Ren Jie: Rethinking the Path of Chinese Modernization from the Perspective of World History
Modernization is an inevitable trend in the development of human society; it not only brings about immense progress, comprehensive transformations of social life, and global societal shifts, but also inaugurates the modern civilization of humanity. The American scholar Cyril Black proposed that the "great revolutionary transformation" represented by the changes in modern society "is the most dynamic." He argued that in all of human history, only two social transformations—the birth of humanity and the emergence of civilization—can be compared to modernization. Modernization is the grand trend of human civilizational development; however, how various ethnic groups and nations integrate into the tide of modernization, and what paths they choose to realize their modernization goals, allow for different options. The path of Chinese-path modernization, forged by the Communist Party of China (CPC) leading the Chinese people, has created the miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability that have sustained for decades and astonished the world. Furthermore, it is creating a new form of human civilization in a posture that transcends capitalist civilization. For China to comprehensively build a great modern socialist country and create a new form of human civilization by the middle of the 21st century, it must grasp historical laws, follow the general trend of history, exercise historical initiative, strengthen confidence in its path, and unswervingly continue its development along the path of Chinese-path modernization. Questions regarding whether and how Chinese-path modernization is possible as a non-capitalist path, how it was explored and established, and what world-historical significance it holds, must be elucidated from the perspective of "world history." "World history" is a vital lens for profoundly understanding the historical necessity, realistic legitimacy, subjective agency, and creative innovation of the path of Chinese-path modernization.
I. World History Has Changed the Mode of Realization of Historical Laws
(1) The Role of Capitalism in the Transition from "National History" to "World History"
Capitalism played the role of a "pioneer" in the transition from "national history" to "world history." During the capitalist era, the state of productive forces, the division of labor, and social intercourse [1] all made significant progress. The development of social productive forces, and the subsequent development and refinement of the division of labor, generated a differentiation of interests among individuals and a need for intercourse. The increasing expansion of intercourse eventually facilitated the formation of the world market. The role of the bourgeoisie in promoting and transforming productive forces and relations of production greatly accelerated the process of human history, moving it from a state where nations developed in relative isolation and independence into the stage of "world history." Regarding the role of capitalism in this transition, Marx actually provided evaluations from two dimensions: the historicist and the moralist. From the historicist dimension, capitalism played a vital and positive role in driving the development of social productive forces, promoting and transforming the relations of production, and advancing the progress of human history. From the moralist dimension, Marx was full of moral critique and condemnation of the "evil" of capitalism. Human history is a process of continuous development from lower to higher stages. Every new mode of production is a form of progress relative to an old, obsolete one that no longer meets the requirements of the development of productive forces—regardless of the cruel exploitation and oppression this new mode might bring. After all, the wheels of history cannot be blocked, and the general trend of historical development cannot be changed. Based on such a historical dialectic, Marx and Engels made a comprehensive and scientific evaluation of the role played by capitalism in the transition from history to world history, maintaining the unity of historicism and moralism, as well as the unity of factual and value judgments.
(2) The Diversity and Selectivity of Modernization Paths for Late-Developing Countries
In Marx's view, capitalist modernization would impact the modernization process of backward countries, but the latter do not necessarily have to follow the capitalist path to enter world history; the paths of various nations toward modernization possess diversity and selectivity. In his later years, after extensive research on Eastern societies, Marx obtained more evidence to support this. In his 1881 letter to Vera Zasulich [2], Marx denied that "all countries in the world are destined by historical necessity to pass through all the stages of capitalist production," proposing instead that the Russian commune "could, without passing through the Caudine Forks [3] of the capitalist system, appropriate all its positive achievements." Marx’s late thought—that the Russian rural commune could achieve rebirth without passing through the "Caudine Forks" of the capitalist system—represented a refinement and development of the theory of historical laws based on the perspective of world history. With the transition from "national history" to "world history," intercourse between individuals, and between individuals and the species, increasingly broke through the narrow limits of national regions to acquire a global character. This universal intercourse on a global scale changed the isolated and spontaneous evolution of various regions, nations, and states that existed before the emergence of "world history." Instead, they were integrated into the holistic process of world history, where a relationship of space-time compression replaced the previous unilinear evolutionary model. World history reconstructed the historical premises of human development, making it possible for human development to shift from a unilinear, monistic mode to a multilinear, pluralistic mode. The spatial-temporal transformation provided by world history broadened the room for choice in the developmental paths of various nations.
