Song Youwen: Internal Laws of Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform Centered on Promoting Chinese-style Modernization
Marx’s technics-related thought [1] provides a fundamental framework for scientifically understanding the essential attributes and socio-historical effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and for correctly handling the relationship between AI and ideological and political education. As a key driving force and strategic technology of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, AI profoundly influences the triple socio-historical relationships—between humanity and nature, humanity and humanity, and humanity and the self—and is gradually evolving into a unity of "technical means," "infrastructure," and "civilizational marker." For ideological and political education, AI is embedded as an endogenous force, influencing its foundational basis, basic contradictions, and practical forms. Promoting the deep integration of AI with ideological and political education is an intrinsic requirement and rational choice to follow the laws of technological transformation and to escape the paradox of technical instrumentalism and the risk of technical domination. Deeply embedded in this integration is a symbiotic relationship and interactive logic between "technology" and "ideological-political work," manifested centrally in two interconnected and complementary processes and mechanisms: "the ideological-political transformation of AI" and "the AI-driven transformation of ideological-political work."
The developmental trajectory of reform and opening up demonstrates that planning and advancing reform around the Party’s central tasks is a vital experience in achieving successful reform. The 20th National Congress of the CPC clarified the mission and tasks of the Communist Party of China on the new journey in the New Era, making important strategic deployments for advancing Chinese-path modernization. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee anchored the goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035, focusing closely on the theme of advancing Chinese-path modernization to deploy measures for further comprehensively deepening reform. This organically unifies Chinese-path modernization with further comprehensively deepening reform, profoundly elucidating the inherent laws of further comprehensively deepening reform.
I. The Origins and Evolution of Chinese-path Modernization and Comprehensively Deepening Reform
The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization (hereinafter referred to as the Decision), adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, points out: "Chinese-path modernization has been advanced through reform and opening up, and it will surely open up broad prospects through reform and opening up." As a socialist modernization led by the CPC, Chinese-path modernization has been continuously deepened and expanded on the basis of painstaking exploration and long-term practice since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), especially since the start of reform and opening up. It possesses deep historical roots and a clear developmental trajectory.
Building a socialist modernized country has been our strong aspiration and common goal since the founding of the New China. "From the First Five-Year Plan to the 14th Five-Year Plan, the consistent theme has been to build our country into a socialist modernized country. We have taken detours and encountered some unexpected difficulties and setbacks, but our will and determination to build a socialist modernized country have never wavered." What kind of modernization path has our socialist modernization taken? After the founding of New China, the country followed a "catch-up" modernization path that prioritized the development of heavy industry. This choice was highly correlated with emulating the Soviet industrialization path at the time, leading to a large extent to reliance on planning and the exclusion of the market. Implementing a strategy that prioritized heavy industry in a country like China, which had abundant labor but lacked capital, cannot be analyzed simply through pure theoretical economics; rather, it requires a comprehensive consideration of domestic and international political factors: "Only by establishing heavy industry can all industry, transport, and agriculture obtain the equipment necessary for development and transformation. Because the foundation of our heavy industry was extremely weak in the past, we were not economically independent and our national defense could not be consolidated. Imperialist countries all came to bully us; the Chinese people have had enough of such pain... All this shows that the center of the country's socialist industrialization must be the development of heavy industry." The historical lesson that "backwardness invites being bullied" [2] and the danger of potentially having one's "membership on earth revoked" [3] stimulated a strong will for industrialization among the Party and the people, giving birth to the arduous industrialization path of the New China. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the CPC united and led the people to establish an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system from the "poverty and emptiness" [4] of the old China. Unique theoretical results and great achievements were obtained, creating the fundamental political prerequisites and laying the institutional and material foundations for subsequent modernization, while accumulating precious experience and making full theoretical preparations. The great historical achievements of this period cannot be overstated. Prioritizing heavy industry and high accumulation/investment guaranteed national security, economic growth, and social stability, but also brought about certain problems. "Between 1958 and 1978, Chinese society was actually in a state of stagnation and hesitation for twenty years; the country's economy and the people's lives did not see much development or improvement. Under such circumstances, was it possible not to reform?"
