Sun Kai and Zhao Enjue: An Analysis of Deng Xiaoping's Important Expositions on Value Orientation, Model Selection, and Civilizational Aspirations of Chinese-style Modernization

Deng Xiaoping conducted a deep analysis and comparison of the "Western model" and the "Soviet model" of modernization, profoundly summarizing the painful lessons of the "underdevelopment" predicament encountered by late-developing nations pursuing socialist modernization under capitalist conditions. Consequently, based on the national conditions of his own country, he integrated the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with China’s concrete realities, proposed the era-defining proposition of "Chinese-path modernization," and led the Party and the people in opening a modernization path with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "Chinese-path modernization is a major achievement attained by our Party leading the people of all ethnic groups through long-term exploration and practice, involving untold hardships and enormous costs." As the first person in the early period of reform and opening up to profoundly reflect upon and correctly handle the issue of "Chinese-path modernization," Deng Xiaoping made significant historical contributions to the historical process of the Party leading the people in the continuous exploration and practice of Chinese-path modernization.

I. Chinese-path modernization with a value orientation of realizing socialism, embodying the fundamental tasks and essential requirements of socialism, and measuring the successes and failures of socialism

Deng Xiaoping further clarified the socialist value orientation of Chinese-path modernization, proposed the theory of the essence of socialism and the "Three Favorables" ^[1] criteria for judgment, and provided a preliminary and systematic answer to the questions of what kind of socialism Chinese-path modernization must adhere to and how it should adhere to it, possessing distinct theoretical connotations and practical value.

1. Modernization with a socialist value orientation

Deng Xiaoping systematically summarized the experiences and lessons of modernization construction at home and abroad, reaching the historical conclusion that "only socialism can develop China." At the same time, he emphasized that China must take the socialist road but cannot mechanically copy the old path of socialist construction, believing that the key to the entire issue of Chinese-path modernization lies in whether one can correctly understand the essence of socialism. In the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the primary issue facing China’s modernization construction was what kind of modernization to achieve—that is, the question of the value orientation of modernization. Mao Zedong once used the historical judgment that "only socialism can save China" to point out the value orientation that the Chinese revolution and construction should adhere to, revealing the correct direction for China's historical progress. However, due to certain deviations in the Chinese Communists' understanding of socialism after the founding of the PRC, there were persistent ideological misconceptions. Specifically, the Stalinist conception of socialism was largely accepted, and for a time, the Soviet model of socialism was even regarded as the only correct model. Consequently, various drawbacks of that model were attached to socialism itself, causing China's modernization to experience many setbacks and difficulties, to the point where some people began to doubt the rationality of socialism. In response, Deng Xiaoping pointed out, "The socialist system we have established is a good system and must be upheld. We Marxists fought in the past for the lofty ideals of socialism and communism. Now that we are carrying out economic reform, we must still adhere to the socialist road and uphold the lofty ideals of communism; the younger generation especially must understand this point." He consistently insisted that China's modernization must and can only follow a socialist direction, resolutely resisting those erroneous liberalist trends of thought that attempted to lead China's modernization toward capitalism. He also emphasized, "In pursuing the Four Modernizations, we are pursuing socialist modernization, not some other kind of modernization. All the policies we have adopted regarding opening up, revitalizing the economy, and reform are aimed at developing the socialist economy." He argued that once socialism is abandoned, not only would the problem of "food and clothing" for over a billion people become difficult to solve, but the entire country might also fall into the status of a capitalist dependency, and the dream of achieving Chinese-path modernization would fall through. These assertions reflect the socialist nature and direction of Chinese-path modernization and highlight the question of "what kind" of modernization it is.

2. Modernization embodying the fundamental tasks and essential requirements of socialism

Deng Xiaoping was soberly aware that talking about socialism in the abstract while detached from the actual level of development of the productive forces—or one-sidedly emphasizing the transformation of the relations of production in isolation from the objective requirements of the productive forces—and stubbornly holding onto things that did not belong to the essence of socialism as fundamental socialist principles were among the root causes of the setbacks suffered by socialism. Deng Xiaoping's important discourse on the essence of socialism not only cleared the mists surrounding the understanding of socialism but also broke through traditional concepts that had long constrained the understanding of socialism. This not only expanded the horizons for Marxists to re-recognize and understand socialism but also served as a powerful response to the question of what kind of socialism Chinese-path modernization should adhere to.

