization, supporting Zhejiang's high-quality development and building a common prosperity demonstration zone, and Fujian, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Hainan have set up national ecological civilization pilot zones. In the synergistic linkage of top-level design and practical exploration, we will promote the steady and far-reaching development of Chinese-style modernization.
(2) Promote Chinese-style modernization in an overall manner
The systematic, holistic, complex, and arduous nature of Chinese-style modernization determines that it needs to be promoted in an overall manner and handle some major relationships.
-- Coordinate efficiency and fairness. On the one hand, it has continuously improved its economic strength and unleashed social vitality, achieving higher efficiency than capitalism and creating a miracle of rapid economic development. On the one hand, it effectively maintains social equity, adheres to the people-centered development philosophy, emphasizes common prosperity for all people, and coordinates the balance between urban and rural areas and regions, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate in the modernization process and enjoy the dividends of modernization.
-- Coordinating reform, development, and stability. On the one hand, we should enhance the vitality of development, grasp the interests of the people and comprehensively deepen reform, develop whole-process people's democracy, build social consensus extensively, innovate grassroots social governance, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people; On the one hand, it promotes order and stability, grasps the degree of social tolerance to determine the intensity of reform and the speed of development, realizes the organic unity of development vitality and stable order, and creates a miracle of long-term social stability.
– Coordinating development and security. On the one hand, we have always maintained a positive attitude, paid attention to grasping major historical and strategic opportunities, joined the World Trade Organization to integrate into the wave of economic globalization, and actively laid out a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation; On the one hand, we will continue to prevent and resolve major risks, improve the national security system, ensure the security of important industrial and supply chains, and prepare to respond to various "black swan" and "gray rhinoceros" events that may occur at any time.
(3) Promote Chinese-style modernization as a whole
Chinese modernization is a comprehensive modernization of economic, political, cultural, social and ecological civilization "five-in-one", they are not a simple juxtaposition, but complementary, highly coupled organic whole, counting on a single point of blasting, individual advance is impossible to achieve, only the overall advancement can be fully developed.
Modernization in each of the economic, political, and cultural fields also needs to be promoted as a whole. In the process of modernization, the reason why China has completed the industrialization process of developed countries for more than 200 years in only a few decades is that it has followed a "tandem" development path that is different from the sequential development of western developed countries from industrialization and urbanization to agricultural modernization and informatization, but a "parallel" development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization.
Of course, the overall advancement also needs to take a long-term view and broaden the horizon, it does not emphasize absolute uniformity, but on the basis of all aspects of the conditions step by step, step by step, pay attention to the overall advancement and key breakthroughs, and finally pursue comprehensive progress in all aspects, is a continuous struggle, generation after generation of historical process. Taking China's reform and opening up as an example, China's reform started from the countryside, then transitioned to the cities, and first developed from a single economic field to other fields. China's opening up began in the south, especially in the southeastern coastal areas, and gradually expanded to the north, central and western interiors, and the direction, level, and scope of opening up also gradually increased. After more than 40 years, China's reform and opening up is still being enriched and deepened, which is a portrayal of the overall promotion of Chinese-style modernization.
Promoting Chinese-style modernization is an undertaking full of hardships and challenges, which is extremely complex, and will encounter all kinds of foreseeable and unforeseeable difficulties. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has a clear understanding of this, has always adhered to the concept of systems, and has grasped the relationship between the overall situation and the partial, the current and the long-term, the macro and the micro, the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction, and the special and the general from the perspective of universal connection, comprehensive and systematic, and development and change, and has continuously improved its dialectical thinking and bottom-line thinking, improved its own governing ability and leadership level, and continuously injected impetus into the systematic promotion of Chinese-style modernization.
exegesis
(1) "Xi Jinping Delivered an 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, Emphasizing the Correct Understanding and Vigorous Promotion of Chinese-style Modernization, Chaired by Li Qiang, Chaired by Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qiding, Xue Xiang, and Li Xi Attended", Xinhua News Agency, February 7, 2023.
(2) "Xi Jinping Delivers 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, Emphasizing the Correct Understanding and Vigorous Promotion of Chinese-style Modernization, Chaired by Li Qiang, Chaired by Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qiding, Xue Xiang, and Li Xi Attended", Xinhua News Agency, February 7, 2023.
(3) The Party Group of the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China: "The Basic Trend of the Mainland's Economic Rebound and Long-term Improvement Has Not Changed", Qiushi, No. 3, 2024.
(4) "Engine, Confidence, Opportunity: Global Financial Celebrities Discuss China's Economic Development Prospects", Xinhua News Agency, March 26, 2023.
(5) "Xi Jinping Stresses Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productive Forces and Solidly Promoting High-quality Development at the 11th Collective Study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee," Xinhua News Agency, February 1, 2024.
(6) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(7) ""New" and "New" Xiangrong Strong Kinetic Energy - Observation on Shandong Accelerating the Cultivation of New Quality Productivity", Xinhua News Agency, January 28, 2024.
(8) "The full-time equivalent of R&D personnel in mainland China reaches 6.354 million person-years", Xinhua News Agency, December 15, 2023.
Chapter III
The distinctive features of Chinese modernization
In order for a country to move toward modernization, it must not only follow the general laws of modernization, but also conform to its own reality and have its own characteristics. Chinese modernization not only has the common characteristics of the modernization of other countries, but also has distinctive characteristics based on its own national conditions. （1）
- Xi Jinping
The 18-dong pastoral complex in 18-dong village, Shuanglong Town, Huayuan County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, photo taken on November 1, 2023. Photo by Chen Sihan/This magazine
Modernization is a comprehensive concept that is compatible with the industrialized large-scale production mode, including marketization, democratization, rule of law, urbanization and other aspects of development. Since the Industrial Revolution, the modernization of all countries has the common characteristics of the transition from tradition to modernity, but it also has its own characteristics.
Facts have proven that what kind of modernization path a country chooses is determined by many factors, such as its historical traditions, social system, development conditions, and external environment. Proceeding from its own national conditions, China has embarked on a path of modernization development with its own characteristics, created one brilliant achievement after another that has attracted the attention of the world, and demonstrated to the world the unique charm of Chinese-style modernization.
1. Modernization with a huge population
The large population base and the large difference in the development level between urban and rural areas have been the basic national conditions of China for a long time. More than 1.4 billion people have entered modernization as a whole, which is larger than the population of the existing developed countries combined, which determines that Chinese modernization is the largest modernization in human history, benefiting the largest number of people, and it is also the most difficult modernization.
(1) The greatest modernization that benefits the largest population
Chinese-style modernization, promoted in a large developing country with a population of more than 1.4 billion, is larger than the population of the existing developed countries combined, and it is a modernization with a huge population. At the beginning of the First Industrial Revolution, Britain had a population of less than 6 million; During the Second Industrial Revolution, the population of the United States was less than 80 million. By 2019, the total population of the world's modernized countries and regions was less than 1 billion. China, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, has entered a modern society as a whole, which will completely rewrite the map of the modern world. Therefore, Xi Jinping pointed out: "Our modernization is both the most difficult and the greatest." ”（2）
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has organized and implemented the largest and most vigorous poverty alleviation campaign in human history, and built a moderately prosperous society with the largest population and the largest scale in the history of mankind. Martin Jacques, a visiting fellow at Tsinghua University's Institute of Contemporary International Relations and a British scholar, believes that China's population size, sense of independence and identity, rich historical heritage, and outstanding political leadership have enabled it to achieve a Chinese-style path to modernization. Now, modernization is no longer the business of a small number of people, but something that more and more people may enjoy", "The era of the West is the age of the few, and the era of the future will be the era of the majority". （3）
(2) Sufficient human resources and super-large-scale market to accumulate development potential
Since the reform and opening up, a large number of rural surplus labor in China has shifted from agriculture to non-agricultural industries, especially manufacturing, releasing a huge "demographic dividend" and promoting the reallocation of resources between urban and rural areas, regions and industries. In the past 10 years, while accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, China has vigorously promoted the development of new business formats such as the network economy and the platform economy, and a large number of young people have entered the tertiary industry for employment. At the end of 2022, China had a workforce of nearly 900 million. In recent years, the average number of new urban jobs created in cities and towns has exceeded 12 million per year. (4) Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has implemented the employment priority strategy to eliminate unreasonable restrictions and employment discrimination that affect equal employment, so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their own development through hard work, and the per capita disposable income of residents has increased from 18,311 yuan in 2013 to 39,218 yuan in 2023, and the consumption level has been continuously improved. The huge consumer group and strong purchasing power continue to promote the transformation and upgrading of consumption, promote the formation of a unified circulation of super-large-scale market, and drive the huge development of infrastructure, transportation, information industry, service industry and so on. Sufficient human resources and a super-large market are valuable assets for promoting Chinese-style modernization and accumulating strong momentum for promoting high-quality development.