II. The Exploration and Establishment of the Path of Chinese-path Modernization under the Conditions of World History
(1) Being Drawn into World History: The New Democratic Revolution Period created the fundamental social conditions for initiating true modernization
Mao Zedong profoundly pointed out: "A China that is not poor and weak but prosperous and strong is linked to a China that is not a colony or semi-colony but independent, not semi-feudal but free and democratic, not divided but unified. In a semi-colonial, semi-feudal, and divided China, many people have dreamed for years of developing industry, building national defense, providing for the people's welfare, and seeking national prosperity and strength, but these dreams have all been shattered." Because China was forced into the historical process of global modernization, it occupied a subordinate position in the international system dominated by capitalism from the moment it entered world history. Capitalist nations, as the precursors of modernization, had already completed primitive capital accumulation, and their commodity economies had reached a high level. Capitalism inaugurated the era of world history while simultaneously reconstructing its conditions. As a late-developing, exogenous modernization country, China no longer possessed the possibility of spontaneously moving toward modernization while maintaining its independence. To achieve modernization, China first had to achieve political independence and national liberation, end its subordinate status in the international system, and explore modernization autonomously on the basis of national independence. To achieve national independence, it was necessary to carry out a revolution. The CPC led the Chinese people in creating the New China, "thoroughly ending the history of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society of old China, thoroughly ending the situation of old China as a heap of loose sand [4], and thoroughly abolishing the unequal treaties imposed on China by the Great Powers and all the privileges of imperialism in China, creating the fundamental social conditions for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," as well as the fundamental social conditions for initiating true modernization.
(2) Conforming to World History: During the period of socialist revolution and construction, China began to independently explore the path of socialist modernization
In the early years of the People's Republic, China faced a severe domestic and international situation. Domestically, the national finances and economy were "poverty-stricken and blank" [5], facing grave difficulties while all sectors of society awaited reconstruction; internationally, the confrontation between the two social systems and ideologies of capitalism and socialism had already taken shape. Western capitalist countries adopted measures of economic blockade, political isolation, and military threats against the New China, attempting to strangle it in its cradle. In terms of the needs for national construction at the time, the technological blockade by developed capitalist countries made it difficult for New China’s modernization to obtain external technical support. Compounded by the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations and the withdrawal of Soviet experts, China could only adopt a developmental policy of "relying mainly on one's own efforts while seeking external assistance as a supplement" to carry out modernization.
In September 1954, in the Government Work Report at the first session of the First National People's Congress, Zhou Enlai first proposed the modernization goal of the "Four Modernizations." He later reiterated this magnificent goal in the December 1964 Government Work Report, proposing to build a "powerful socialist country with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense, and modern science and technology." In this version of the "Four Modernizations," modern transportation was replaced by modern science and technology. Overall, before Reform and Opening-up, the theme of China's socialist modernization construction revolved around economic and national defense modernization. This was determined by the domestic and international environment, the primary tasks, the level of social productive forces, and the principal social contradiction that needed to be resolved at that time.
