Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 3, 2023

Chinese-Style Modernization and the Modern Characteristics of Chinese Path

(Abstract)

Zhao Yiliang

Modernization is a generic concept depicting the transformation from traditional to modern society. It is not only a temporal concept that refers to the passing of time from ancient and medieval history to modern times, but also a theoretical concept representing the practical process of separating from tradition and embracing industrial society, a process driven by the scientific and technological revolutions. “Modernity” is commonly applied to appraising modernization; it generally refers to the philosophical reflections and theoretical summation of the fundamental characteristics and manifestations of modern society which took shape in the course of modernization. Such assessments mainly touch upon the phased characteristics and core elements of social structure transformation and the pursuit of a new civilizational order. However, since countries vary in terms of economic foundation, natural conditions, and cultural tradition, modernity presents different characteristics in different places. The main driving force of Western modernization is capital, so Western society’s modern features are the comprehensive “materialization” of the mode of production, the relative “personal independence founded on objective dependence,” and the rupture between the community and the individuals. Chinese-style modernization has opened up a non-capitalist path to modernization characterized by the unity of the core of the leadership and the people as subject, the unity of social progress and human development, and the unity of instrumentality and purpose. Chinese-style modernization has created a Chinese version of socialist civilization.