Meituan, a Chinese internet technology retailer, provides a model for China to solve the employment problem of its huge population. As China's largest localized technology retail company, Meituan has more than 200 life service scenarios such as food delivery, catering, hotels, and travel. Serving more than 9.3 million merchants and 680 million users in China, it not only attracts a large number of people to work, but also drives a large number of riders: more than 6.24 million riders earned income through Meituan in 2022, with an average of more than 1 million daily active riders, and from 2018 to 2023, the number of riders from key counties supported by the state increased from 120,000 to about 395,000, covering all 160 key counties. Like Meituan, well-known e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Dianping, and Ctrip have not only built a huge online market, but also become a huge platform for attracting people and employment.
(3) Start the largest and fastest urbanization process in the history of the world
Cities are important carriers of modernization. Before China's reform and opening up, less than 18% of China's population lived in urban areas. Since the reform and opening up, China has embarked on the largest and fastest urbanization process in the history of the world. Nowadays, in many eastern regions such as Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, urban and rural areas have been integrated; With the continuous promotion of the policy of large-scale development of the western region and the radiation of central cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Xi'an, many urban agglomerations in the western region have flourished, the development of urban-rural integration has accelerated, and the gap between urban and rural areas has shown a narrowing trend. According to the data, the urbanization rate of China's permanent population has reached 66.16% by the end of 2023. (5) The 14th Five-Year Plan released in 2022 proposes that China will adhere to the path of new urbanization with Chinese characteristics, further promote the people-centered new urbanization strategy, and promote the coordinated and characteristic development of large, medium, and small cities and towns based on urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas, so that more people can enjoy a higher quality of urban life.
With the improvement of basic conditions in rural areas and the attraction of various urban-rural integration policies, many rural areas in China are no longer representatives of backward productive forces, but a stage for entrepreneurship and innovation and a paradise for many urban talents. The combination of urban talents, capital and technology with the advantages of rural land and labor has injected new elements and new energy into the transformation of traditional agriculture, which not only meets the new needs of cities and citizens, but also enriches new forms of agriculture.
(4) Solve the diverse and complex demands of the huge population
Any small problem, if multiplied by China's population of more than 1.4 billion, can become huge. Behind China's huge population base are the differentiated interests of various regions, industries and groups, as well as the huge demand for food, medical care, education, elderly care, public security and other people's livelihoods, which has brought great challenges to China's modernization. China regards solving the people's urgent problems as the top priority of improving people's livelihood, and has always maintained historical patience, persisted in seeking progress while maintaining stability, gradual and continuous progress, and turned the demographic challenge into a scale advantage in modern development.
As a country with many people and little land, China has always regarded food security as the "big country", and in recent years, it has strictly regulated the balance of arable land occupation and compensation, implemented the balance of arable land in and out in a steady and orderly manner, firmly guarded the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land, and ensured that the Chinese's own rice bowl was secured. At present, China has built more than 1 billion mu of high-standard farmland, achieved "20 consecutive bumpers" in grain production, and maintained a total output of more than 1.3 trillion jin for nine consecutive years, with a self-sufficiency rate of more than 100 percent and a per capita grain share of 490 kilograms, higher than the internationally recognized food security line of 400 kilograms. （6）
China has been recognized by the international community as one of the safest countries in the world when it comes to responding to residents' demands for personal safety. China has consistently strengthened the comprehensive management of public order and promoted the elimination of organized crime and vice in depth, with the total number of criminal cases, major criminal cases, and the number of public security cases investigated and dealt with declining year after year. Today, at night, residents of China's cities walk freely, exercise and play in the streets and parks. On the well-known Chinese video app "Bilibili", a foreign youth said: "People often ignore China's shining points because they don't have a tolerant attitude towards China and don't want to experience it." Security is one of China's shining points. ”
In Tangbei Village, Tangqi Town, Linping District, Hangzhou, the staff of the Silkworm Niang Gongfu Workshop introduced Tangqi loquat and loquat derivative products to the audience through a live broadcast (photo taken on May 11, 2024). Photo by Xu Yu/This magazine
2. Modernization of common prosperity for all the people
Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the unswerving goal of the Chinese Communists. Chinese modernization is committed to making the fruits of development more and more equitable to all people, continuously meeting the people's growing needs for a better life, promoting common prosperity, preventing polarization, and achieving social harmony, stability and sustainable economic development.
(1) "No one can be left behind"
From Lao Tzu's "making up for the deficiency due to the surplus of losses" to Confucius's "not suffering from widowhood but suffering from unevenness", from Guan Zhong's "all ways to govern the country must first enrich the people" to the "Datong" society depicted in "The Book of Rites and Rites...... Throughout the more than 5,000 years of civilization of the Chinese nation, the ideal of common prosperity is deeply rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
The Communist Party of China (CPC), which inherits and carries forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, regards the realization of common prosperity for all the people as an important goal, and adheres to the principle that development is for the people, development depends on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people. Mao Zedong proposed, "This wealth is common wealth, this strength is common strength, and everyone has a share"; Deng Xiaoping emphasized that "let some people and some regions get rich first, and the main principle is common prosperity"; Xi Jinping pointed out that "the common prosperity we are talking about is the common prosperity of all the people, the prosperity of the material and spiritual life of the people, not the prosperity of a few, nor the uniform egalitarianism." For the Communist Party of China (CPC), which comes from the people, represents the people, and is always committed to serving the people, common prosperity is not only a long-term goal, but also a practical action.
China has not only historically solved the problem of absolute poverty and built a moderately prosperous society in all respects, but has also continuously improved the living standards of all its people by promoting Chinese-style modernization. At present, there are more than 400 million middle-income people in China, and the per capita disposable income of residents exceeds 39,000 yuan.
A pilot, a set of data, vividly showing the "Chinese sample" of common prosperity: in 2023, Zhejiang's high-quality development and construction of common prosperity demonstration zone, the per capita disposable income of residents will reach 63,800 yuan, (8) the income ratio of urban and rural residents will drop from 2.37 in 2012 to 1.86 in 2023.
(2) Weaving the world's largest social safety net
People's livelihood is an important manifestation and basic content of common prosperity. Chinese modernization adheres to doing its best and doing what it can, and tilts towards rural, grassroots and underdeveloped areas in terms of employment, education, social security, medical care, etc., as well as to the people in need, so as to consolidate the basic guarantee of common prosperity.
At present, China has built the world's largest education, social security and medical and health systems. Statistics for 2023 show that the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education and the gross enrolment rate at the senior secondary level will reach 95.7% and 91.8% respectively. Nearly 1.1 billion people are covered by basic old-age insurance, more than 1.3 billion people are covered by medical insurance, and 44 million people are included in the scope of subsistence allowance and special poverty assistance. There were 1.071 million medical and health institutions, with a total of 9.56 billion visits throughout the year. （9）
In order to narrow regional disparities, in recent years, China's central government has continued to increase transfer payments to local governments, focusing on difficult and underdeveloped areas, and giving priority to ensuring inclusive, basic and comprehensive livelihood expenditures in areas such as education and medical care. In 2023, the central government will pay 10.29 trillion yuan to local governments, the largest scale in history. （10）
(3) Make the "cake" bigger and better, cut it well and divide it well
In the process of Chinese-style modernization, common prosperity is not an empty political oath, but a great social change carried out by a political party uniting and leading all the people: an effective market and a promising government work together, and the people of the whole country work together to make the "cake" bigger and better, and then cut and divide the "cake" through reasonable institutional arrangements.