(3) Integrating into World History: During the new period of Reform and Opening-up and socialist modernization, China committed itself to forging a "Chinese-path modernization"
In the late 1970s, the global landscape showed a trend toward multipolarity. This diversification and multi-layered mutual restraint and reliance among international forces were objectively conducive to world peace and stability. Based on an analysis and judgment of the characteristics of the times and the international situation, Deng Xiaoping proposed that "it is possible that no large-scale world war will occur for a relatively long period, and there is hope for maintaining world peace"—the scientific judgment that peace and development remain the themes of the contemporary era. This scientific thesis became the vital basis for the Party and state to formulate domestic and foreign policies, and provided the ideological premise for the consensus on "forging a path of Chinese-path modernization." At the 12th National Congress of the CPC, Deng Xiaoping explicitly stated: "In our modernization construction, we must proceed from China's realities. ... To integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete realities of our country, blaze a path of our own, and build socialism with Chinese characteristics—this is the basic conclusion we have reached after summing up long-term historical experience." Deng Xiaoping inaugurated a new stage of building "Chinese-path modernization." Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao subsequently united and led the Chinese people in continuing forward along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, constantly enriching and developing the understanding, positioning, layout, and strategic goals of Chinese-path modernization, leading to significant progress in China's modernization.
The CPC's understanding of the connotation of modernization has undergone a process of continuous deepening. Modernization was expanded from the initial economic modernization to a holistic developmental process that includes social, economic, political, and cultural aspects that promote each other. The layout of modernization expanded from "two-in-one," "three-in-one," and "four-in-one" to the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" (economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilizational construction). This fundamentally formed the general layout of Chinese-path modernization, achieving a leap from partial development to holistic development. Regarding the design of modernization goals, a strategy of sequential development was adopted, upgrading from the earliest realization of industrial modernization, the "Four Modernizations," and "socialist modernization" to the comprehensive building of a great modern socialist country, achieving the transformation from economic modernization to comprehensive modernization and attaining the unity of continuity and stage-specific progression.
(4) Leading World History: In the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, striving to comprehensively build a great modern socialist country
Creating a new pattern of comprehensive opening-up. Entering the New Era, China's door to the outside world has opened wider and wider, and China's opening-up has entered a new stage. China hopes, while realizing its own development, to provide new opportunities for the development of all countries, allowing them to board the express train and "hitch a ride" on China's development to achieve win-win and all-win outcomes.
Constructing a high-level socialist market economy system provides an important guarantee for Chinese-path modernization. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee changed the "basic role" of the market in resource allocation to a "decisive role." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee established the socialist market economy system as a basic socialist economic system, marking a major innovation in Chinese-path modernization at the level of economic institutions. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed the goal of further comprehensively deepening reform to build a high-level socialist market economy system, "giving better play to the role of market mechanisms, creating a fairer and more dynamic market environment, and optimizing resource allocation to maximize efficiency and benefits—ensuring that the market is both 'dynamic' and 'under control,' better maintaining market order, remediating market failures, smoothing the circulation of the national economy, and stimulating the endogenous impetus and innovation vitality of the whole society."
Constructing an institutional system to advance Chinese-path modernization is essential. As reforms deepen, an increasing number of deep-seated contradictions and systemic bottlenecks [6] have become apparent. Solving these underlying conflicts and problems requires comprehensively deepening reform, emphasizing top-level design and holistic planning, and enhancing the systematic, integrated, and coordinated nature of reforms to produce a cumulative effect. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee explicitly stated that the overarching goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics while advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee focused on the theme of upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, committing itself to the maturation and formalization [7] of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee set its agenda on further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization, highlighting institutional development as the primary thread.
III. The World-Historical Significance of the Chinese-Path Modernization Road
(1) The Chinese-path modernization road has elevated the level of modernization for the entire world and transformed the global map of modernization. As the world’s largest developing country, characterized by a massive scale, a large population, and unbalanced regional development, China’s realization of a comprehensive modern socialist country is a monumental task. Achieving the "Centenary Goal" [8] of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in such a hyper-scale country is not only a realization of the Chinese people's struggle but also a positive contribution to elevating the modernization level of the entire world. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the multi-faceted achievements in economic and social development have allowed a country with such a vast population to solve the problem of survival and comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society (xiaokang). This in itself constitutes a massive contribution by China to the world. China persists in following a path of peaceful development; China's development and the development of other nations are not a zero-sum game of "either-or," but a mutually beneficial "win-win" progression in the same direction. Especially in the face of the global trends toward digitalization, networking, and intelligence, the economic ties between nations have become increasingly close—a state of "you are in me, and I am in you" [9]. Only by strengthening cooperation can we jointly respond to various new risks and challenges to achieve a "win-win" outcome. China's significant contribution to global development is further reflected in its role as a responsible major power, taking the building of a community with a shared future for humanity as its vision and welcoming all countries to share in the fruits of China's development.
