Chen Jinlong: The Historical Logic of the Evolution of Chinese-style Modernization
History is multi-dimensional and pluralistic; understanding and grasping history requires a multi-perspective vision. The history of the People's Republic of China possesses multiple facets that can be examined and scrutinized through different dimensions. Theoretical reflection and practical exploration regarding Chinese-path modernization constitute one such crucial facet, running through the entire history of New China [1]. Surveying the historical development of Chinese-path modernization since the founding of New China, it has undergone a historical evolution from limited modernization to comprehensive modernization, from catch-up modernization to leading modernization, from efficiency-oriented modernization to quality-oriented modernization, and from the practical exploration of modernization to the theoretical construction of modernization. Recognizing the historical logic of the evolution of Chinese-path modernization holds significant enlightening significance for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
I. From Limited Modernization to Comprehensive Modernization
Modernization is an all-encompassing social transformation involving fields such as the economy, politics, culture, society, and ecology, and is closely related to the well-rounded development of the individual. Viewed from the historical process of global modernization, economic modernization serves as the breakthrough point for national modernization, driving modernization in other fields. Chinese-path modernization also began with economic modernization. From industrialization and the "Four Modernizations" to comprehensively building a modern socialist country and a great modern socialist power, a historical evolution of Chinese-path modernization from limited to comprehensive has been outlined. Industrialization is the foundation of national modernization. In the early period after the founding of New China, the national economy was extremely backward, with an especially weak industrial base. When defining the General Line and General Task for the Transition Period [2], Mao Zedong listed industrialization alongside socialist transformation, placing the task of industrialization at the head of the two major tasks, thereby demonstrating a high degree of emphasis on industrialization and its critical status during the transition period. In Mao Zedong's view, "Socialist industrialization is to transform China from an industrially underdeveloped country into an industrially developed country, and from non-socialist industry into socialist industry." That is to say, industrialization during the transition period included both the development of productive forces and the transformation of ownership relations.
Industrialization serves as the logical starting point for Chinese modernization. The proposal of the concept of the "Four Modernizations" and the establishment of its goals expanded the space and scope of Chinese modernization. In September 1954, Zhou Enlai, in his Government Work Report at the First Session of the First National People's Congress, proposed focusing on modern industry, agriculture, transport and communications, and modern national defense as the priorities of modernization. Starting with and breaking through in key fields is a general law of global modernization. Modern industry, agriculture, and transport and communications primarily concern economic modernization; in view of the confrontation between the two camps after the end of World War II and the policies of blockade and isolation adopted by Western countries against China, placing modern national defense on the agenda of Chinese modernization was particularly necessary. In the 1950s, global science and technology developed rapidly, intensifying scientific and technological competition and rivalry between nations, and the role of science and technology in the process of modernization became increasingly apparent. The first generation of the central collective leadership with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core, when planning Chinese modernization, keenly grasped this development trend and began to incorporate the modernization of science and technology into the scope of Chinese modernization. In November 1956, while meeting with an agricultural study group from the Italian Socialist Party at the Qinzheng Hall in Zhongnanhai [3], Mao Zedong pointed out the need to "gradually build modern industry and agriculture, as well as modern culture and science." Here, the vision of the modernization of culture and science had already been proposed, with culture and science mentioned together.
In December 1959, while reading the Textbook on Political Economy [4], Mao Zedong noted: "In building socialism, the original requirements were the modernization of industry, agriculture, and science and culture; now we must add the modernization of national defense." Compared to the key fields defined by Zhou Enlai, the modernization of transport and communications was no longer listed as a priority here, replaced instead by the modernization of science and culture, with science positioned before culture. In January 1960, Mao Zedong presided over an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to hear Li Fuchun’s report on the 1960 national economic plan and the projections for the next three and eight years. Mao Zedong pointed out: "The general goal for the eight years is to basically realize the Four Modernizations and establish a complete industrial system." Here, Mao Zedong explicitly used the concept of the "Four Modernizations" and took the establishment of a complete industrial system as the hallmark of basically realizing them. In December 1964, Zhou Enlai, in the Government Work Report at the First Session of the Third National People's Congress, formally defined the content of the Four Modernizations as "modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense, and modern science and technology," and set the construction of a modern "great socialist power" as the national development goal. The proposal of the concept and the definition of its content reflected the pursuit of a modern state by Chinese Communists during the period of socialist revolution and construction, as well as their deepening understanding of the internal laws of modernization. The Four Modernizations became a household name and a development goal with mobilizing power and appeal.