After the end of the "Cultural Revolution," the national economy was on the brink of collapse, the masses remained in poverty, and while global science and technology were developing rapidly, the gap between China’s development and advanced international levels had widened significantly. Based on reflection upon this cruel reality and the urgent situation, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized the superiority of the socialist system as a means to plan the initiation of reform and opening up. In his "Northern Talks" in September 1978, he spoke pointedly: "Socialism must demonstrate its superiority. How can we continue like this, still so poor after over twenty years? What would we want socialism for then?" "The fundamental manifestation of the superiority of the socialist system is its ability to allow the social productive forces to develop rapidly at a speed the old society did not have, so that the people’s ever-growing material and cultural needs can be gradually satisfied. According to the viewpoint of historical materialism, the results of correct political leadership must ultimately be manifested in the development of social productive forces and the improvement of the people's material and cultural lives." It can be said that under the socio-historical conditions of the time, implementing reform and opening up was the only way to change the country's backward status, improve the people's living standards, and advance socialist modernization. "If we do not implement reform now, our modernization cause and socialist cause will be ruined." How should the superiority of the socialist system be brought into play? Deng Xiaoping pointed out that "reform is the self-perfection of the socialist system." Regarding institutions, Deng made a forward-looking distinction between fundamental systems and specific systems (structures), emphasizing that while the fundamental system must not be shaken, specific systems that contain many defects must be earnestly reformed, otherwise it would be difficult to adapt to the urgent needs of modernization. Chen Yuan also emphasized: "The socialist economic structural reform currently being carried out is the self-perfection and development of the socialist system." The rationality of reform lies in maintaining the socialist fundamental system while reforming those specific systems or structures that do not adapt to the needs of the development of productive forces or the interests of the people, thereby promoting the further liberation and development of productive forces, improving the people's standard of living, fully exerting the superiority of the socialist system, and gaining a comparative advantage for socialism over capitalism.
In the great practice of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping proceeded from China's specific realities and clearly proposed: "In carrying out construction now, we must also suit Chinese conditions and blaze a path of Chinese-style modernization." "Chinese-style modernization" was an inheritance and development of the "Four Modernizations." [5] "Proceeding from current realities, we must make full use of various favorable conditions to realize the goal of the Four Modernizations proposed by Comrade Mao Zedong and announced by Comrade Zhou Enlai." The "Four Modernizations" were originally planned to be realized by the end of the 20th century. After international comparison and comprehensive consideration, Deng Xiaoping formally proposed "Chinese-path modernization." "We originally spoke grandly about realizing the Four Modernizations by the end of this century. Later, we changed our tune and called it 'Chinese-style modernization,' which means lowering the standards a bit." This fully embodied Deng Xiaoping's working style of seeking truth from facts. He emphasized that "Chinese-style modernization must proceed from Chinese characteristics," taking into account the actual characteristics of a weak foundation, insufficient scientific and technological strength, a large population, and limited arable land. Chinese-style modernization meant "lowering the original vision to complete a lower goal," which was to achieve a "moderately prosperous" (xiaokang) level by the end of the 20th century. On December 6, 1979, when meeting with then-Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira, Deng Xiaoping said: "The Four Modernizations we want to achieve are Chinese-style Four Modernizations. Our concept of the Four Modernizations is not the same as your concept; rather, it is a 'moderately prosperous family' (xiaokang zhijia)." By then, "reaching the level of the relatively affluent countries in the Third World... will still require great effort. Even if we reach that level, compared to the West, it will still be backward... it will still be a state of moderate prosperity." Deng Xiaoping used "xiaokang," a term with the imprint of Chinese culture, to interpret Chinese-path modernization. This was a reflection on the modernization catch-up strategy based on China's specific national conditions and a great creation of combining the basic principles of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture [6]. It gained wide recognition from all sectors of society, thereby opening the curtain on the era of exploring the path of Chinese-path modernization.