(2) The Chinese-path modernization road deconstructs "Western-centrism" and expands the pathways for developing countries to achieve modernization. Modernization originated in the West, but modernization is not equivalent to Westernization. The outward colonial expansion of capitalism and the progress of science and technology gave the West a sense of confidence rooted in universalism and historical progressivism. Modernization as an ideology is the result of planned and purposeful shaping by the United States and other Western nations. The exploration, establishment, and successful practice of the Chinese-path modernization road prove that pluralistic models of modernization can coexist. This has solidified the "road confidence" [10] of the Chinese people and "expanded the pathways for developing countries to achieve modernization, providing a brand-new choice for those countries and nations in the world that wish to accelerate their development while maintaining their independence." The success and achievements of Chinese-path modernization will inspire other developing countries to more proactively explore modernization paths suited to their own conditions, broadening their developmental thinking and strengthening their confidence to "walk their own path." General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "We choose our own path and do our own things. We have no intention of exporting Chinese-path modernization or the 'China Model,' but Chinese-path modernization sets an example for the vast number of developing countries to move toward modernization independently, and it will inevitably serve as a reference for some developing countries."
(3) The Chinese-path modernization road has strengthened the forces of developing countries and driven the international landscape toward the trend of "the East is rising while the West is declining." The collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the 20th century was a major event in the history of the international communist movement, attracting global attention. Various schools of thought converged on this event, and the situation in the ideological sphere briefly became exceptionally complex. Regardless of the perspective, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe dealt a serious setback to the cause of world socialism. The achievements of Chinese-path modernization "have caused the historical evolution and competition between two ideologies and two social systems on a global scale to undergo a profound shift in favor of Marxism and socialism; socialism with Chinese characteristics has become the mainstay of world socialism." In the current era, as the "changes unseen in a century" accelerate, the collective rise of the "Global South," represented primarily by emerging markets and developing countries, is a distinct marker of this global transformation. The collective rise of the "Global South" is profoundly rewriting the world economic map and injecting more stability and positive energy into the development of world multipolarity and the democratization of international relations. The "phenomenal" changes and achievements of China's modernization have made China an important force in reshaping the international landscape and a member of the "first echelon" of the Global South. In October 2024, President Xi Jinping pointed out in an important speech at the BRICS summit: "As the 'first echelon' of the Global South, we must demonstrate collective wisdom and strength, and shoulder our responsibilities for building a community with a shared future for humanity." To this end, he proposed upholding peace to achieve common security, revitalizing development to achieve universal prosperity, and jointly promoting civilizations to achieve pluralistic harmony.
(4) The Chinese-path modernization road has created a new form of human civilization and leads the direction of world-historical development. As a "completely new form of human civilization," Chinese-path modernization is a new type of civilization with a socialist nature. It achieves a reconstruction and transcendence of Western civilization across the dimensions of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilization, initiating a new type of human civilization with "Oriental charm" and the "stature of a major power." Some scholars have proposed that Chinese-path modernization has created a "party civilization" (政党文明) characterized by purity, capable of eliminating corruption through its own strength and self-revolution; a new human political civilization embodied in the System of People's Congresses; a new human urban civilization that has avoided large-scale social unrest and urban slums; and a new form of peaceful civilization that follows the path of peaceful development and uses its powerful modernization forces to continuously deter war. General Secretary Xi Jinping has revealed the transcendence and superiority of the new form of human civilization created by Chinese-path modernization from the perspectives of contrast and transcendence, noting that it "is a high-level summary of the historical and world-world significance of China's practice and creation, marking a new positioning for China's modernization road and a new height in the development of Chinese civilization."
(Author’s affiliation: Institute of Marxism Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) Source: Teaching and Research (《教学与研究》), Issue 4, 2025 Online Editor: Jing Mu