The distribution system is the basic system for promoting common prosperity. China coordinates efficiency and fairness, and builds basic institutional arrangements for the coordination of primary distribution, redistribution, and tertiary distribution. China has continuously increased the proportion of labor remuneration in the primary distribution, and achieved the basic synchronization of the growth of household income and economic growth, and the increase of labor remuneration and labor productivity. All localities have continuously raised the minimum wage standard in accordance with local conditions, and increased the labor remuneration of workers, especially front-line workers. Improve the policy system of distribution according to factors, take multiple measures to promote the increase of farmers' income, and effectively ensure the payment of wages to migrant workers. China has continued to improve its redistribution mechanism and increase the intensity and precision of regulation. The personal income tax threshold has been raised from 800 yuan/month at the beginning of reform and opening up to 5,000 yuan/month at present, and special additional deductions such as children's education expenses, serious illness medical expenses, housing loan interest and housing rent have been added, so that everyone's wallet will be more fulfilling. China also attaches importance to giving play to the role of the third distribution, developing philanthropy, and advocating entrepreneurs to actively participate in and set up social welfare and charitable undertakings, so as to achieve the goal of being rich and responsible, righteous and loving.
Common prosperity is a long-term goal, which runs through the entire process of Chinese-style modernization, and cannot be achieved overnight. China firmly believes that as long as we continue to promote high-quality development, effectively solve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development, continue to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas, and insist that the fruits of development are shared by all people, common prosperity will be achieved.
Workers paint wind turbines in the painting workshop of the Wind Power Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park in Huimin Economic Development Zone, Binzhou City, Shandong Province (photo taken on March 1, 2024). Photo by Guo Xulei / This magazine
3. Modernization of material civilization and spiritual civilization in harmony
Chinese modernization requires both material and spiritual prosperity, and always insists on the coordination and mutual promotion of material civilization and spiritual civilization. Without the active guidance of advanced culture, without the great enrichment of the people's spiritual world, and without the continuous enhancement of the nation's spiritual strength, it would be impossible for a country and a nation to stand tall among the nations of the world.
(1) Prosperity of cultural undertakings and cultural industries
Chinese-style modernization focuses on improving the modern public cultural service system, innovating the implementation of cultural projects to benefit the people, improving the coverage and applicability of basic public cultural services, and effectively protecting the basic cultural rights and interests of the people. China has continuously enriched and transformed people's spiritual world by promoting excellent films, television dramas, dramas, radio dramas, books and other literary and artistic works. China has opened public museums, libraries, art galleries and cultural centers to the public free of charge, and has elevated reading for all to a national development strategy. At present, there are more than 3,300 public libraries(11), more than 100,000 physical bookstores, and 587,000 rural bookstores in China.
(2) Raise the level of civilization of the whole society
Core values are the spiritual ties that a nation relies on to maintain and the common ideological and moral foundation of a country. Chinese modernization is committed to promoting the core socialist values of prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness, consolidating the ideological foundation of unity and struggle, cultivating the initiative spirit of pioneering and enterprising, and promoting the pursuit of healthy and progressive values.
Cultivating people with virtue - China has established and improved the system of honors and commendations for meritorious services of the Party and the state, excavated and disseminated the advanced deeds of typical figures practicing the core values of socialism, and guided the whole society to learn and emulate. In recent years, China has selected a number of models of the times, national moral models, stars of integrity, and "good young people in the new era", these "most beautiful Chinese" light up the moral sky of mankind with noble personalities, and inspire generations of Chinese to strive for goodness and eternal struggle. Under the guidance of advanced figures, ordinary acts of kindness such as righteousness and courage, collecting money, respecting the elderly, caring for the young, and helping others have emerged in Chinese society, guiding people to establish and practice a correct world outlook, outlook on life, and values.
Chinese modernization focuses on casting the soul with advanced socialist culture, revolutionary culture, and excellent traditional Chinese culture, and building socialist spiritual civilization in the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture. In recent years, China has deeply promoted the Chinese civilization exploration project, the Chinese cultural resources survey project, and a large number of innovative products such as "Tang Palace Night Banquet" and "China in Classics" have driven the cultural and museum fever. China has also become the world's largest producer of books, TV dramas, animation and other fields, the scale of the film market has repeatedly set records, the number of screens and box office revenue have jumped to the first place in the world, and a number of key works such as "Dare to Teach the Sun and the Moon to Change the Sky", "Changjin Lake" and "Awakening Age" have come to the fore, realizing the progress from the "plateau" to the "peak".
Systematic education - Chinese-style modernization to build a "civilized city, civilized villages and towns, civilized units, civilized families, civilized campuses" spiritual civilization creation system, comprehensively promote the construction of a civilization practice center in the new era, carry out in-depth mass spiritual civilization creation activities, promote the integration of socialist core values into all aspects of social development, into people's emotional identity and behavioral habits. Volunteerism is an important symbol of the progress of social civilization. The number of registered volunteers in China has increased from 2.92 million in 2012 to 232 million in 2023, and (12) the cumulative total number of hours of community volunteer service from 2022 to 2023 has reached 1.569 billion. In Hengyang, Hunan Province, nearly 1.5 million people have become registered volunteers, and 1 out of every 5 people has joined the "Hengyang Masses" volunteer service team.
The people have faith, the country has strength, and the nation has hope. The fundamental reason why Chinese-style modernization has been able to break through obstacles and achieve steady and far-reaching progress is that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country to unite and move forward with the greatest synergy and concerted steps.
(3) Enhance the country's cultural soft power
Chinese modernization absorbs, borrows, and creatively applies all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, integrates the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and with China's excellent traditional culture, persists in creative transformation and innovative development, vigorously develops advanced socialist culture, and demonstrates the systematic and coordinated nature of modernization with all-round social progress.
China has always attached great importance to the protection and inheritance of its cultural heritage, the excavation, collation and interpretation of archaeological achievements, and the development of multiple values of cultural and cultural heritage. Cultural programs such as "National Treasure" and "Chinese Archaeological Conference" have received high ratings and high discussion heat, stimulating the cultural self-confidence of the masses. China strives to build a discipline system, academic system, and discourse system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese style. Chinese literary and artistic workers have taken root in the people and life, and have actively created a large number of excellent works that express the struggle and living conditions of contemporary Chinese people, and some of their works are also widely popular overseas.
Fourth, the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature
Green is the distinctive background color of Chinese modernization. China adheres to sustainable development, coordinates economic and social development and ecological and environmental protection, adheres to the principle of giving priority to conservation, protection and natural restoration, and unswervingly follows the path of civilized development with production development, affluent life and good ecology, so as to achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. History and reality have repeatedly warned that nature is the basic condition for the survival and development of human beings, and only by following the laws of nature can we effectively prevent detours in the development and utilization of nature. Chinese modernization advocates respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature, practicing the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.
(1) "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets"
"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" is an important concept of development and a major principle for China to promote modernization, revealing the truth that protecting the ecological environment is protecting the productive forces, and improving the ecological environment is the development of the productive forces. A good ecological environment is the fairest public good and the most inclusive of people's livelihood and well-being, which has become the ideological consensus and action consciousness of the whole Chinese society.
In recent years, the Chinese government has focused on tackling outstanding environmental problems that harm people's health, and has fought a thorough battle to defend blue skies, clear water and pure land. For example, local governments at all levels in the Yangtze River basin have "jointly protected the Yangtze River and not carried out large-scale development", and the water quality of the main stream of the Yangtze River has been stable at Class II in recent years, covering 11 provinces and cities in China, benefiting more than 40% of the country's population.
China has classified areas with extremely important ecological functions, extremely fragile ecology and potentially important ecological value into ecological protection redlines, and realized that a red line controls important ecological spaces, and the area of China's terrestrial ecological protection redlines accounts for more than 30% of the land area. In 2023, the proportion of good days in cities at the prefecture level and above will be 86.8%, and the proportion of heavily polluted days will drop to 1.1%, making it the country with the fastest improvement rate in air quality in the world. As the largest island in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Chongqing's Guangyang Island has stopped developing real estate and carried out ecological restoration in accordance with the idea of "jointly grasping large-scale protection and not engaging in large-scale development". Nowadays, the grass grows and warblers fly on the island, and the streams murmur, becoming the "Yangtze River Scenic Eye, Chongqing Ecological Island" that tourists yearn for.