After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the Party led the people to emancipate their minds and forge ahead with determination, creating great achievements in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. China achieved a historical breakthrough from a state of relatively backward productive forces to becoming the world's second-largest economy. It realized a historical leap in the people's lives from inadequate food and clothing to overall moderate prosperity, and then to the completion of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, advancing the great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up to becoming prosperous. As practice moved forward, reform entered a period of "tackling hard problems" and "deep-water zones," where the barriers of entrenched interests and some deep-seated institutional and structural problems became increasingly apparent. Deng Xiaoping's strategic foresight in the 1990s—noting that "it will probably take another thirty years for us to form a more mature and defined set of systems in all aspects" and that "problems after development are no fewer than those during non-development"—was particularly profound. The problems after development were mainly concentrated on issues of fairness and justice: "There are still many phenomena in society that violate fairness and justice. Especially as China's level of economic and social development and the people's living standards continuously improve, the people's awareness of fairness, democracy, and rights has grown, and their reaction to social injustice has become increasingly intense." The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform, adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, clearly proposed that the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, with the starting point and ultimate goal of promoting social fairness and justice and increasing the people's well-being. This meeting focused on the "Six Closely Arounds" to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity from various fields, so as to better bring out the superiority of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Comprehensively deepening reform is a major enrichment and development of Deng Xiaoping's strategic thought on reform. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in an epoch-making manner initiated the comprehensively deepening of reform in the New Era, "realizing the shift of reform from local exploration and breaking the ice to systematic integration and comprehensive deepening. The basic institutional framework in various fields was basically established, and historical changes, systematic reshaping, and holistic restructuring were realized in many fields... achieving the goal of making various systems more mature and defined with significant results by the centenary of the founding of the Party, providing a strong institutional guarantee for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing the Party's First Centenary Goal, and pushing China onto a new journey of comprehensively building a socialist modernized country." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee continued this struggle, consciously placing reform in a more prominent position. With the theme of advancing Chinese-path modernization and the main line of institutional building, it clarified that the general goal of further comprehensively deepening reform is to continue to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. This is a summary of the experience of reform and opening up, especially the comprehensively deepening of reform in the New Era, and an accurate grasp of the new situations and requirements facing the advancement of Chinese-path modernization, deepening the understanding of the laws of reform and opening up and the laws of Chinese-path modernization construction.
II. Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and the Transformation of Economic and Social Development Modes
The outlook on modernization is fundamentally an outlook on development; it requires a sound answer to the fundamental question of the mode of economic and social development—that is, "what kind of development to achieve and how to achieve it." Advancing Chinese-path modernization faces a transformation of the development mode, and to smoothly realize this transformation, we must rely on further comprehensively deepening reform. A particularly critical element in the guiding ideology for further comprehensively deepening reform is the complete, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the New Development Concept. It can be said that further comprehensively deepening reform is led by the New Development Concept; this represents a rational self-awareness regarding the transformation of the mode of economic and social development and a profound grasp of the laws governing socialist modernization.
The New Development Concept of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing, established at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, was formed on the basis of profoundly summarizing the important experience and basic laws of our country's development since the beginning of reform and opening up. It represents a profound conceptual transformation affecting the overall situation of China's development. Thus, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "Since the 18th National Congress, we have proposed many major theories and concepts regarding economic and social development, among which the New Development Concept is the most important and primary." This is because development concepts are strategic and programmatic; they exert a powerful leading role and are the concentrated expression of the direction, thinking, and focus of development. "The New Development Concept is a systematic theoretical system that answers a series of theoretical and practical questions concerning the purpose, power, mode, and path of development. It clarifies major political issues such as our Party's political stance, value orientation, development model, and development path regarding development."