After the launch of Reform and Opening-up, centered on the target positioning of Chinese-path modernization, the concept of the "Four Modernizations" continued to be used on one hand, while the concept of "Chinese-style modernization" was proposed on the other. In March 1979, when meeting with a delegation from the Executive Committee of the Great Britain-China Centre, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "The goal we have set is to realize the Four Modernizations by the end of this century. Our concept is different from that of the West; I shall tentatively use a new expression called 'Chinese-style Four Modernizations'." At a subsequent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Deng Xiaoping simplified this concept to "Chinese-style modernization." This concept both continued the content of the Four Modernizations and intensified the Chinese characteristics of modernization based on China's national conditions. In determining the basic line for building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the report to the 13th National Congress of the CPC established the developmental goal as "building China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, and culturally advanced socialist modern country." Compared to the concept of the Four Modernizations, this goal added the dimension of political modernization, forming a "trinity" modernization structure of economy, politics, and culture, thereby expanding the connotation of Chinese-path modernization.
At the same time, the limitations of the Four Modernizations concept became increasingly apparent, and it gradually faded from mainstream discourse to become a historical memory of an era. With the deepening of Reform and Opening-up and the deepening of the understanding of the laws of Chinese-path modernization, the report to the 17th National Congress of the CPC, in defining the connotation of the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, set "building a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious socialist modern country" as its goal orientation. This began to incorporate social modernization into the category of Chinese-path modernization, and the connotations of modernization grew increasingly rich. The report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC, in deploying the development goals for the mid-21st century, proposed "building China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful great socialist modern power." The word "beautiful," as one of the elements of a great modern power, further expanded the connotation of Chinese-path modernization.
While expanding the connotation of Chinese-path modernization, the New Era proposed the historical task of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. The report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC stated that after comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving the First Centenary Goal, we must build on this momentum to "embark on a new journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country and march toward the Second Centenary Goal." The report to the 19th National Congress put forward a new "two-step" strategic arrangement for the process of comprehensively building a modern socialist country: from comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society to basically realizing modernization; and from basically realizing modernization to comprehensively building a great modern socialist power. This moved the timeline for basically realizing modernization designed by Deng Xiaoping forward by fifteen years. The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC emphasized: "From this day forward, the central task of the Communist Party of China 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 a Chinese path to modernization." Comprehensively building a modern socialist country is the process; comprehensively building a great modern socialist power is the result. The report to the 20th National Congress linked Chinese-path modernization with the comprehensive advancement of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, endowing Chinese-path modernization with a more sublime and comprehensive historical mission. Moving from limited modernization to comprehensive modernization is both a process of the conceptual evolution of Chinese-path modernization and a process of its practical expansion. From the dimensions of the fields and scope involved, it interprets the historical logic of the evolution of Chinese-path modernization.
II. From Catch-up Modernization to Leading Modernization
Chinese-path modernization is a typical case of "late-comer exogenous" modernization. This typology dictated that from its inception, Chinese-path modernization faced the historical task of catching up with both the Western developed nations and the Soviet Union as a socialist state. As China’s total economic volume has firmly secured its position as the second largest in the world, Chinese-path modernization has achieved a transformation from a "catch-up modernization" to a "leading modernization."