(2) Coordinate the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sands
China implements the concept of green development, delineates and strictly adheres to the red line of ecological protection, the bottom line of environmental quality and the upper line of resource utilization, and strives to build a system of protected areas with national parks as the main body, nature reserves as the foundation, and various nature parks as supplements, so as to strengthen biodiversity conservation. Up to now, the first five national parks of Sanjiangyuan, Giant Panda, Northeast Tiger and Leopard, Hainan Tropical Rainforest, and Wuyi Mountain have been formally established, nearly 10,000 nature reserves of various levels and types have been established, 90% of terrestrial natural ecosystem types, 65% of higher plant communities, and 74% of national key protected wild animal and plant species have been effectively protected, and the populations of more than 300 rare and endangered wild animals and plants have been restored, and a new nature reserve system has been initially established. In Yunnan, Dianchi Lake, with a basin area of 2,920 square kilometers, is the largest lake in southwest China,(13) and after decades of unremitting investment and treatment, the water quality has changed from inferior Class V to Class IV, and the local waters have reached Class III.
(3) Promote the formation of green development methods and lifestyles
China has made concerted efforts to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth, and explored a new path of modernization that prioritizes ecology, saves and intensifies, and is green and low-carbon, and harmoniously coexists between man and nature.
The stars are shifting, and the weather is updated. In Dali, Yunnan Province, Erhai Lakeside Inn B&B was demolished and an ecological corridor was built, and the once dusty mine of Anshan Iron and Steel Mining was transformed into a green ecological park...... During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2023, a set of satellite comparison images were swiped on overseas social media. Looking down on China from a satellite perspective, the vicissitudes of life in the land of China vividly illustrate the vitality and vitality of Chinese modernization. Marveling at China's development achievements in the past 10 years, overseas netizens have left messages, "This is a real change" and "very admirable".
Green development is inseparable from green energy. China is deepening the energy revolution, strengthening the clean and efficient use of coal, and accelerating the planning and construction of a new energy system. In the desert, thousands of photovoltaic panels chase the light day by day; On the sea, the big windmill towers between the blue sea and the blue sky, turning the wind into electricity; Six giant cascade hydropower stations on the main stream of the Yangtze River form the world's largest "clean energy corridor". In 2023, the proportion of clean energy consumption such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power generation will rise to 26.4% of total energy consumption. （14）
Chinese modernization is committed to promoting the adjustment and optimization of the industrial structure, energy structure, and transportation structure, accelerating the formation of green and low-carbon production methods and lifestyles, and supporting high-quality development with a high-quality ecological environment. As a responsible major country, China adheres to the concept that "man and nature are a community of life", and has made important commitments to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
(4) Transcend the anthropocentric view of nature and emphasize that man and nature are a community of life
In modern times, Western modernization has pursued profit maximization with capital as the center, and regarded the natural world as a carrier for human beings to obtain material wealth, which has led to a serious environmental crisis and brought about severe environmental problems. As Western countries copy the Western modernization model to developing countries and pass on their industrial costs to developing countries, this kind of modernization at the expense of the ecological environment has also spread to countries in the Global South, and global ecological and environmental problems have intensified.
Chinese modernization, which insists on the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, surpasses the anthropocentric view of nature in Western modernization, which puts man above nature. This unique ecological outlook, rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture of "the unity of nature and man", "Taoism and nature", "take in moderation, use it sparingly" and other ideas, emphasizing that man and nature are the community of life, adhere to the principle of saving first, protection first, and natural restoration, respect nature, conform to nature, protect nature, protect the ecological environment like protecting eyes, treat the ecological environment like life, and return nature to tranquility, harmony and beauty.
By scientifically integrating the natural system and all elements of human society, Chinese modernization has explored a new path of synergy between development and protection, and at the same time, it has also contributed wisdom and strength to the construction of a global ecological civilization and the building of a community of life on earth.
5. Modernization along the path of peaceful development
Based on the great changes in the world unseen in a century and bearing in mind the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Chinese Communists hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, promote the common values of all mankind, advocate and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and firmly follow the path of modernization through peaceful development.
(1) Seek its own development while firmly safeguarding world peace and development
The Chinese nation has experienced the tragic history of aggression and humiliation by the Western powers, and is well aware of the preciousness of peace. Chinese modernization does not follow the old path of colonization and plunder, and does not follow the crooked path of hegemony if a strong country is strong, but always adheres to the foundation of peaceful development, firmly upholds the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China is the only country in the world that has enshrined the principle of "adhering to the path of peaceful development" in its constitution, is a permanent member of the UN Security Council with the largest number of peacekeepers, and is the only country among the major nuclear-weapon powers that has pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. With an eye on the future destiny of mankind, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has opened up a path of modernization and development that is strong but not hegemonic.
In Hengyang, Hunan, Tai'an, Shandong and other places in China, since ancient times, there have been temples of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism that integrate the three religions and have been preserved to this day.
In line with this characteristic, China has always advocated trustworthiness, harmony, good-neighborliness, and the integration of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind with the way of diplomatic relations between all nations, expounding that global affairs should be governed by all countries with the principle of "inclusiveness and tolerance", advocating that human civilizations with diversity should exchange and learn from each other and make progress together with "the beauty of harmony lies in combining differences", and advocating that all countries in the world should work together to build a better home for the earth with the principle of "the road is not alone, the world is one family". Therefore, the Chinese do not agree with the "zero-sum game", but regard "peace is two benefits, and fighting is two harms" as a universal recognition and code of conduct.
The blood of the Chinese nation does not have the genes of aggression against others and hegemony. Under the influence of the "Harmony Culture", China opened the Silk Road more than 2,000 years ago, promoting the integrated development of countries and regions along the route. More than 600 years ago, Zheng He, a navigator of the Ming Dynasty, led the world's most powerful fleet to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean many times, covering more than 30 countries and regions in Asia and Africa, not only never encroaching on an inch of land, but also sowing the seeds of peace and friendship along the way.
At present, China is constantly promoting the better role of multilateral mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and APEC, expanding the influence of multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the G20, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and enhancing the representation and voice of emerging market countries and developing countries in global affairs. In order to ease tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, China has successfully mediated and facilitated the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two sides, effectively safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East. In the face of the Ukraine crisis, China has upheld an objective and neutral position, decided its own position and policy based on the merits of the matter, and persisted in promoting peace talks.
(2) To better safeguard world peace and development through its own development
Chinese modernization is modernization that opens its doors to the world. China firmly follows the path of mutually beneficial and win-win globalization, actively participates in the construction and reform of the global governance system, practices true multilateralism, promotes trade liberalization and investment facilitation, promotes international macroeconomic policy coordination, creates an international environment conducive to the common development of all countries, fosters new momentum for global development, and is committed to narrowing the gap between the North and the South to help developing countries accelerate development.
In 2013, China put forward cooperation initiatives to build the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road". According to the white paper "Jointly Building the Belt and Road: Major Practices for Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind" released in October 2023, over the past decade, China has signed more than 200 Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations in accordance with the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, forming a large number of landmark projects and "small but beautiful" projects that benefit people's livelihood. China has held six consecutive China International Import Expos, 10 China International Fair for Trade in Services and three China International Consumer Goods Expos, sharing the Chinese market and opportunities with the world.
On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) signed by China and 15 other countries came into effect, setting sail for the world's most populous, largest economic and trade scale and most promising free trade area. Against the backdrop of the rising trend of anti-globalization and the sluggish recovery of the world economy, the RCEP policy dividends have been continuously released, becoming the biggest bright spot in world economic growth. In 2023, China's total imports and exports to the other 14 RCEP members will be about 12.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.3% compared with 2021, before the agreement came into effect. (15) Revicka Greenspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said that RCEP has contributed to the development of the world economy in the face of declining global openness, rising trade costs and bottlenecks in supply chains. China is playing an increasingly important role in promoting global openness and cooperation and upholding the multilateral trading system.
The Communist Party of China believes that any country pursuing modernization should uphold the concept of unity, cooperation and common development, and take the road of joint construction, sharing and win-win results. As Xi Jinping said, "The countries that are ahead of the curve should genuinely help other countries develop." Blowing out someone else's lamp will not make you brighter; Blocking someone else's path won't make you go far. ”
exegesis
(1) "Xi Jinping Delivered an 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, Emphasizing the Correct Understanding and Vigorous Promotion of Chinese-style Modernization, Chaired by Li Qiang, Chaired by Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qiding, Xue Xiang, and Li Xi Attended", Xinhua News Agency, February 7, 2023.