To implement the New Development Concept completely, accurately, and comprehensively means, on the one hand, using it to guide and lead further comprehensively deepening reform, pushing economic and social development toward innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing. On the other hand, since the establishment of the New Development Concept is accompanied by the transformation of traditional development models, it will inevitably encounter adjustments in socio-economic structures and the interests of various groups. This involves transformations in ideological values and modes of production and life. We must leverage further comprehensively deepening reform to provide the institutional and mechanistic impetus and guarantee for the implementation of the New Development Concept.
Further comprehensively deepening reform must implement the New Development Concept completely, accurately, and comprehensively to better adapt to the changes in the principal contradiction in Chinese society and the urgent need to promote high-quality development. The report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC provided a precise characterization of China's economic development: "China's economy has transitioned from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development." This judgment was based on the historical fact that the principal contradiction in our society has evolved into the contradiction between the people's ever-growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. Simultaneously, it reflects a profound insight into the complex situation of the "period of three overlapping phases" [7]—the period of shifting gears in growth rate, the painful period of structural adjustment, and the period of digesting previous stimulus policies—which China's economic development entered after the long period of high-speed growth following reform and opening up. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee emphasized that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, economic and social development must "take high-quality development as the theme, take deepening supply-side structural reform as the main line, take reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, and take meeting the people's ever-growing need for a better life as the fundamental goal." The report to the 20th National Congress further clarified: "High-quality development is the primary task in building a modern socialist country in all respects." At present, the prominent problems facing the promotion of high-quality development remain unbalanced and inadequate development. Fundamentally, these problems are reflections of the principal social contradiction; they must be resolved by further comprehensively deepening reform and by eliminating institutional and mechanistic defects in all areas.
How does further comprehensively deepening reform promote high-quality development and thereby complete the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects? We must begin by addressing the difficult problem of transforming the mode of economic development through the accelerated implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy. "Since the reform and opening up, an important feature of our rapid development has been the full and effective utilization of international markets. Large-scale exports and outward-oriented development, built on the advantage of low labor costs and the opportunity of labor-intensive industries shifting from developed countries, became an important driving force for China's high-speed economic growth." This mode of development, which relies primarily on the input of factors such as labor, capital, and resources to support rapid economic growth, is extensive. "The extensive mode of economic development once played a significant role in our country; 'large-scale corps operations' [8] accelerated the pace of our economic development. However, if we continue to follow that extensive development mode now, neither domestic nor international conditions will support it. It is unsustainable. If we do not seize the moment to transform, we will one day hit a dead end." "If the old road is impassable, where is the new road? It lies in scientific and technological innovation, and in accelerating the shift from development driven primarily by factors and investment scale to development driven primarily by innovation."
The extensive development mode, which relies mainly on factor inputs like labor resources to drive economic growth and scale expansion, is unsustainable. "Implementing the innovation-driven development strategy is an inevitable requirement and a strategic measure to accelerate the transformation of the economic development mode and to improve our country's comprehensive national strength and international competitiveness." Implementing this strategy is the primary task in implementing the New Development Concept. Innovation is the primary driving force leading development. "By grasping innovation, one grasps the 'ox's nose' [9] that pulls the overall situation of economic and social development." After more than 40 years of development since reform and opening up, China has joined the ranks of innovative countries. However, the situation where key core technologies are controlled by others has not yet been fundamentally reversed. We still need to strengthen top-level design and holistic planning, give full play to the advantages of the new-type whole-nation system [10], and further comprehensively deepen the reform of scientific and technological institutions and mechanisms. Technological innovation depends on talent, and talent cultivation depends on education; education, technology, and talent support each other and form an organic unity. The report to the 20th National Congress pointed out: "Education, science and technology, and human resources are the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country in all respects." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed "building institutions and mechanisms to support all-around innovation," "coordinated promotion of the integrated reform of institutions and mechanisms for education, science and technology, and human resources," and "improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system."