When planning China’s modernization, Mao Zedong successively pursued the goals of catching up with or surpassing the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In August 1954, while meeting a British Labour Party delegation led by Clement Attlee, Mao noted, "China is a backward country just beginning to change its appearance; economically and culturally, it lags behind Western countries." This objective acknowledgment of the gap between China and Western developed nations in economic and cultural development was the prerequisite for the generation of catch-up modernization. In his opening address at the first session of the 1st National People's Congress, Mao explicitly stated, "Our people should work hard and strive to learn from the advanced experience of the Soviet Union and all fraternal countries." Here, the targets for catching up were clearly identified as the Soviet Union and other socialist states. In March 1955, in his opening speech at the National Conference of the Communist Party of China, Mao stated, "We must catch up with or surpass the most powerful capitalist countries in the world within approximately several decades." By identifying the "most powerful capitalist countries" as the targets—which naturally included the United States and the United Kingdom—Mao realized that the process of catching up and surpassing would encounter many difficulties.
As a socialist state, the Soviet Union had experienced rapid socio-economic development after World War II, emerging as a power capable of contending with the United States; it was thus the primary target for China's modernization to catch up with. Modernization originated in the West, but the success of Soviet socialist construction provided humanity with two forms: capitalist modernization and socialist modernization. The diplomatic choice of "leaning to one side" [5] and the assistance provided by the Soviet Union in the early years of the New China led Mao to initially target the Soviet Union when planning China's modernization. In February 1956, while listening to a report from the Ministry of Heavy Industry, Mao discussed the issue of development speed. He said: "Can our country's construction exceed the speed of the Soviet Union's first few five-year plans? I believe we can catch up, and in industry, we can also surpass them." Mao analyzed the reasons why China's development speed could potentially exceed that of the Soviet Union from four aspects: international conditions, domestic conditions, technical level, population size, and agricultural development. In Mao’s view, China could also surpass the Soviet Union in terms of modern technical development, based mainly on socialist enthusiasm, the mass line, and the reduction of bureaucracy.
As the United States was the most developed capitalist country in the world, Mao also targeted it when planning China's modernization goals. In October 1955, during a discussion with the executive committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce regarding the socialist transformation of private industry and commerce, Mao explicitly stated: "Our goal is to catch up with the United States and to surpass it. The United States has a population of only over 100 million, while our country has over 600 million; we should catch up." For modernization, a large population is both a burden and a wealth. To bring over 600 million people into a modernized society as a whole is an arduous task with unimaginable difficulties; however, a large population also means a large labor force, which can generate a demographic dividend and constitutes a massive market. This was the basis for Mao’s belief that China could overtake the United States. In May 1957, meeting with Sao Hkun Hkio, Speaker of the Burmese Chamber of Nationalities, Mao noted: "We must work hard for fifty years to build up industry so that we have as much steel as the United States. The Soviet Union has been building for forty years and has not yet caught up; we must work very hard to catch up, as the United States is also advancing." Mao knew well that catching up with the US as a whole in the short term was difficult, so he chose the specific metric of steel production as the breakthrough point. After the setbacks of the "Great Leap Forward," Mao gained a more sober understanding of the difficulty of surpassing the US. In January 1962, presiding over a plenary session of the Enlarged Central Work Conference, Mao noted that because China had a large population, a thin foundation, and a backward economy, "to catch up with and surpass the most advanced capitalist countries in the world, I don't think it can be done in less than a hundred years or so." The "most advanced capitalist countries" referred to here was actually the United States, and the catch-up timeframe was set at "a hundred years or so." It should be said that Mao left some leeway in his temporal setting for surpassing the United States.