(2) "Uniting and Striving for the Comprehensive Construction of a Modern Socialist Country: Written on the Occasion of the Successful Conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China", Xinhua News Agency, October 23, 2022.
(3) "Martin Jacques: Chinese Modernization Will Benefit Most of the World", Huanqiu.com, May 12, 2023, https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/4CrBgxTvuxF.
(4) "With more than 12 million new people, how to stabilize the employment market in 2024?" Xinhua, March 5, 2024.
(5) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(6) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(7) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(8) Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Statistics: "2023 Zhejiang Provincial People's Life and Other Related Statistical Data Bulletin", March 4, 2024.
(9) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(10) Ministry of Finance, Report on the Implementation of China's Fiscal Policy in 2023, March 7, 2024.
(11) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(12) Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Social Development Strategy, China Volunteer Service Research Center: Blue Book of Volunteer Service: Report on the Development of Volunteer Service in China (2022~2023), Social Sciences Academic Press, 2024 edition.
(13) Kunming Municipal Water Affairs Bureau: "Kunming Municipal Water Affairs Bureau's Reply to Proposal No. 141370 of the First Session of the 14th Kunming Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference", May 30, 2022, https://shuiwu.km.gov.cn/c/2022-05-30/4603910.shtml.
(14) National Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2023, February 29, 2024.
(15) State Council, "The Information Office of the State Council Held a Press Conference on Imports and Exports in 2023," January 12, 2024.
Chapter IV
Chinese modernization has created a new form of human civilization
Chinese modernization, 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. （1）
- Xi Jinping
Marine aquaculture area in Xiapu County, Ningde City, Fujian Province (photo taken on January 11, 2024). Photo by Jiang Kehong/this magazine
Civilization refers to the state of progress of human society, which has not always existed and is not immutable, but has gradually evolved, upgraded, grown and spread under the impetus of the development of productive forces. Modern civilization is the highest achievement of human social progress so far, bringing earth-shaking "ancient and modern changes", but it does not mean that human civilization has reached a beautiful end.
The social system is the product of the development of civilization and the basis for the change and sublimation of civilization. Although the productive forces created by the capitalist system are "more and greater than all the productive forces created in all previous generations" (2), it has not solved many problems in the development of human society. In today's world, multiple challenges and crises are intertwined and superimposed, the development gap is widening, and the modernization process of human society has once again come to a crossroads in history.
In order to completely change the historical destiny of the Chinese nation and with the mission of exploring a better social system for mankind, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the people of Chinese to successfully embark on the path of Chinese-style modernization and create a new form of human civilization after a century of struggle. With the continuous improvement of theory and the deepening of practice, this form of socialism with Chinese characteristics has fully demonstrated the distinctive characteristics, significant advantages and global influence of the new modern civilization.
1. New value form: the pursuit of people first
Values are the soul of civilization and determine the evolution and ultimate direction of civilization. The essential difference between Chinese-style modernization and Western-style modernization in terms of value orientation is that it abandons the supremacy of capital and pursues the supremacy of the people.
The supremacy of capital is the basic value concept of capitalist civilization. Western-style modernization is centered on capital, driven by capital, and coerced by capital, which has brought about the rapid development of productive forces and great material abundance, and improved people's lives, but it has also caused inevitable consequences such as materialistic expansion and polarization between the rich and the poor.
Chinese modernization takes the realization of the people's yearning for a better life as the starting point and the end point of modernization, and takes the realization of human freedom and all-round development as the ultimate goal.
(1) The realization of the people's yearning for a better life is the starting point of practice
"The people's yearning for a better life is our goal." On November 15, 2012, in front of Chinese and foreign reporters at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi Jinping, the newly elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, used a vivid and concise sentence to best explain the CPC's ruling philosophy and value pursuit of upholding the supremacy of the people.
Chinese modernization is not modernization for the sake of modernization, but for the continuous improvement of people's well-being. China has always firmly grasped the "people's nature" direction of modernization, and better responded to the people's demands and multi-level needs in all aspects, not only by looking at the indicators on paper, but also by looking at the people's happiness and well-being, thus avoiding the direction deviation and path dependence in the process of Western modernization.
(2) The ultimate goal is to realize the free and comprehensive development of the human person
In the value form of Chinese-style modernization, the essence of modernization is the modernization of people, not the modernization of things. It is the comprehensive modernization of man, not the one-sided modernization of man.
On the one hand, it will accelerate the shaping of modern human resources with good quality, abundant aggregate, optimized structure and reasonable distribution, so as to support Chinese-style modernization with high-quality population development; On the other hand, we should promote the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization, and realize the coexistence of high-rise buildings and spiritual buildings on the land of China.
(3) The test criterion is that the fruits of development benefit all people
Realizing the modernization of common prosperity for all the people is one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization.
Different from the modernization of the West, which polarizes the rich and the poor, Chinese modernization pursues not only prosperity, but common prosperity for all people. It is not the modernization of a part of the people, but the modernization of the whole people. From winning the battle against poverty to comprehensively promoting rural revitalization, from building a demonstration zone for common prosperity to deepening east-west cooperation and fixed-point assistance...... Through effective measures, China strives to make the fruits of modernization more and more equitable to all people.
In the process of modernization, China has won the battle against poverty, enabled China to completely bid farewell to absolute poverty from a large country in the East that was poor and white, and lifted a country with a population of one-fifth out of absolute poverty, creating a tremendous achievement that is unprecedented in the history of human social development. China has become the world's second largest economy, with a GDP exceeding 100 billion yuan and a per capita GDP of more than $10,000, changing the marginal and backward position of the Chinese nation in the world economic system since modern times, and making great contributions to the world economy with its own development, greatly enhancing the economic status of the vast number of developing countries.
China's modernization as a large developing country with a huge population will greatly change the map of world modernization and become a great positive change in the great changes in the world unseen in a century. For a long time, Western European countries, the United States, and some capitalist countries that have been deeply influenced by Western culture in Europe and the United States have been regarded as representatives of modernity and progress, while developing countries have been regarded as representatives of tradition and backwardness. Some Western countries have established an innate sense of superiority and formed a sense of hegemony over non-Western countries and nations, and Western-centrism prevails. The tremendous success of Chinese-style modernization has strongly impacted the superiority and arrogance of Western countries, and greatly enhanced the international status, discourse and influence of developing countries.
Second, the new institutional form: continuous improvement and innovation
In the 90s of the last century, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the world socialist movement suffered a major setback, and the "final conclusion of history" was in the dust for a while, and the social system of the developed capitalist countries in the West was defined as "the end of the development of human ideology" (3) and "the last form of human domination" (4). In the 21 st century, with the rapid rise of socialist China, scientific socialism is full of vitality. The difference between Chinese-style modernization and Western modernization in terms of system construction lies in the falsification of the "final conclusion of history" and continuous improvement and innovation.
(1) A system with core leadership forces
In the more than 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the most fundamental reason why the Chinese nation has been able to usher in a great leap from standing up, getting rich, and becoming strong is that the Communist Party of China has led the people to establish and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics.
"To understand today's China, we must understand the Communist Party of China." The most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the leadership system of the Communist Party of China is the fundamental leadership system of China.
In the process of promoting Chinese-style modernization, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has continuously deepened its understanding of the laws governing the Communist Party, socialist construction, and the development of human society. We should persist in self-revolution, closely integrate self-construction with the modernization of the country, and always work hard to ensure the firmness and continuity of the leadership of modernization. The system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is known as the "new type of political party system", which can achieve a wide range of interests represented, reflect the consistency of goals, promote the scientific nature of decision-making and policymaking, ensure the effectiveness of national governance, and effectively avoid the emergence of partisan disputes, favoritism of interest groups, and manipulation by a small number of political "elites".
(2) A system guided by scientific theories
The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a system guided by Marxism, rooted in the land of China, with deep roots in Chinese culture, and deeply supported by the people. Marxism has a distinctive practical character, and is committed not only to "explaining the world" scientifically, but also to actively "changing the world".
For more than 100 years, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has proceeded from its original aspiration and mission, continuously carried out theoretical innovations, and constantly promoted the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific reality and China's excellent traditional culture, so as to always maintain its vitality. From Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of the "Three Represents", the Scientific Outlook on Development, to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Communist Party of China adheres to the "two combinations", continuously promotes the Sinicization of Marxism and the era, and provides a guide for action for modernization.