Promoting high-quality development through further comprehensively deepening reform must ultimately be anchored in the liberation and development of the productive forces. Productive forces are the fundamental driving force of human social development and the ultimate cause of all social change and political transformation. High-quality development requires new theories of productive forces to guide it, and new quality productive forces have already taken shape in practice and demonstrated a strong driving and supporting force for high-quality development. We need to summarize and generalize this theoretically to guide new developmental practices. General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed: "Developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development." Developing new quality productive forces is both an inevitable choice for the deep implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy and an objective necessity to break away from traditional economic growth modes and leap forward to high-quality development. Unlike the traditional extensive economic growth mode, new quality productive forces are characterized centrally by a significant increase in total factor productivity. They highlight the leading role of innovation and emphasize revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Therefore, to develop new quality productive forces, we must further comprehensively deepen reform to form new relations of production compatible with them, allowing various high-quality production factors to aggregate and flow toward the development of new quality productive forces while continuously improving total factor productivity.
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed "improving institutions and mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions." Improving the institutions and mechanisms for the high-quality development of the service industry, especially producer services, is a major measure for transforming the mode of economic development. It should also be pointed out that transforming the economic development mode and expanding the middle-income group are two sides of the same process. Transforming the economic development mode is "the process of shifting from relying mainly on simple labor, expanding investment, and heavy inputs of energy and resources to relying more on innovation-driven development; from relying mainly on manufacturing to relying more on modern services; and from relying mainly on traditional industries to relying more on emerging industries." This is accompanied by a process in which entrepreneurs, scientific and technological personnel, and skilled workers play a larger role; where the ranks of teachers, doctors, lawyers, financial practitioners, information service personnel, and social organization managers expand; and where new types of agricultural entities and professional farmers grow. These groups are all important components of the middle-income group and are the main and vital forces in developing new quality productive forces. Therefore, further comprehensively deepening reform must break away from traditional economic growth modes and development paths for productive forces, develop the quality state of productive forces—where innovation plays the leading role and conforms to the New Development Concept—and "regulate the order of income distribution and the mechanism for wealth accumulation," "increase the property income of urban and rural residents through multiple channels," and form an institutional system that effectively increases the income of low-income groups, steadily expands the size of the middle-income group, and reasonably regulates excessively high incomes.
The process of developing new quality productive forces to drive the transformation of the economic development mode is also the process of promoting a comprehensive green transition of economic and social development. Green development is an inherent part of high-quality development; new quality productive forces are, in themselves, green productive forces. "Green development is an important component of the New Development Concept. It complements and interacts with innovative, coordinated, open, and shared development. It is an all-around transformation and an inevitable requirement for building a high-quality modern economic system. Its purpose is to change the traditional production and consumption models of 'mass production, mass consumption, and mass discharge,' so that elements like resources, production, and consumption are matched and adapted, achieving a coordinated unity between economic and social development and ecological environmental protection, and harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made important arrangements for further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting a complete green transition for economic and social development, emphasizing the need to "focus on building a Beautiful China, accelerate the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development, improve the system for ecological environmental governance, promote development that prioritizes ecology and is conservation-oriented, intensive, green, and low-carbon, and promote the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature." On July 31, 2024, the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transition of Economic and Social Development" further proposed: accelerate the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development; form spatial patterns, industrial structures, production modes, and lifestyles that conserve resources and protect the environment; comprehensively promote the construction of a Beautiful China; and accelerate modernization characterized by the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature.
III. How Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform Should Answer Global Challenges
The core issue of reform is to properly handle the relationship between vitality and order. This pair of concepts has accompanied the entire process of reform and opening up and socialist modernization. In the historical process of modernization, balancing vitality and order is a global challenge. "Chinese-path modernization should and can achieve a dynamic balance that is 'vibrant but not chaotic, active yet orderly.'" To advance Chinese-path modernization through further comprehensively deepening reform, we must seriously summarize the experience of our country's modernization construction in handling the relationship between vitality and order since the reform and opening up, and continuously deepen our understanding of the inherent laws governing the development of these two factors.