The United Kingdom was the first capitalist country to realize modernization and was also a target for China's catch-up efforts. In November 1957, speaking at the Meeting of Representatives of Communist and Workers' Parties, Mao stated, "In fifteen years, we may catch up with or surpass Britain." In December of the same year, in talks with leaders of democratic parties and non-party personages, he further explained the possibility of catching up with Britain in fifteen years. Mao believed that "it is possible to catch up with or surpass Britain in the output of steel and other important industrial products in fifteen years or slightly longer," and he provided a specific analysis of the possibilities for electricity, coal, and steel. In January 1958, while presiding over the 14th meeting of the Supreme State Council, Mao again stated: "Catching up with Britain in fifteen years, I think, is entirely possible." Here, "catching up in fifteen years" referred to the output of major industrial products. After the start of the Great Leap Forward, Mao significantly compressed the timeframe. In June 1958, while reviewing a summary by Bo Yibo submitted to the CPC Central Committee Politburo regarding the 1958 economic situation and 1959 outlook, Mao commented: "Surpassing Britain will not take fifteen years, nor seven years; it only needs two to three years. Two years is possible. This is mainly about steel. As long as we reach 25 million tons in 1959, we will surpass Britain in steel output." Based on this judgment, "Mao changed the title of the report to 'Surpassing Britain in Two Years (Report to the Politburo).'" This "two years" referred specifically to the output of major industrial products. In August of the same year, while meeting a Cambodian national delegation led by Prince Sihanouk in Beidaihe, Mao noted: "Our industry has made some progress, but to catch up with Britain in per capita output is not so easy; let us first catch up in absolute output." The standard remained "absolute output" rather than per capita. However, in November 1958, while presiding over the First Zhengzhou Conference, he briefly proposed the idea of catching up in per capita output: "In the past, we proposed catching up in total output within fifteen years or less; now we propose catching up per capita." Moving from absolute to per capita output significantly raised the benchmark. Yet Mao’s views soon shifted again. In June 1959, on a special train stopped in Zhengzhou, he told leaders of the Henan Provincial Party Committee: "I think we should still stick to the slogan of surpassing Britain in the output of major industrial products in fifteen years or a little less. Major industrial products means more than just steel. What was originally a very appropriate slogan has now lost its appeal; it seems people feel fifteen years is not fast enough." Here, Mao criticized the phenomenon of being over-eager to surpass Britain and maintained that the fifeen-year slogan should be upheld. In October 1959, while meeting a Brazilian Communist Party delegation, he explained the rationale for surpassing Britain in per capita terms but extended the timeframe to fifty years. In fact, the 8th Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee in August 1959 set the goal of catching up in ten years. Its communique stated that the slogan "could be basically realized in about ten years." Based on this, the 1960 People's Daily New Year's Day editorial, "Prospects for the 1960s," stated that the goal was to catch up with or surpass Britain in major industrial output within the new decade, linking this to the basic realization of modernization. In January 1960, Mao proposed during a Politburo enlarged meeting to "achieve the ten-year catch-up goal five years ahead of schedule" (i.e., by 1962). Such target positioning was clearly over-hasty and failed to achieve the expected results.
After the start of Reform and Opening-up, Chinese-path modernization continued to target catching up with Western developed countries. In August 1980, Deng Xiaoping noted in an enlarged Politburo meeting: "In carrying out socialist modernization, we want to catch up with the developed capitalist countries economically, create a democracy that is higher and more practical than that of capitalist countries politically, and cultivate more and better talents than these countries." Here, catching up with developed capitalist countries was the objective positioning used to define the connotation of Chinese-path modernization. During his Southern Tour, Deng expressed hope for Guangdong province "to strive to catch up with the Four Asian Tigers [6] in twenty years." This reflected a catch-up mindset, using the "Four Asian Tigers" as the benchmark for Guangdong’s modernization. In the first decade of the 21st century, China's total economy successively surpassed Italy, France, the UK, Germany, and Japan, ranking second in the world. Entering the New Era, Chinese-path modernization no longer takes catching up with Western developed countries as its goal. The report to the 19th CPC National Congress pointed out that Socialism with Chinese Characteristics entering a New Era "means that the path, theory, system, and culture of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics have continued to develop... expanding the path for developing countries to achieve modernization." This language exudes confidence in Chinese-path modernization. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress stated that "Chinese-path modernization provides a new choice for humanity to achieve modernization." This means Chinese-path modernization has moved beyond a "catch-up" or "apprentice" state and entered a historical stage of leading world modernization. The historical evolution from catch-up modernization to leading modernization explains the way of thinking and acting in Chinese-path modernization, presenting a historical process of moving from passivity to initiative and highlighting the change in the international status of Chinese-path modernization.