Focusing on the main line of "what is Chinese-style modernization and how to promote Chinese-style modernization", the Chinese Communists have created and continuously written the miracle of successfully building modernization on the socialist road, formed a rich theory of Chinese-style modernization, comprehensively expounded the central tasks, scientific connotations, Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, strategic arrangements, overall goals, main objectives and tasks, and major principles of Chinese-style modernization, and sublimated their understanding of the practical experience of previous modernization. It has achieved an original development of the theory of socialist modernization.
(3) A system for continuously absorbing the achievements of human civilization
China does not copy the models of other countries' political systems, but it also does not reject any experience of other countries' national governance that is conducive to its own development and progress. During the period of socialist construction, China's state system and state governance system drew on and absorbed many useful experiences from the Soviet Union. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, China has continued to open wider to the outside world and organically integrated the socialist system with the market economy.
At the beginning of reform and opening up, there were also ideological dogmas in China that were opposed to socialism and market economy. With the adjustment of production relations as the main content of reform, China has established an innovative economic structure with public ownership as the mainstay and the common development of economies under various ownership systems through the reform of the economic operation mechanism and ownership structure, and has promoted the various ownership systems to learn from each other's strong points and complement each other's weaknesses, promote each other, and develop together, giving full play to the advantages of the market economy and the superiority of the socialist system, and solving the "most difficult addition" in the world's economic history. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has continued to make efforts to organically integrate the socialist system with the market economy, giving full play to its advantages in both aspects, and seeking both an "effective market" and a "promising government," thus greatly emancipating and developing the social productive forces and greatly enhancing social vitality.
3. New form of development: towards comprehensive coordination
Civilization is the sum total of tangible and intangible positive results created by human beings in understanding and transforming the world. The pursuit of progress is the logic of the growth of civilization, and comprehensive coordination is the inherent requirement of the development of civilization. The significant difference between Chinese modernization and Western modernization in terms of path selection is that it has moved out of "one-way" and "alienation" to comprehensive coordination.
(1) Anchoring the "human modernization" to start exploration
Under the concept of great civilization, material civilization is always in the dominant position and the most basic civilization, but under the guidance of capital logic, the "one-way" pursuit of material wealth has not only caused a series of social problems, but also aggravated the "alienation" of people.
In 1964, the American scholar Marcuse published the book "One-Dimensional Man", proposing that a developed industrial society like the United States is not a truly free and open society, but a "one-dimensional" society, which bribes the masses with endless consumption and enjoyment, and makes people fall into "comfortable unfreedom". After in-depth research, Marcuse put forward a more acute criticism of modern capitalist society: although the developed capitalist society has become richer, the "alienation" of people has not disappeared, but has penetrated deeper, more extensively, and more secretly into all areas of life, whether it is economy, politics or culture, it is dominated by commodity fetishism, and people living in this society are "one-sided people" who have lost their true freedom.
From the very beginning, Chinese modernization has anchored the "modernization of people" and explored the path of comprehensive and coordinated development.
(2) The layout of comprehensive and coordinated development has gradually taken shape
Material poverty is not socialism, and spiritual poverty is not socialism. From the "two civilizations" to the "five civilizations", China's comprehensive and coordinated development layout has gradually taken shape.
As early as 1982, the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward for the first time the modernization development goal of "building a high degree of material civilization while striving to build a high degree of socialist spiritual civilization" from a strategic height. In 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China established the overall layout of "five-in-one" economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction, insisting that economic construction is the foundation, political construction is the guarantee, cultural construction is the soul, social construction is the condition, and ecological civilization construction is the foundation, which promotes the organic coordination of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization and ecological civilization, and promotes the coordinated development of Chinese-style modernization. After ten years of practice, it has achieved fruitful results, written a new chapter in the history of human civilization, and declared that human civilization has ushered in a new stage of development.
(3) Make overall progress in efforts to resolve unbalanced and inadequate contradictions
In 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly stated that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the main contradiction in Chinese society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. In the face of this historic change, which has a bearing on the overall situation, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has implemented the people-centered development philosophy, guided by better meeting the people's growing needs in the economic, political, cultural, social and ecological fields, vigorously improving the quality and efficiency of development, and striving to solve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development.
The construction of material civilization has achieved remarkable results, the construction of political civilization has been steadily promoted, the construction of spiritual civilization has been splendid, the construction of social civilization has been innovated and developed, and the construction of ecological civilization has changed with each passing day.
Modernization is a complex system, and the higher the degree of development, the more significant the system characteristics, and the higher the requirements for overall coordination. It is precisely under the guidance of the overall layout of the "five-in-one" that the good life of the Chinese people needs to be dynamically understood and grasped in an all-round and multi-level manner, the most direct and realistic interests of the people are concerned about and constantly solved, and the people's sense of gain, happiness and security is more fulfilling, secure and sustainable.
Fourth, the new form of democracy: whole-process people's democracy
Democracy is a political system in which the majority of the people enjoy the rights of the state, and its essence is that the people are the masters of the country, and it is an effective means of governance in modern society. Internationally, however, the word democracy has been "registered" by the West, resulting in a Western-dominated narrative of democracy in the international arena of public opinion. In the eyes of most Westerners, the model of democracy is the Western multi-party system and universal suffrage, but in the eyes of Chinese, this is just a form of Western democracy. The biggest difference between Chinese-style modernization and Western-style modernization in terms of governance mechanism is that it transcends formal democracy and promotes whole-process people's democracy.
(1) Democracy is used to solve problems
Looking at the world, in some countries that claim to be the "world model" of democracy, national governance is "dysfunctional" and "inefficient", and social fragmentation is serious. In some developing countries that have "copied and pasted" the Western model of democracy, there has been a paradox of "democracy without governance".
Over time, the Western-centric yardstick by which democracy is measured has become obsolete. People have gradually begun to use democratic governance effectiveness as a substitute for democratic process priority as a criterion for judging democratic effectiveness. Democracy is not an ornament, not for decoration, but for solving the problems of the people.
In the logic of the Communist Party of China, "substantive democracy" in which the people are the masters of the country is the logic of value, while the development of "whole-process democracy" so that the people can enjoy the dividends of peaceful development and live a peaceful and happy life is the logic of utility.
(2) Broad, genuine, and effective democracy
Adhering to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people being masters of the country, and the organic unity of governing the country according to law are the core of the Chinese people's democratic system. Upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China answers the question of "who will unite the people", insisting that the people are the masters of the country answers "what is the goal of democracy", and upholding the rule of law answers "how to govern the country".
Its internal mechanism is as follows: the people are united into an organic whole through the leadership of the Communist Party of China; The common will of the Party and the people is embodied and becomes the Constitution and laws; The State is organized, operated and developed with the Constitution as the fundamental law; Power must operate within the framework of the rule of law; With the Communist Party of China as the core, the people manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings, and social affairs in accordance with the law through various channels and forms, and the Constitution, laws, and their implementation must effectively embody the will of the people, protect the people's rights and interests, and stimulate the people's creativity.
(3) Break the "vote-only" model and protect people's rights
Whole-process people's democracy is the basic feature of Chinese democracy, which means that every link in the operation of the state apparatus must embody democracy, not just the voting link. This kind of democracy breaks the "vote-only" model and guarantees the people's rights to democratic election, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision, covering all aspects of state and social life.
Beate Schneider, professor emeritus at the University of the Arts in Bern, Switzerland, observed that the Chinese democratic system with which he is familiar has democratic institutions at all levels and people's congresses, and that the Chinese Communist Party is not only close to the people, but also united with the people, which is an advantage compared with the elections held every four years in Western countries.
According to a 2020 report released by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, Understanding the Resilience of the Chinese Communist Party: A Long-Term Survey of Public Opinion in China, since 2003, Chinese people's satisfaction with the government has been increasing, with more than 90% of them satisfied with the Chinese Communist Party. (5) From the impact of national policies to the behavior of local officials, the Chinese public perceives the government as more capable and efficient than ever before.