In 1978, the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee marked a brand-new beginning for the CPC to explore and advance Chinese-path modernization starting from the essence of socialism. In the specific practice of promoting reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, Deng Xiaoping clearly stated: "Our direction in building socialism is entirely correct, but exactly what socialism is and how to build it is still something we are feeling our way through." He emphasized, "It will not do if we do not emancipate our minds; this includes the very question of what socialism is." It can be seen that this discourse embodies the essence of socialism and the principles that should be upheld in understanding that essence. Deng Xiaoping first criticized certain erroneous understandings of socialism, proposing viewpoints such as "poverty is not socialism," "developing too slowly is not socialism," "egalitarianism is not socialism," and "a planned economy is not equal to socialism." In this "via negativa" ^[2] fashion, he explored the proper features and prospects of socialism from various aspects. After long-term and in-depth reflection and summarization, during his 1992 Southern Tour Talks ^[3], Deng Xiaoping—based on the historical results of combining the basic principles of Marxism with China’s concrete realities, the practical experience of international socialism, and the lessons from thirty years of China’s socialist construction—proposed the theory of the essence of socialism, which has major theoretical and practical significance: "The essence of socialism is to liberate the productive forces, develop the productive forces, abolish exploitation, eliminate polarization, and ultimately achieve common prosperity." He pointed out clearly, "To adhere to socialism, we must first rid ourselves of the state of poverty and backwardness, significantly develop the productive forces, and demonstrate the superiority of socialism over capitalism." He further stated, "The purpose of socialism is common prosperity for the people of the whole country, not polarization." From this, it can be seen that regarding the essence of socialism, he consistently emphasized two points: first, socialism must develop the productive forces at a speed faster than capitalist society, taking the "liberation and development of the productive forces" as the fundamental task of socialism; second, socialism must take the path of common prosperity, identifying "common prosperity" as the essential requirement of socialism. It is necessary to attach importance to both the improvement of production efficiency and the fairness of social distribution. Thus, on the basis of establishing the basic economic system where "public ownership is the mainstay and multiple forms of ownership develop together" and the distribution system where "distribution according to work is the mainstay and multiple modes of distribution coexist," the enthusiasm and creativity of the masses could be fully mobilized to promote the development of the productive forces and achieve the organic unity of efficiency and fairness.

3. Modernization as the standard for measuring the successes and failures of socialism

In the Southern Tour Talks, while proposing the theory of the essence of socialism, Deng Xiaoping also put forward three criteria for judgment, solving the problem of what standards to follow—that is, how to build socialism—and providing a basic guideline for adhering to the socialist value orientation of Chinese-path modernization.

Based on the situation at the time where "reform and opening up could not take big strides and people were afraid to take risks, which in the final analysis was the fear of having too many capitalist things and taking the capitalist road—the crux being the question of whether something is 'capitalist' or 'socialist' in nature," Deng Xiaoping proposed the "Three Favorables" criteria for judgment in his Southern Tour Talks. These are: "whether it is favorable to developing the productive forces of socialist society, whether it is favorable to enhancing the comprehensive national strength of the socialist state, and whether it is favorable to raising the people's standard of living." Among these, the first "favorable" is the Marxist productive forces criterion. The development of productive forces is the premise and foundation of social progress. Placing the productive forces criterion first accords with the basic principles of historical materialism regarding the productive forces and relations of production, and also clarifies the primary task of Chinese-path modernization; it was proposed by Deng Xiaoping by integrating Marxist productive forces theory with China's actual development. The second "favorable" is an embodiment of the unity between the Marxist productive forces criterion and socialist value standards. Comprehensive national strength is a basic indicator for measuring a country's economic and social development status and the people's living standards. The third "favorable" is the Marxist socialist value standard. Deng Xiaoping placed the ultimate goal of China's socialist modernization on improving the people’s standard of living, which accords with the Marxist materialist conception of history regarding the masses ^[4] and highlights the fundamental purpose of Chinese-path modernization. Deng Xiaoping emphasized that the degree to which comprehensive national strength is enhanced is consistent with the level of development of the productive forces, and the prosperity of the country is closely related to the beautiful life of the people. The scientific judgment regarding the "Three Favorables" criteria proposed by Deng Xiaoping organically integrated the development of productive forces, the future and destiny of socialism, and the lives of the masses, fundamentally resolving the conceptual problems that were then shackling people's minds and interfering with their work.