III. From Modernization Focused on Efficiency to Modernization Focused on Quality
The reality of economic and cultural backwardness and the stark contrast with developed Western nations caused Chinese-path modernization to focus primarily on the pursuit of efficiency for a considerable period. Catch-up modernization is built upon the foundation of efficiency; without efficiency, the goal of catching up is difficult to achieve. As China's economy shifted from high-speed growth to high-quality development, Chinese-path modernization began to transition toward a modernization that emphasizes quality. In the early period of the founding of the People's Republic, there was an urgent desire to change the face of backwardness. In June 1953, while reviewing Li Weihan's report Several Issues Concerning the Utilization, Restriction, and Transformation of Capitalist Industry and Commerce (Draft), Mao Zedong proposed that "the Party's task is to basically complete national industrialization and socialist transformation within ten to fifteen years or a bit longer." National industrialization involves infrastructure construction, technological innovation, and coordination between various industries; it is a massive undertaking. Setting the time for basically completing national industrialization at ten to fifteen years reflected a strong desire to change China's backward state, but in fact, it was difficult to realize. Subsequently, Mao Zedong's conceptions regarding the time needed to achieve China's industrialization became slightly more flexible. When meeting a British Labour Party delegation led by Clement Attlee, Mao pointed out: "China is an agricultural country; to become an industrial country will take several decades." Here, the timeframe for achieving industrialization was defined as several decades. In the opening address of the First Session of the First National People's Congress, Mao Zedong noted: "We are prepared, within several five-year plans, to build our country—which is currently economically and culturally backward—into a great industrial country with a high degree of modern culture." Although Mao did not specify exactly how many five-year plans would be required to achieve industrialization and cultural modernization, "several five-year plans" did not imply a short period. In October 1954, while meeting a Polish government delegation led by Bolesław Bierut, Mao pointed out: "We are prepared to lay the foundation within fifteen years; for true industrialization, even more time will be needed." Here, Mao divided the realization of national industrialization into two steps: laying the industrial foundation and achieving industrialization itself. He still envisioned fifteen years for laying the foundation but did not specify a time for achieving full industrialization. In the opening address of the National Conference of the Communist Party of China, Mao noted: "We may build a socialist society through three five-year plans, but to build a powerful country with a high degree of socialist industrialization will require several decades of arduous effort—say, fifty years, or the entire second half of this century." Here, the time for achieving industrialization was specified as fifty years, which was still somewhat indicative of a rush for results [7]. In March 1957, in a speech delivered to Party cadres from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces and the Nanjing Military Region, Mao pointed out: "How many years will it take to build our country well? I think probably a hundred years. It should be taken in several steps: it will be slightly better in about a dozen years; better still in twenty or thirty years; in fifty years it may manage to look like something; in a hundred years it will be great and quite different from now." Mao designed the realization of Chinese modernization into four steps, with the total time limited to within a hundred years. With the rise of the "Great Leap Forward," Mao's grasp of the timeline for modernization became too hasty and rapid. In November 1958, while reviewing and revising the Resolution on Several Issues Concerning the People's Communes (Third Draft), he changed the time for "building our country into a socialist country with modern industry, modern agriculture, and modern science and culture" from "about fifteen years" to "fifteen years, twenty years, or a bit more." Effectively, the time to build China into a modernized country was shortened from a hundred years to fifteen or twenty years, a major shift and adjustment compared to the design of March 1957. In June 1959, when meeting a delegation of Peruvian parliamentarians, Mao pointed out: "For a large country like ours to raise its economic and cultural levels and build modernized industry, agriculture, and culture/education, a process is required. We have now put forward the slogan of 'more, faster, better, and more economically' [8] for economic and cultural construction. It