Why was reform and opening up able to succeed? It was because reform emancipated people’s minds, stimulated and released social vitality, and liberated and developed the productive forces. Reform and opening up allowed Chinese society to become active and develop, but this activity and development had to remain within the scope of a reasonable order—a state of being "active but not chaotic." In the early period of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping placed special emphasis on "carrying out socialist construction in a led and orderly manner," stating that "for reform to succeed, it must be carried out in a led and orderly manner." On the one hand, it was necessary to mobilize the initiatives of the people and "invigorate" [11] the domestic sphere, granting greater autonomy to the grassroots, enterprises, and farmers in the villages. On the other hand, for China to develop, it required a stable political situation and a stable social order; otherwise, there would be chaos and nothing could be accomplished. Regarding the relationship between stability and reform, Deng Xiaoping possessed deep insight into the dialectical relationship between stimulating vitality and stabilizing order within the process of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. He noted, "It is right to emphasize stability, but if emphasized excessively, opportunities may be lost," and "the fundamental point is that reform and opening up cannot be abandoned; only by persisting in reform and opening up can we seize the opportunity to reach a new level." To bring reform and opening up to a higher stage, at the critical historical juncture of 1992, Deng Xiaoping broke through the ideological barriers of whether the reforms were surnamed "Zzi" (capitalist) or "She" (socialist) [12]. He creatively answered the question of the correct relationship between the plan and the market, proposing the "establishment of a socialist economic system full of vigor and vitality" to promote the development of the productive forces. It was from this moment that the reform objectives and basic framework of the socialist market economy system began to be established and continuously perfected. Consequently, reform and opening up entered the "fast track." China took only a few decades to complete the developmental journey that developed countries took several centuries to traverse. "In just over 30 years, China—the world’s largest developing country—shook off poverty and rose to become the world’s second-largest economy, completely eliminating the danger of having its 'membership on earth' [13] revoked, creating a earth-shattering miracle of development in the history of human social development, and imbuing the Chinese nation with a newfound, vigorous vitality." History and facts have fully proven that "reform and opening up is the source of vitality for contemporary China’s development and progress, the important 'magic weapon' [14] for our Party and people to catch up with the pace of the times in giant strides, and the only path for adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics."
Reform and opening up stimulated the vitality of social development, causing contemporary China to undergo a broad and profound social transformation. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee summarized this as the "Four Profounds," namely: the profound transformation of the economic system, the profound alteration of the social structure, the profound adjustment of the interests landscape, and the profound change in ideas and concepts. While this unprecedented social transformation brought immense vitality to our country’s development and progress, it also brought a series of contradictions and problems affecting social harmony, such as unbalanced development, unfair distribution, and unscientific management. As social construction was incorporated into the general layout [15] of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the "Three-in-One" development (economic, political, and cultural construction) evolved into a "Four-in-One" framework (economic, political, cultural, and social construction). The 17th CPC National Congress officially included "improving social management" as an important component of social construction, proposing to "improve a social management pattern characterized by Party committee leadership, government responsibility, social coordination, and public participation, and to improve the grassroots social management system. Maximize the stimulation of social creative vitality, maximize the increase of harmonious factors, and maximize the reduction of disharmonious factors." By the 18th CPC National Congress, "social management" was elevated to a chapter heading in the Congress report—specifically, "Strengthening Social Construction amid Improving People’s Livelihood and Innovating Management"—emphasizing the construction of a socialist social management system with Chinese characteristics and improving the scientific level of social management. As China’s reforms entered the period of "tackling hard problems" and "deep-water zones" [16], the goal of comprehensively deepening reform was to eliminate the defects in deep-seated systems and mechanisms. Thus, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee established the goal of comprehensively deepening reform as perfecting and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. Social governance, as an important component of national governance, was elevated to one of the fifteen areas of strategic deployment for comprehensively deepening reform. "Social governance" (治理, zhìlǐ) replaced "social management" (管理, guǎnlǐ); "the difference of a single character between 'governance' and 'management' reflects a shift toward systemic governance, governance according to law, governance at the source, and comprehensive policy implementation." The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee focused on areas such as improving social governance methods, stimulating the vitality of social organizations, innovating systems for effectively preventing and resolving social contradictions, and perfecting the public safety system, striving to maintain the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, maximize the increase of harmonious factors, and enhance the vitality of social development. To better transform institutional advantages into governance efficacy, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee emphasized the institutional construction of social governance, proposing to improve a social governance system characterized by Party committee leadership, government responsibility, democratic consultation, social coordination, public participation, rule of law guarantees, and technological support, constructing a social governance community to ensure that people live and work in peace and that society is stable and orderly.