II. Chinese-path modernization with a choice of model embodying Chinese characteristics, historical orientation, and basic principles

Deng Xiaoping believed that Chinese-path modernization must be adapted to the distinct characteristics of China's economy and society and coordinated with the historical stage of China's socialist construction. It must both highlight national characteristics and formulate a development model based on China's national conditions, reflecting the unity of following the general laws of modernization development and deploying modernization development strategies according to the specific laws of China's concrete realities. Furthermore, he was the first to explicitly propose the basic principles that Chinese-path modernization must adhere to.

1. The Chinese characteristics manifested by Chinese-path modernization

Mao Zedong once pointed out: "We must integrate the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete realities of China's socialist construction... as effectively as possible," so that it bears Chinese characteristics in every manifestation. Under new historical conditions, Deng Xiaoping rationally inherited this thought of Mao Zedong, pointing out that construction must be integrated with the country's concrete realities and that we are pursuing modernization with Chinese characteristics. Modernization with Chinese characteristics must take at least two points into consideration: first, the weak foundation. He believed that although China's productive forces had developed significantly since the founding of the PRC, and certain achievements had been made in industry, agriculture, and science and technology, the country had still not escaped the reality of a "weak foundation" in its economic base. "During the eleven or twelve years from the late 1960s to the 1970s, the gap between us and the rest of the world grew too wide. These ten or more years were precisely a period of vigorous development in the world, where progress in the global economy and technology was calculated not by years, nor even by months, but by days." Due to various reasons, China's construction process was delayed. In the early 1980s, China's industrial, agricultural, and technological levels lagged behind developed countries by twenty to thirty years, greatly weakening the support for achieving socialist modernization. Second, the large population and scarce arable land. He pointed out that China has a huge population, 80% of which is distributed in rural areas, and most farmers' living standards were still below the poverty line. Therefore, "it is not easy to increase the people's income, and it is not easy to escape from poverty and backwardness in a short period." Little land and a large population—especially the large number of farmers—became characteristics that had to be considered in China's modernization construction. Deng Xiaoping emphasized that the stable development of agriculture is related to the overall stability of modernization construction; it is an important guarantee for the rapid and healthy development of the entire national economy and a foundational project for the modernization of the whole country. "Without rural stability, there is no national stability; without a moderately prosperous life for the farmers, there is no moderate prosperity for the people of the whole country; without agricultural modernization, there is no modernization of the entire national economy." The "moderately prosperous" (xiaokang) society mentioned here is a staged goal for realizing Chinese-path modernization and a necessary phase for building a great modern socialist country, giving Chinese-path modernization a more realistic development layout and systematic planning. Based on this, Deng Xiaoping proposed the idea of modernization with Chinese characteristics.

2. The historical orientation of Chinese-path modernization

Based on the practical exploration of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Deng Xiaoping insisted on emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, creatively proposing the major judgment that "China is in and will remain for a long time in the primary stage of socialism." This judgment provided a full estimation and reasonable determination of China's historical orientation and served as the basic guideline for the CPC to explore and answer a series of theoretical and practical questions regarding Chinese-path modernization.

Deng Xiaoping emphasized many times that Chinese-path modernization must fit China's national conditions and proceed from China's realities. He pointed out that—