(4) Broadly build consensus and improve the effectiveness of governance
The reason why whole-process people's democracy is "most effective" is that the spirit, system and mechanism of this democracy have effectively penetrated into China's political system and governance practice. Whole-process people's democracy embodies the overall will of the people in a concentrated manner, and is the most extensive democracy of the main body, which widely gathers the opinions of the people. Constantly enriching and improving the democratic consultation system is an effective way to "find the greatest common divisor of the wishes and demands of the whole society"; Such a consensus, based on a wide range of participants, provides the impetus for effective governance.
Whole-process people's democracy exists in the whole chain of democracy, the whole-process mechanism makes up for the gaps in governance, and the quality of the whole process lays the foundation for holistic governance; The key to improving the effectiveness of national governance is to adhere to whole-process people's democracy, better serve the public interests of the people, and rely on the strength and wisdom of the people to make national governance better reflect the will of the people and protect the rights and interests of the people.
Fifth, the new cultural form: adhere to inheritance and innovation
Culture is the blood of the nation and the spiritual home of the people. Cultural self-confidence is the most basic, deepest and most enduring force in the development of a country and a nation. The value of the times is hidden in the excellent traditional culture, and through creative transformation and innovative development, it releases a huge energy that is compatible with contemporary culture and coordinated with modern society. The stark difference between Chinese modernization and Western-style modernization in terms of cultural identity is that it never separates from tradition and insists on inheriting and innovating.
(1) Guarding the roots of culture and inheriting the flame of civilization
The excellent traditional Chinese culture has a long history, broad and profound, and is the crystallization and essence of the wisdom of the Chinese civilization, the root and soul of the Chinese nation, and the foundation for China to gain a firm foothold in the turmoil of world culture. Chinese modernization adheres to the concept of history, analyzes the evolution mechanism from the long river of history, the tide of the times, and the global situation, explores the laws of history, and puts forward corresponding strategies and strategies.
Some viewpoints in the classical modernization theory of the West hold that tradition and modernity are opposed to each other and mutually exclusive, that tradition will inevitably hinder modernization, and that to promote modernization, it is necessary to negate and abandon tradition. There are also some views that deny the differences in the historical process of different countries, and believe that the process of modernization in various countries around the world is a constant repetition of the Western-style modernization model.
In exploring the path of modernization, China is good at examining the history of the modernization and development of human society from the perspective of connecting ancient and modern China and foreign countries, respecting historical laws and cultural traditions, grasping the present, and creating the future, reflecting the profound historical heritage of the Chinese nation accumulated over more than 5,000 years of civilization. China is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world, and the Chinese civilization is the only civilization that has never been interrupted to this day. The research results of major projects such as the Chinese Civilization Exploration Project have proved China's millions of years of human history, 10,000 years of cultural history, and more than 5,000 years of civilization history. The late famous Chinese-American archaeological anthropologist Zhang Guangzhi put forward the theories of "continuity" and "rupture", and he believed that the "continuity" cosmology and civilization development path represented by China are different from the "rupture" cosmology and civilization development path of Western civilization, which provides us with a different perspective for re-examining the general law of human civilization development.
The development of world history proves that a country should not only follow the general laws of modernization, but also conform to its own realities and make a choice according to its historical traditions, social system, development conditions, external environment, and many other conditions. China believes that only by summing up historical experience and grasping historical laws can we grasp the historical initiative in the development of modernization, so as to seize the opportunity of historical change, take advantage of the trend, work hard, and move forward better.
(2) Creative transformation and innovative development
In the excellent traditional Chinese culture, the ideological wisdom of national governance is nurtured, and it has profound ideological enlightenment for solving the common problems of human society. In the process of modernization, China has promoted the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, deeply excavated and expounded the values of the times in China's excellent traditional culture, such as the world for the public, the people as the foundation of the state, the government based on morality, reform and innovation, meritocracy, the unity of nature and man, self-improvement, virtue, trustworthiness, harmony, and good-neighborliness, so that the excellent traditional Chinese culture has become an important source for cultivating the core values of socialism, and constantly connects the essence of Marxist thought with the essence of China's excellent traditional culture.
China promotes the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, promotes the "two combinations", promotes the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, and constructs a new cultural life that combines the basic tenets of Marxism with China's excellent traditional culture. In this process, the basic tenets of Marxism and the excellent traditional Chinese culture are compatible with each other and achieve each other, and through "integration", a new cultural form of Chinese-style modernization has been formed, and a new cultural life form of organic unity has been created, that is, the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.
(3) Equal coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning
Civilizations are colorful because of exchanges, and civilizations are enriched by mutual learning. Differences in civilizations should not be the source of conflicts in the world, but should be the driving force for the progress of human civilization. Chinese modernization upholds the civilizational concept of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness, transcends the estrangement of civilizations through exchanges among civilizations, transcends the clash of civilizations through mutual learning among civilizations, and transcends the superiority of civilizations through civilizational tolerance, so as to provide assistance for the development of world civilizations in a balanced, positive and benevolent direction. Western modernization theory holds that the development of human society is divided into two stages: "civilization" and "barbarism", and the world is divided into "modern industrial society" and "non-industrial society", and that the Western "modern industrial society" is the model of the entire non-Western world, and that Western civilization is the pinnacle of human civilization.
Chinese believe that human beings only have differences in skin color and language, and civilizations are only different from each other, but there is absolutely no distinction between superior and inferior, and the various civilizations created by human society have accumulated a heavy foundation for the modernization of all countries. Chinese modernization advocates respecting the diversity of world civilizations, upholding equality and respect, abandoning arrogance and prejudice, deepening the understanding of the differences between one's own civilization and other civilizations, and harmonious coexistence of different civilizations. There is no conflict between civilizations, and we should not only make our own civilization full of vitality, but also create conditions for the development of other civilizations, so that the gardens of world civilizations can compete with each other.
Since ancient times, Chinese civilization has been known for its openness and inclusiveness, and it has constantly radiated new vitality through exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations. Chinese modernization, deeply rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, deeply excavates and expounds the value of the times and the spiritual characteristics of the Chinese civilization, embodies the advanced nature of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all the achievements of human civilization, represents the development direction of human civilization progress, and presents a new picture different from the Western modernization model. As a new form of human civilization, Chinese modernization will learn from other civilizations around the world, which will greatly enrich the garden of world civilization, provide ideological inspiration for solving the common problems of human society, and provide spiritual guidance for the development of human modernization.
6. A new form of global governance: building a community with a shared future for mankind
Peace is like sunshine, security is like rain and dew, benefit without realizing it, and lose it is difficult to survive. In the face of the changing times and the turbulent and changing world, the peoples of all countries have a stronger expectation for peace and tranquility. China's development and modernization not only benefit the Chinese people, but also promote the common development of the world, while promoting the construction of a strong country and national rejuvenation, and seek human progress and world harmony. The difference between Chinese modernization and Western-style modernization in the cognitive pattern of global governance lies in opposing unilateralism and protectionism and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
(1) Pursue common values and safeguard common destiny
A world of peaceful development should host different forms of civilization and must be compatible with the diverse paths to modernization. China vigorously promotes the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, abandons small circles and "zero-sum games", and calls for joint efforts to build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, expand the convergence of interests, and draw the largest concentric circles.
Historically, some Western countries have pursued a confrontational "zero-sum game" mentality, relying on their first-mover advantage in modernization to export modernization models to other countries, passing on the costs and crises of their own wealth accumulation to developing countries through economic exploitation and colonial plunder, and setting up many obstacles to the economic and social development of late-developing countries, resulting in serious imbalances and injustices in the development of world modernization.
China adheres to the concept of harmony among all nations, always cares about the future and destiny of mankind, strives to provide new opportunities for world development with the new achievements of Chinese-style modernization, adheres to the right path of peaceful development, advocates bridging differences through dialogue and resolving disputes through cooperation, and always closely links its own destiny with the destiny of the people of all countries, so as to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
What the Chinese nation inherits and pursues is the concept of peace, harmony and harmony. China has not invaded or bullied others in the past and will not do in the future, nor will it claim hegemony. China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order, and a provider of public goods.
2. Maintain the common order and improve global governance
There is no one-size-fits-all model of modernization in the world, nor is there a one-size-fits-all standard of modernization. China has not followed the old path of some countries to achieve modernization through war, colonization, plunder, etc. China is even more opposed to certain countries maliciously distorting the meaning of international law, packaging their will as a so-called "rules-based international order", imposing it on the international community, and wantonly infringing on the legitimate rights of other countries.