In the process of continuously advancing Chinese-path modernization and further comprehensively deepening reform, handling the relationship between vitality and order also requires coordinating development and security. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress made the significant judgment that "the first twenty years of the 21st century are an important period of strategic opportunity that our country must firmly grasp and in which much can be achieved." Currently, how to re-evaluate the period of strategic opportunity has become a major issue in our Party’s governance of the country. General Secretary Xi Jinping provided strategic reflections on this major issue at the second plenary meeting of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, emphasizing that for the current and future period, China’s development remains in a period of important strategic opportunity, but both opportunities and challenges have seen new developments and changes, and the risks and challenges faced are more complex and volatile. The report of the 20th CPC National Congress provided a further explicit answer: "Our country's development has entered a period where strategic opportunities and risks/challenges coexist, and uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. Various 'black swan' and 'gray rhino' events may occur at any time." It can be seen that the risks and challenges we face place higher demands on our ability to respond; how to coordinate development and security has become an essential question for national governance. The "Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035," adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, for the first time incorporated the coordination of development and security into the guiding ideology for China’s economic and social development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It emphasized integrating secure development throughout all fields and the entire process of national development, preventing and resolving various risks affecting China’s modernization process, and fortifying the national security shield. The 20th CPC National Congress included "coordinating development and security" as a strategic deployment for the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country and wrote it into the newly revised Party Constitution. In his speech at the seminar for newly elected members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee and principal provincial and ministerial-level officials to study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed six major relationships that need to be properly handled in advancing Chinese-path modernization. One of these is the relationship between vitality and order, emphasizing the need to deepen the reform of systems and mechanisms in all aspects, fully release the creative potential of the whole society, fully mobilize the initiative of the broad ranks of Party members and cadres to start businesses and pursue careers, and fully stimulate the creative vitality of the whole society, while again making deployments for coordinating development and security. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee listed development and security, along with vitality and order, among the major relationships and important principles to be properly handled in further comprehensively deepening reform.
Properly handling the relationship between vitality and order is a major issue that permeates the entire process of Chinese-path modernization and further comprehensively deepening reform. Vitality runs through all fields and the entire process of Chinese-path modernization. We must activate the internal drivers and creative vitality of society by further comprehensively deepening reform to construct a high-level socialist market economy system; improve the system of whole-process people’s democracy to fully mobilize the initiative of the people’s orderly political participation and release the vitality of political and social life; deepen the reform of cultural systems and mechanisms to stimulate the cultural innovation and creative vitality of the entire nation; improve the social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and common interests to enhance social governance capacity and increase vitality for social development; deepen the reform of the ecological civilization system to promote an all-round green transition of economic and social development; and improve the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party to ensure the Party’s everlasting vigor and vitality. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee included stimulating and enhancing social vitality in the guiding ideology for further comprehensively deepening reform. It is evident that further comprehensively deepening reform is intended to stimulate and enhance vitality in all aspects of society. The purpose of modernizing national governance is to make the entire society both active and orderly. The modernization of national governance is essentially about adapting to and promoting social development; this is unified with the Marxist principle of the movement of the basic contradictions of society—that the relations of production must adapt to the productive forces and the superstructure must adapt to the economic base. "Promoting a better adaptation between the relations of production and the productive forces, between the superstructure and the economic base, and between national governance and social development"—this is a principle-centered theoretical achievement proposed by our Party and constitutes an original contribution to Marxism.