"In the past, to conduct the democratic revolution, we had to suit Chinese conditions and follow the path of encircling the cities from the countryside opened up by Comrade Mao Zedong. Now, in conducting construction, we must also suit Chinese conditions and carve out a path of Chinese-path modernization." Our greatest national condition and reality is the developmental stage in which socialism finds itself. In the Critique of the Gotha Programme, Marx proposed the theory of the stages of communist development, noting that communist society would undergo a developmental process from a "first phase" to a "higher phase," but he did not specify which developmental stages the first phase of communism would experience. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, when Mao Zedong summarized the Soviet experience of "immediately building socialism," he also proposed that socialism is divided into two stages: "undeveloped socialism" and "comparatively developed socialism," suggesting the latter stage might take even longer than the former. Deng Xiaoping inherited and developed Marxist thought regarding the division of the stages of development of communism and socialism, proposing that "socialism itself is the primary stage of communism, and China is in the primary stage of socialism, which is the undeveloped stage." He estimated this primary stage would last at least a hundred years. At the same time, he believed that while our country possessed the conditions to leapfrog the stage of full capitalist development, being in the primary stage of socialism is the starting point for Chinese-path modernization. If we fail to recognize or if we deny this, and instead attempt to engage in the so-called "compensatory lessons of capitalism," we will fall into a Rightist theoretical trap. Furthermore, because the level of our productive forces still has a large gap compared to Western developed countries, the stage of fundamentally transforming the state of economic and cultural backwardness cannot be bypassed. We must undergo a very long period to develop the highly advanced productive forces that socialism ought to possess. Only by recognizing the arduous and long-term nature of this stage can we rid ourselves of "Leftist" impetuous and adventurist sentiments ^[5]. This not only accorded with the reality of China's economic backwardness and unbalanced development at the start of Reform and Opening-up, but also fully considered the complexity of achieving Chinese-path modernization.

3. Basic Principles That Must Be Upheld in Chinese-path Modernization

The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee made the momentous decision to shift the focus of the whole Party's work toward economic construction and the implementation of Reform and Opening-up, guiding the people of the whole country toward the goal of achieving the "Four Modernizations" ^[6] under the fundamental principles of liberating the mind and seeking truth from facts. However, during the process of "setting things right" ^[7], there was still ideological confusion within the Party regarding the cognition of certain issues, especially concerning the Party's basic line in the primary stage of socialism. In response to this situation, at the March 1979 theoretical work conference ^[8], Deng Xiaoping explicitly proposed and expounded upon the Four Cardinal Principles for the first time: "First, we must keep to the socialist road; second, we must uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat; third, we must uphold the leadership of the Communist Party; fourth, we must uphold Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought." Regarding the content of the Four Cardinal Principles, the Communist Party of China had made assertions during the period of socialist revolution and construction, but it was Deng Xiaoping's important contribution to present them clearly to the whole Party as an integrated concept and to systematically expound upon their profound connotations and internal logical relations. He pointed out that while the Four Cardinal Principles have different emphases, they are interconnected and interdependent, forming an inseparable and unified whole. The Four Cardinal Principles first require the upholding of socialism; the core of the four upholds is the leadership of the Party; the people's democratic dictatorship cannot be discarded; and to uphold socialism, one must uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat; Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought are the guides to action—the "ancestors" ^[9] cannot be discarded. He also emphasized that throughout the entire process of socialist modernization, the Four Cardinal Principles must be consistently upheld: "If any one of these four cardinal principles is shaken, the entire socialist cause and the entire cause of modernization will be shaken." Simultaneously, Deng Xiaoping actively promoted the determination of the Four Cardinal Principles in appropriate legal forms, fixing them as essential content within the fundamental law of the Party and the State. This reinforced the authority of the Four Cardinal Principles as the political bottom line collectively held by the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups, effectively consolidating the political foundation of Chinese-path modernization and greatly enhancing the cohesion of the whole Party and the nation.

III. Chinese-path Modernization with the Progressive Leap of Material, Spiritual, Institutional, and Human Civilizations as its Civilizational Appeal

The goal of Chinese-path modernization proposed by Deng Xiaoping is a target system encompassing the comprehensive development of material, spiritual, institutional, and human civilizations. He emphasized material civilization, stressing the need to persist in taking economic construction as the center and vigorously developing social productive forces, while ensuring the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations to promote overall social progress. At the same time, he pointed out that while significantly increasing social productive forces, we must reform and improve socialist economic and political institutions, develop a high degree of socialist democracy and a complete socialist legal system, and accelerate the building of institutional civilization. On the basis of the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations and with institutional civilization as a guarantee, Chinese-path modernization advances with human civilization as its value orientation—that is, the realization of the well-rounded development of the person.

