[Original] Zhang Qingwei: Comprehensively Advancing the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation through Chinese-style Modernization
The century-long struggle of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been magnificent, writing the most grand epic in the thousands of years of history of the Chinese nation. The overarching goal of these hundred years has been to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and build a powerful, modern socialist country. At the ceremony marking the centenary of the founding of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "All the struggle, sacrifice, and creation through which the CPC has united and led the Chinese people over the past hundred years ties back to one ultimate theme: bringing about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." This major judgment fully demonstrates to us that the century-long history of the Party’s struggle is a history of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In practice, the history of the Chinese nation's rejuvenation is also a history of exploration—breaking free from enslavement and oppression and moving toward becoming a powerful, modern country. Since the beginning of the modern era, the history of national rejuvenation and the history of the exploration of modernization have been interwoven, forming a most spectacular historical scroll of advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. In the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly stated: "From this day forward, the central task of the CPC will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization." This historic mission of the "Two Overalls" further profoundly reveals the internal logical connection between Chinese-path modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, pointing out the correct direction and path for national rejuvenation.
I. The Century-Long History of the Communist Party of China's Struggle is a History of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation
The birth of the CPC was an inevitability of the historical development of modern China and a soulful calling of the Chinese people in their arduous exploration to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival. The Chinese nation possesses a long-standing history of civilization spanning over 5,000 years, has created a splendid Chinese culture, and has made outstanding contributions to human civilization. However, since the onset of the modern era, China gradually slumped into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society; the country suffered humiliation, the people endured hardships, and civilization was covered in dust [1]. The Chinese nation suffered unprecedented calamities. From that time on, achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation became the greatest dream of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. To save the nation from peril, countless people of noble ideals conducted painstaking explorations and indomitable struggles. From the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement [2], the Hundred Days' Reform [3], to the Boxer Rebellion [4], the Chinese people rose up in resistance time and again, only to fail time and again. The Revolution of 1911 [5] overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and ended the system of absolute monarchy that had lasted for over two thousand years, but it also failed to change the social nature of old China or the tragic fate of the Chinese people. Only a nation that has created glory understands the meaning of rejuvenation; "only a nation that has experienced suffering has such a deep yearning for rejuvenation." History tells us: China urgently needed a new organization to coalesce the forces of rejuvenation.
After its founding, the CPC unhesitatingly shouldered the historical responsibility of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The founding of a Communist Party in China was an epoch-making event, which profoundly changed the course of Chinese history in modern times, profoundly changed the future and destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and profoundly changed the direction and pattern of world development." History and practice tell us that since the birth of the CPC, the face of the Chinese revolution has been completely renewed, and the forces for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation have found their "backbone" (zhǔxīngǔ). To achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, whether weak or strong, in prosperity or adversity, our Party has never changed its original aspiration and has remained steadfast in its mission. Uniting and leading the Chinese people around the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Party has created great achievements across four historical periods: the "New Democratic Revolution," the "Socialist Revolution and Construction," the "Reform, Opening Up, and Socialist Modernization," and "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era." General Secretary Xi Jinping, with the vision of macro-history [6], has scientifically summarized the great achievements of these four historical periods: they created the fundamental social conditions, laid the fundamental political prerequisites and institutional foundations, provided the institutional guarantee full of vitality and the material conditions for rapid development, and provided more refined institutional guarantees, a more solid material foundation, and more proactive spiritual strength for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Through a century of struggle, the great achievements of these four historical periods have utterly transformed the future and destiny of the Chinese nation since modern times; the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up and becoming prosperous to becoming strong, and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process!
II. The Century-Long History of the Communist Party of China's Struggle is also a History of the Exploration of Chinese-path Modernization
Modernization is the trend and direction of world development since the beginning of the modern era, and achieving modernization is an inevitable requirement for modern China to enter world history. Since the Opium War, the Chinese nation, forced to open its doors, demanded national independence and people's liberation, and had to complete the historical task of opposing imperialism and feudalism. Facing the "sturdy ships and effective guns" (jiānchuán-lìpào) [7] of the Great Powers, advanced Chinese elements "opened their eyes to see the world," recognizing that learning from the West and taking the road of modernization was the only way to realize a wealthy country and a strong people. In other words, the history of modern China's salvation and pursuit of strength is also a history of China being forced into the world and arduously exploring the road to modernization. Before the birth of the CPC, various forces in Chinese society made various attempts at modernization, all of which ended in failure. The Self-Strengthening Movement [8], the Hundred Days' Reform, and the "New Policies" of the late Qing [9], etc.—these reform movements aimed at saving the nation from subjugation under the feudal framework eventually failed to escape their destiny of extinction due to their innate deficiencies and lack of external support. The success of the Revolution of 1911 established a republic of a bourgeois nature and pioneered China's political modernization, yet it died prematurely due to warlord infighting and political strife. Subsequently, the invasion of Japanese imperialism interrupted the advancement of the capitalist modernization model led by the Kuomintang. Facts have proven that feudal-style self-strengthening movements, various forms of reformism, bourgeois democratic revolutions, and various schemes that mechanically copied Western institutional models could not complete the historical task of opposing imperialism and feudalism, let alone provide a scientific solution for China's modernization. From the day of its founding, the CPC has shouldered the great banner of national rejuvenation, continually calling for, integrating into, and advancing the historical process of China's modernization. During the period of CPC-KMT cooperation, it helped reorganize the Kuomintang; during the Land Revolutionary War, it built Red political power; during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it built anti-Japanese democratic base areas, making efforts to promote China's modernization at multiple levels including politics, economy, culture, and social life. With the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, our Party gained the leadership of modernization and began leading the Chinese people on an independent path of exploring modernization.