China advocates the concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in global governance, actively participates in and promotes, and works with other countries to promote the reform and construction of the global governance system, promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction, and promote the modernization of human society while continuously promoting fair rights, fair opportunities and fair rules.
Chinese modernization aims to solve many problems that have emerged in the history of modernization but have not been solved by Western countries, such as the polarization between the rich and the poor caused by capital-centricity, the expansion of materialism, and foreign expansion and plunder. China has always stood firmly on the right side of history and the progress of human civilization, held high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, and pursued its own development while firmly safeguarding world peace and development, and better safeguarded world peace and development through its own development.
(3) Advocate joint action and fulfill the responsibility of a major country
In September 2021, China put forward the Global Development Initiative, which advocates people-centered, inclusive, innovation-driven, and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. China believes that the development of all countries is closely linked, the destiny of mankind is closely linked, and all countries must work together in solidarity and cooperation.
From the Global Development Initiative (GDI) in September 2021, to the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in April 2022, and then to the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) in March 2023, Xi Jinping has always been full of deep concern for the future and destiny of mankind and profound reflection on the prospects of human civilization, providing important public goods to the international community. The three major initiatives have been put forward one after another, constantly enriching and expanding the ideological connotation and practical path of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation of the United States, believes that a community with a shared future for mankind is "a great idea for improving global governance", which "shows that China is willing to assume more global responsibilities to promote world peace and prosperity". （6）
Chinese modernization has broadened the path for developing countries to modernize, provided a new choice for developing countries, and provided a Chinese solution for mankind's exploration of a better social system. Each country's efforts to independently explore a path to modernization suited to its own national conditions should be respected, and developing countries have the right and ability to independently explore their own path to modernization based on their own national conditions. China will always put the development of the country and the nation on the basis of its own strength, firmly hold the destiny of national development and progress in its own hands, respect and support the independent choice of the people of all countries on the path of development, and jointly draw a new picture of the modernization of human society with a hundred flowers blooming.
exegesis
(1) "Xi Jinping Delivered an 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, Emphasizing the Correct Understanding and Vigorous Promotion of Chinese-style Modernization, Chaired by Li Qiang, Chaired by Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qiding, Xue Xiang, and Li Xi Attended", Xinhua News Agency, February 7, 2023.
(2) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, translated by Chen Wangdao, The Communist Manifesto, Hunan People's Publishing House, 2021 edition.
(3) Written by Francis Fukuyama, translated by Chen Gaohua, The End of History and the Last Man, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2016 edition.
(4) Francis Fukuyama, translated by Chen Gaohua, The End of History and the Last Man, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2016.
（5）“Understanding CCP Resilience:Surveying Chinese Public Opinion Through Time”,July,2020,https://ash.harvard.edu/publications/understanding-ccp-resilience-surveying-chinese-public-opinion-through-time.
(6) "Contributing to the Resolution of Common Problems Facing Mankind - The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in the Eyes of the International Community", Xinhua News Agency, October 27, 2022.
epilogue
At present, the changes in the world, the times, and history are unfolding in an unprecedented way. The new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has developed in depth, and the deficits in peace, development, security, and governance have intensified. The world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, and once again stands at the crossroads of history, and where to go depends on the choices of the people of all countries.
If Western modernization is the prelude to human modernization, then developing countries, including China, are increasingly integrated into the symphony of human modernization.
The history of mankind's pursuit of modernization is a history of different civilizations pushing through exchanges and mutual learning. In the arduous struggle to pursue modernization, the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to successfully embark on the path of Chinese-style modernization, created a new form of human civilization, expanded the path of developing countries to modernization, and provided Chinese solutions for mankind's exploration of a better social system.
Chinese-style modernization is socialist modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The Communist Party of China, which is good at upholding integrity and innovation, has integrated the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and with China's excellent traditional culture, and has continuously promoted the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. On this basis, Chinese-style modernization has enriched the theory of scientific socialism with vivid practice and great achievements, turned the pursuit of common prosperity into practical action, and made the ideal of universal equality no longer out of reach.
Promoting Chinese-style modernization is also a pioneering undertaking, and it will inevitably encounter all kinds of predictable and unpredictable risks, challenges, difficulties and even turbulent waves. We should be soberly aware that in today's world, hegemonism, power politics and bullying have had a serious impact on world peace. Regional security hotspots have emerged one after another, local conflicts and turmoil have occurred frequently, and traditional and non-traditional security threats have been intertwined and superimposed. The trend of anti-globalization is on the rise, protectionism is on the rise, and the world economy is recovering sluggishly......
The future is bright, and there is a long way to go. The Chinese Communists will never rest on their laurels and be complacent, nor will they succumb to external pressure and hold back. At the same time, the Chinese Communists adhere to the path of modernization of peaceful development and firmly believe that mankind is an organic whole and the earth is a common home. In the face of common challenges, no one and no country can be immune to them, and there is only one way out for mankind to work together and coexist in harmony. The Chinese nation has always emphasized "one family under heaven", advocated harmony among the people, harmony among all nations, and great harmony in the world, longed for a better world where "the road is a journey, the world is for the public", and is committed to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
All things nurture each other without harming each other, and the Tao goes hand in hand without contradicting each other. Only when all countries follow the path of the world, live in harmony and achieve win-win cooperation, can prosperity be sustained and security guaranteed. China adheres to dialogue and consultation to promote the building of a world of lasting peace. Adhere to joint contribution and shared benefits, and promote the building of a world of universal security; Adhere to win-win cooperation and promote the construction of a world of common prosperity; Adhere to exchanges and mutual learning, and promote the construction of an open and inclusive world; Adhere to green and low-carbon, and promote the construction of a clean and beautiful world.
China believes that as long as the world joins hands, adheres to peaceful development and win-win cooperation, adheres to the concept of civilization based on equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness, and promotes the common values of all mankind, it will be able to create a bright future of modernization and a better tomorrow for human civilization.
A COMAC C919 airliner performs at the Singapore Airshow on February 20, 2024. Photo by Deng Zhiwei/This magazine
Write a note and acknowledgments
The research group of the think tank report of "The Road to Chinese-style Modernization and Development" is headed by Qu Qingshan, President of the Central Institute of Party History and Literature, Chairman of the National High-end Think Tank Council of the Central Academy of Party History and Literature, and Fu Hua, President of Xinhua News Agency and Director of the Academic Committee of Xinhua News Agency, Lu Yansong, Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency, Ren Weidong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency, and Wang Junwei, Director of the Academic and Editorial Review Committee of the Central Party History and Literature Research Institute (Vice Minister level), as Executive Deputy Team Leaders. The members of the research group of the Central Institute of Party History and Literature include Zhang Peng, Li Qi, Liu Minru, Fan Wei, Zheng Linhua, Dong Xiaotong, Zhou Siqin, Qu Shixia, Sang Tian, etc., and the members of the Xinhua News Agency research group include Liu Gang, Cui Feng, Lin Wei, Wang Jintao, Yang Shouyong, Fu Yan, Wu Xiaoyang, Guo Qiang, Ling Junhui, Mao Zhenhua, Zhang Ziyun, Xiao Sisi, Yang Hao, Qu Lingyan, Zhou Rui, Li Fang, Cai Guodong, Du Baiyu, Hou Weili, Sun Xiaohui, Ma Changbao, Liu Aihong, He Huiyuan, Liang Jin, Feng Hou, etc.
Since the project was launched in January 2023, it has taken more than a year to interview, research, write, revise and review.
In the process of writing and publishing the report, Ji Zhengju, vice president of the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute, Li Junru, former vice president of the Central Party School, Zhang Donggang, secretary of the Party Committee of the Chinese People's University, Fan Rui, deputy director of the First Research Department of the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute, Zhang Hefu, first-level inspector of the First Research Department of the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute, Zhang Airu, former deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute, Zang Fengyu, dean of the School of Philosophy of the Chinese University, Liu Zuokui, deputy director of the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Li Wen, former deputy director of the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Pan Wei, professor of the School of International Relations of Peking University, Wang Xuebin, director of the Chinese History Teaching and Research Department of the Department of Literature and History of the Party School of the Central Committee (National Academy of Administration), and Guo Xinfeng, deputy director of the China International Communication Research Center of the Xinhua News Agency, and other experts and scholars have given them their help and guidance.