can be a bit faster, but it cannot be very fast; thinking it can be very fast is just bragging." Mao had realized the problem of rushing for results brought by the "Great Leap Forward" and sought to change this situation. In the process of correcting the errors of the "Great Leap Forward," Mao's vision for the timeline of Chinese modernization returned to the judgment of 1957. In December 1961, while meeting a municipal council delegation from Caracas, Venezuela, in Hangzhou, Mao pointed out: "We are prepared to use fifty to a hundred years to fundamentally solve the problems of industrial and agricultural production. Do we not speak of the Great Leap Forward? But we need time; the Great Leap Forward also needs several decades to a hundred years to solve problems, to turn a very poor country into a relatively wealthy one." Mao designed the time for achieving modernization as fifty to a hundred years. In December 1962, when meeting Brazilian guests at the Hall of Cherishing Longevity (Yinian Tang) in Zhongnanhai, Mao pointed out: "China has some industrial foundation, but it is not enough; moreover, it cannot be established to catch up with world levels in a very short time—a century is required. We are prepared to use fifty to a hundred years." The fifty-year design was hurried, while the hundred-year design was more measured and better suited the concrete reality of Chinese-path modernization. The various time nodes Mao Zedong proposed for achieving industrialization and building a socialist modernized country, despite their varying lengths, all demonstrated the pursuit of efficiency in Chinese modernization, striving to change China's backwardness as quickly as possible and narrow the developmental gap with Western developed countries. In the early period of Reform and Opening-up, Chinese-path modernization still primarily pursued efficiency. In March 1978, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the National Science Conference, Deng Xiaoping proposed: "Within the twentieth century, to comprehensively realize the modernization of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology, and build our country into a powerful socialist modernized state." Here, the time for comprehensively realizing the Four Modernizations and building a powerful socialist modernized state was limited to within the 20th century, which was basically consistent with Mao Zedong's fifty-year modernization vision and was, in fact, difficult to achieve. Subsequently, Deng Xiaoping adjusted the timeline for the Four Modernizations. In November 1981, when meeting the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Deng pointed out that by the end of the 20th century, a "moderately prosperous" [9] level of modernization would be achieved, "striving to reach 1,000 USD per capita, or at least 800 USD. On this basis, in the next century, we will spend another thirty to fifty years to approach Western levels." This vision was more consistent with Mao Zedong's hundred-year modernization proposal and better suited the reality of Chinese-path modernization. During his Southern Tour [10] speeches, based on the development experiences of Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, domestic conditions, the international environment, and the advantage of "concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings," Deng Xiaoping proposed: "In the long process of modernization construction ahead, it is necessary and possible to have several stages with relatively fast development speeds and better results." Reality has proven Deng's foresight correct. China's economy maintained forty years of high-speed growth, becoming one of the "two great miracles." Based on the stage-specific characteristics formed by China's economic development, the report to the 19th CPC National Congress declared that "China's economy has transitioned from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development." High-quality development is development that implements the New Development Philosophy; it is development based on new quality productive forces and is the development required to advance Chinese-path modernization. High-quality development does not mean abandoning development speed, but rather organically unifying economic development with technological progress, environmental protection, and the satisfaction of people's needs. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress emphasized that "high-quality development is the primary task of building a socialist modernized country in all respects," highlighting the role of high-quality development in advancing Chinese-path modernization and signifying that Chinese-path modernization is moving toward a modernization that focuses on quality. Shifting from an efficiency-oriented modernization to a quality-oriented modernization represents an upgrade in the character of Chinese-path modernization and a transformation of its path dependency.