1. Coordinated Development of Material and Spiritual Civilizations is the Foundation

Mao Zedong attached great importance to the coordination and comprehensiveness of social development, making many important contributions at both theoretical and practical levels; however, due to the constraints of the historical conditions at the time, these could not be sustained over the long term. After Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping combined the practice of the new era of modernization with the new situations and problems that had emerged, inheriting and enriching Mao Zedong’s thoughts on coordinated and comprehensive social development. He also pointed out that the socialist country we want to build should not only have a high degree of material civilization but also a high degree of spiritual civilization. In other words, Chinese-path modernization requires both the satisfaction of material life and the enrichment of the spiritual realm; it is a developmental process of comprehensive social progress based on economic advancement.

In the early stages of Reform and Opening-up, while China achieved significant success in economic construction, problems such as a certain degree of deterioration in social conduct and "spiritual pollution" ^[10] also emerged, affecting the smooth progress of socialist modernization. In response, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that in the process of promoting socialist modernization, we must always value and properly handle the relationship between material and spiritual civilizations, persisting in "grasping both civilizations together" and "taking a two-handed approach, ensuring both hands are tough," continuously consolidating the material and ideological foundations of Chinese-path modernization. Socialism is a society where material and spiritual civilizations are highly developed. The degree of affluence in material civilization is measured by the state of the productive forces in the primary stage of socialism. In the process of ensuring the people move from basic food and clothing to "moderate prosperity" (xiaokang), the enrichment of spiritual civilization must not be ignored. This is the important thesis of "taking a two-handed approach, ensuring both hands are tough" proposed by Deng Xiaoping. Only through the coordinated development and organic unity of material and spiritual civilizations can the significant advantages of the socialist system be fully exerted to serve socialist modernization. This strategic planning—coordinating the development of material and spiritual civilizations and promoting social development in a comprehensive and integrated manner—has had a profound impact on the Party’s leadership of the people in the continued exploration and practice of Chinese-path modernization. As Reform and Opening-up progressed and the economy and society developed rapidly, the Party's understanding of the laws of comprehensive social progress continued to deepen. It began to shift from the basic principle of "taking a two-handed approach" to the strategic layouts of "three-in-one" and "four-in-one," until reaching the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" of economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization construction in the New Era, pushing the cause of socialist modernization to a brand-new stage.

2. Institutional Civilization is the Guarantee

After Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping clearly recognized the importance of institutional civilization in Chinese-path modernization. He proposed starting with institutional building and, on the basis of absorbing the positive elements of other human institutions, persisting in and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The important goals of socialist modernization should include socialist economic institutions, political institutions, democratic legal systems, and socialist spiritual civilization. Deng Xiaoping’s thoughts on institutional civilization construction not only enriched and developed Marxist institutional theory but also played an important role in promoting the persistence and improvement of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the deep advancement of the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

First, he expounded the importance of institutional civilization construction. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, although our country established a socialist system, the existing institutions of the Party and the State were not perfect. This issue was relatively unfavorable for the consolidation and construction of socialism. After Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping, summarizing the historical experiences—both positive and negative—of our country's socialist institutional construction and proceeding from the reality of national conditions, pointed out that institutional issues concern whether the Party and the State might change their "color" ^[11], whether socialist democracy can be realized, and whether socialist modernization can proceed smoothly. This important discourse reflects the guaranteeing and stabilizing functions of institutional civilization, ranging from the stability of the Party and State position to the realization of the people’s right to be masters of the country, and from the completion of the staged tasks of a moderately prosperous society to the advancement of socialist modernization goals. Second, he clearly identified the key to institutional civilization construction. Deng Xiaoping emphasized that "without the leadership of the Party, there would be no socialist system." Persisting in and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics must involve upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Without the Party’s leadership, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics would lose its "backbone" and would be unable to exert the institutional advantage of "concentrating resources to accomplish great things." It can be seen that the Party’s leadership plays a core leading role, which is also a prominent feature demonstrating the advantages of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Third, he proposed the fundamental tasks of institutional civilization construction. Deng Xiaoping believed that continuously improving the basic political system and various specific institutions of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and realizing the normalization and legalization of socialist democratic politics, are the fundamental tasks of socialist institutional construction. This includes reforming and improving the system of People's Congresses, improving the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party, deepening the reform of the cadre and personnel system, and vigorously strengthening the construction of the legal system. From macro-architecture to the deployment of specific systems, he aimed to make institutional construction coordinated, orderly, and efficient, allowing it to function as it should and becoming the source of strength for the smooth promotion of institutional civilization.