In the process of promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the exploration of the road to modernization constitutes another important thread for uncovering the secrets of the CPC's century-long history of struggle. The Party deeply recognized that modern China faced two major historical tasks: achieving national independence and people's liberation; and achieving national prosperity and strength along with common prosperity for the people. Achieving national independence and people's liberation meant changing the status of being exploited and enslaved, which necessitated the fundamental overthrow of semi-colonial and semi-feudal rule; achieving national prosperity and strength along with common prosperity for the people meant changing modern China's state of economic and cultural backwardness, which necessitated the realization of modernization. To resolve these two major historical tasks, the CPC united and led the Chinese people in bloody battles and unyielding struggles, winning the victory of the New Democratic Revolution and establishing the People’s Republic of China, which laid the fundamental guarantee for initiating large-scale, autonomous modernization construction. After the founding of New China, the Party united and led the Chinese people in self-reliance and hard work to carry out the socialist revolution and develop socialist construction, laying a solid industrial foundation and institutional guarantee for advancing China's modernization. Against the backdrop of peace and development becoming the theme of the era, the Party united and led the people in liberating the mind and forging ahead with determination to carry out reform and opening up, successfully launching the road of Chinese-path modernization. As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, the Party united and led the Chinese people in self-confidence, self-reliance, upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground, promoting historical achievements and historical changes in the cause of the Party and the country; the road of Chinese-path modernization now shows even brighter prospects. Looking at the Party's century-long journey of struggle, the great cause of national rejuvenation and the great cause of building a powerful modern country are interwoven and advance in tandem. It can be said that the Party's century-long history of struggle is both a history of struggle in which the Party led the people to strive for national independence and liberation, and a history of struggle in which the Party led the people to continuously explore modernization and achieve national prosperity and common prosperity. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee wrote "advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization" into the Resolution on History [10], which is a scientific grasp and summary of the experience of the Party’s century-long struggle.
III. Advancing the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation on All Fronts through Chinese-path Modernization is the Central Task of the CPC on the New Journey in the New Era
History and reality have repeatedly proven that to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must take the road of modernization, but China's modernization cannot—and will not—repeat the old path of Western modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Following our own path is the basis of all the Party's theory and practice, and it is the historical conclusion drawn by the Party from its century-long struggle." Building a modern socialist country in all respects in China must follow the general laws of world modernization and reflect the common characteristics of modernization, but even more so, it must be based on China's national conditions and historical-cultural traditions, reflect Chinese characteristics, and explore a path of modernization that fits China's specificities. The Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party's Centennial Struggle correctly expressed this as the "Chinese-path modernization," and the 20th National Congress of the CPC further identified "advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization" as the central task for the New Era and the new journey. This is both a summary of the experience of the CPC's hundred-year history of promoting modernization and a strategic deployment for continuing to advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on the New Era's new journey.
Surveying the Party's hundred-year history, our Party has always promoted modernization as a strategic task, closely linking the rise and fall of the country with modernization. From "committing to China's industrialization" to building the "Four Modernizations" [11], the historical decadence of our country being backward and vulnerable was thoroughly transformed. From the exploration of a "Chinese-style modernization" to the creation of the "Chinese-path modernization," the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process and has also made Chinese contributions to human civilization. Advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization is the Party's most precious experience in promoting national rejuvenation over the past century. Today, our Party has led the people in building a moderately prosperous society (xiǎokāng society) in all respects on the land of China, embarking on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects; Chinese-path modernization has also been endowed with new connotations of the era. It "contains features that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context." It is manifested as "the modernization of a huge population," "the modernization of common prosperity for all," "the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement," "the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature," and "the modernization of peaceful development." These basic connotations contain the "experience code" of why Chinese-path modernization succeeded in the past. On the new journey in the New Era, we must correctly apply this precious experience and, in accordance with the "essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization" established by the 20th National Congress, under the strong leadership of the Party, always adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics: we must strive to achieve high-quality development, actively develop whole-process people's democracy, strive to enrich the people's spiritual world, solidly promote common prosperity for all, vigorously promote harmony between humanity and nature, and commit to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. By shaping a new pattern of human civilization with a new form of human civilization [12], we provide more and better Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength for solving the common problems facing humanity.