IV. From the Practical Exploration of Modernization to the Construction of Modernization Theory
From the founding of the People's Republic of China until the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Chinese Communists engaged in theoretical reflection and practical exploration regarding Chinese-path modernization, yet they lacked a systematic theoretical construction. The report of the 20th National Congress carried out a systematic theoretical construction of Chinese-path modernization, establishing the initial framework for the theoretical system of Chinese-path modernization. Consequently, Chinese-path modernization has entered a new stage of two-way interaction between theory and practice. After the founding of the PRC, the concepts of "four modernizations" [11] and "Chinese-style modernization" were successively proposed, and theoretical explorations were conducted regarding the major relationships that must be handled in China's modernization. Following the 13th National Congress, the connotations of a socialist modern country were clearly defined, and the strategic steps for Chinese-path modernization were arranged. This theoretical exploration drove the practical development of Chinese-path modernization; the implementation of successive Five-Year Plans and Programs constitutes the concrete practice of Chinese-path modernization. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system were established, laying the material foundation for Chinese-path modernization. During the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, a historic breakthrough was achieved as the country moved from a state of relatively backward productive forces to its position as the world's second-largest economy. A historic leap was realized in the people's standard of living, progressing from insufficient food and clothing to moderate prosperity in general [12], and then toward moderate prosperity in all respects, providing the material conditions for Chinese-path modernization.
With the accumulation of practical experience in advancing Chinese-path modernization since the founding of the PRC, the time has become ripe for the systematic construction of the theory of Chinese-path modernization. The question of "what kind of great modern socialist country to build and how to build it" has become a major epochal question that Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era must answer. In October 2020, at the second plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee's Fifth Plenary Session, Xi Jinping systematically summarized five important characteristics of Chinese-path modernization [13] and interpreted the history of the Party and the PRC from the perspective of modernization. Xi Jinping pointed out: "All the struggles the CPC has led the Chinese people through since its founding nearly a hundred years ago are for the purpose of building our country into a great modern power and achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." This is an interpretation of the CPC's history from the dimension of modernization, and it laid an important foundation for establishing the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as the historical theme of the CPC. Regarding the history since the founding of the PRC, Xi Jinping also explained it from the dimension of modernization: "From the First Five-Year Plan to the 14th Five-Year Plan, the consistent theme has been building our country into a socialist modern country." This reveals and summarizes the historical theme of the New China and interprets the history of the PRC through the lens of modernization.
The report of the 20th National Congress concentrated on expounding the theory of Chinese-path modernization, providing a systematic explanation of its Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, strategic arrangements, and major principles, thereby initially constructing the theoretical system of Chinese-path modernization. In February 2023, Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the opening ceremony of a seminar for principal officials at the provincial and ministerial levels on studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 20th National Congress. This speech further expounded the theory of Chinese-path modernization, both reiterating the theoretical explanations from the 20th Congress report and further clarifying issues not yet covered in the report, such as the historical development, major principles, unique connotations, and world significance of Chinese-path modernization, thus enriching the substance of its theoretical system. The historical achievements and historic shifts attained in the New Era are also the achievements and shifts in the practice of Chinese-path modernization. The transformative practices and breakthrough progress of Chinese-path modernization have brought about landmark results—particularly the elimination of absolute poverty and the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects—providing a more solid material foundation for Chinese-path modernization.
The progression from the practical exploration of Chinese-path modernization to the construction of its theoretical system reflects the interactive relationship between theory and practice. The theoretical construction of Chinese-path modernization is based on the accumulation of practical experience, and this theoretical construction will, in turn, further promote the practical development of Chinese-path modernization to achieve the goal of comprehensively building a great modern socialist country. Since the founding of the PRC, the historical evolution of Chinese-path modernization has possessed its own internal logic. The aforementioned four aspects both reflect the commonalities of global modernization and highlight the particularities of Chinese-path modernization; they both outline the evolutionary process of Chinese-path modernization and reveal its internal laws. From the historical evolution of Chinese-path modernization, it can be seen that it is a process of gradually enhancing understanding, expanding practice, and manifesting results. It contains both the experience and wisdom of Chinese-path modernization, as well as its twists and lessons. This historical evolution reflects the sense of responsibility, spirit of mission, global vision, and concern for humanity among Chinese Communists in seeking national modernization, becoming an important component of the history of the CPC and the history of the People's Republic of China.