3. Realizing Human Civilization is the Goal

Whether it is material, spiritual, or institutional civilization, the ultimate goal is the realization of human civilization. Continuously improving the level of civilization in human development and realizing the well-rounded development of the person is a consistent proposition of Marxism. In the requirements for development at the current stage, this is prominently expressed as "the modernization of the person." Marx believed that under the capitalist system, the state of human development is distorted, and proposed that human development should be a well-rounded and free development. Deng Xiaoping realized the importance of the human factor in the process of achieving Chinese-path modernization. Although he did not directly propose the concept of "the modernization of the person," his theory and practice both consciously promoted its advancement.

Deng Xiaoping pointed out that...

"Whether China's affairs can be handled well, whether socialism and reform and opening up can be maintained, whether the economy can develop a bit faster, and whether the country can achieve long-term peace and stability depends, in a certain sense, on people." Therefore, when envisioning the grand blueprint for Chinese-path modernization, Deng Xiaoping placed the promotion of human development in a prominent position. First, he respected the subjectivity of the people. In his view, as the subjects of China's reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, the people's subjective status must be respected, and the interests and aspirations of the broadest masses of the people must be constantly attended to. He argued that "whether the people support it, whether they agree with it, whether they are happy about it, and whether they consent to it must be the starting point and the ultimate goal in formulating principles and policies and making decisions." The people are the historical subjects for realizing Chinese-path modernization. Without the support and endorsement of the masses, and without the realization of their basic rights and interests, Chinese-path modernization cannot be achieved.

Second, he attached great importance to the liberation of people’s ideological concepts. At an early stage, Deng Xiaoping realized that political liberation is merely an external liberation; the liberation of the human mind is the essential manifestation of socialist modernization. Therefore, socialist modernization must never neglect the modernization of ideological concepts. In his keynote report to the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee ^[12], titled Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth from Facts, and Unite as One in Looking to the Future, he issued a manifesto to "liberate and develop the person," aiming both to completely open the floodgates that bound human thought and to remain feet-on-the-ground while forging ahead in unity. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of breaking through ideological ossification and continuously emancipating the minds of cadres and the masses, noting that "if a party, a country, or a nation proceeds in all cases from books ^[13], suffers from ideological ossification, and is dominated by superstition, it will not be able to advance, its vitality will cease, and the Party and the state will perish." From this, we can see that Deng Xiaoping raised the liberation of the human mind to the strategic height of the development of the Party and the state, which sufficiently demonstrates the degree of his emphasis.

Third, he focused on enhancing the subjective capacities of the individual. Building on the foundation of the person's subjective status and ideological concepts, the enhancement of human capacity reflects Deng Xiaoping's meticulous dialectical thinking; it is a progressive and gradually deepening process. The realization of human modernization is a process of guaranteeing the realization of the subject's rights and interests, breaking the pattern of ideological ossification, and subsequently focusing on improving the overall capacity of the individual. Deng Xiaoping placed great stress on elevating people’s intellectual capacities and their level of scientific and technological knowledge. He believed that cutting-edge and rich scientific knowledge is both an important force for driving human modernization and a key element for achieving national modernization. He emphasized the need to improve the overall quality of laborers: "Only when laborers possess a high scientific and cultural level, rich production experience, and advanced labor skills can they play a greater role in modernized production."

Conclusion

Realizing Chinese-path modernization was the central issue of Deng Xiaoping’s theoretical promotion and practical exploration during the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. The transition from the proposition of "Chinese-style modernization" to "Chinese-path modernization" contains Deng Xiaoping’s sober analysis of the basic national conditions of China as a developing country with a large population and a thin foundation ^[14]. It also reflects his deep reflection, as the "chief architect" of China’s reform and opening up, on the concrete reality of the gap in economic strength between our country and the world's advanced nations, thereby overcoming the harmful tendency of being "eager for quick success" and steadily advancing the realization of modernization. His reflections and discourses on Chinese-path modernization not only enriched and developed Marxist modernization theory but also greatly promoted the development of the cause of socialist modernization. They hold significant guiding importance for the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation by comprehensively advancing Chinese-path modernization. This has undoubtedly made an indelible historical contribution to the advancement of Chinese-path modernization.