Pang Jinju: Promoting the Creation of a New Form of Human Civilization through Chinese Modernization
The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed that the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization are: upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and adherence to socialism with Chinese characteristics, realizing high-quality development, developing whole-process people's democracy, enriching the spiritual world of the people, achieving common prosperity for all, promoting harmony between humanity and nature, pushing forward the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and creating a new form of human civilization. Linking the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization closely with a new form of human civilization constitutes a brand-new theoretical proposition. In studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress, I will address three issues surrounding Chinese-path modernization and the new form of human civilization.
I. Chinese Economics Must Strengthen Research into Forms of Human Civilization within the Study of Chinese-path Modernization
Civilization is the sum total of the material and spiritual wealth created by humanity. Social civilization is the summary and crystallization of all tangible and intangible, material and non-material achievements of humanity in understanding and transforming the world. In a broad sense, social civilization includes material, political, spiritual, and ecological civilizations, covering all aspects of the relationships between individuals, between individuals and society, and between humanity and nature. Among these, material civilization refers to the state and achievements of progress in the economic field; spiritual civilization refers to the state and achievements of progress in understanding and transforming the subjective spiritual world; political civilization refers to the state and achievements of progress in the political field; and ecological civilization refers to the state and achievements of progress in understanding and coordinating the relationship between humanity and nature. Together, they constitute a rich and diverse human social civilization based on material civilization.
In the process of human civilization's evolution, material, political, spiritual, and ecological civilizations promote one another in a dialectical unity. Within this framework, material civilization is the foundation, political civilization provides leadership, spiritual civilization is the soul, and ecological civilization is the prerequisite. These civilizations continuously engage in the unity of opposites and contradictory movement, driving the progress of human social civilization as a whole. If any single element of civilization lags or is missing, it causes disorder or stagnation in the entire social civilization, affecting the healthy and coordinated development of society.
The interaction and contradictory movement of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations are fundamentally determined by the basic contradictions of society [1] and are specific manifestations of the movement of these contradictions. Historical materialism holds that human society is an organic whole composed of basic elements such as productive forces, relations of production, the economic base, and the superstructure. The interconnection and interaction of these factors constitute the basic contradictions of society, the movement of which drives the continuous progress of human civilization and the development of social forms from lower to higher levels.
Marx established historical materialism in the process of founding Marxist political economy. Applying historical materialism, Marx not only conducted in-depth research into the capitalist mode of production and its corresponding relations of production and exchange—revealing the laws of capitalist economic movement—but also attached great importance to the study of the evolution of human society, revealing the laws of human social development. Today, when studying Chinese-path modernization, political economy with Chinese characteristics should also strengthen the study of forms of human social civilization.
In societies based on private ownership, although material wealth may grow continuously, the basic contradictions of private-property society make it difficult to achieve coordinated development across material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations. Therefore, although the Western modernization process began with the First Industrial Revolution and has a history of several hundred years—promoting the development of productive forces to a certain extent—Western modernization is characterized by being capital-centered, polarized, driven by expanding material desires, and reliant on external expansion and the aggression against other countries' resources. Taken as a whole, this is not the goal pursued by human civilization. The establishment of the socialist system eliminated the antagonistic nature of basic contradictions, making the relationships between people, society, and nature fundamentally consistent, thereby making the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations a possibility.
II. The Chinese Contribution of Chinese-path Modernization to Forms of Human Civilization
Chinese-path modernization is the socialism with Chinese characteristics modernization created by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC through long-term struggle. Modernization has been the goal pursued through the united struggle of the Party and people of all ethnic groups for over 100 years since the CPC’s founding. It was only during the New Democratic Revolution period [2] that the modernization process was suppressed and interrupted due to foreign invasion and the limitations of a backward system. The victory of the New Democratic Revolution and the establishment of the People's Republic of China laid a solid institutional and social foundation for our modernization process. Following the periods of socialist revolution and construction, and the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era. On the basis of long-term stable economic and social development, our modernization drive has entered a new period of building a covered socialist modern country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization.
Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is the modernization of over 1.4 billion people struggling together under CPC leadership; it is the modernization of common prosperity for all; it is the modernization of harmony between material and spiritual civilizations; it is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature; and it is the modernization of adhering to the path of peaceful development. Promoting the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations under the leadership of the CPC and on the basis of the basic socialist economic system is a fundamental requirement and a vital characteristic of the path of Chinese-path modernization.
Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a fundamental achievement made by the Party and the people through countless hardships and at a great price; it is the correct path to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." By persisting in and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations, we have created a new path of Chinese-path modernization and a new form of human civilization.
The new form of human civilization—which persists in developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and promotes the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations—is a unity of the institutional carrier and value orientation of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the latest crystallization of the achievements of modern civilization. As history moves into the 21st century, at a critical moment when the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century [3] and human civilization faces a choice of direction, the new path of Chinese-path modernization and the new form of human civilization created by the CPC and the Chinese people have answered the questions of the times and of the world: "Where is the world heading?" They have made an outstanding contribution by the Chinese nation to promoting the common values of humanity and the progress of human civilization.
This new form of human civilization is a continuation, innovation, and development of over 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. In the long course of history, the Chinese nation created a brilliant Chinese civilization, which is the source of this new form of human civilization. This is a brand-new form of civilization belonging to socialism with Chinese characteristics, and it represents a transcendence of Western capitalist civilization. Capitalism used violent means such as war and plunder to pave the way for its modernization. In contrast, the path of Chinese-path modernization and the new form of human civilization highlight a people-centered approach, common prosperity, harmony between humanity and nature, and the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations. They promote the well-rounded development of the individual and the overall progress of society, adopting peaceful coexistence and mutual benefit as basic norms for handling international relations. By adhering to the path of peaceful development, they constitute a brand-new form of human civilization.
This new form of human civilization is also a sublimation of the socialist civilization form. in the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the world socialist movement suffered setbacks. However, the CPC united and led the Chinese people in adhering to the combination of the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and with China’s fine traditional culture. In practice, they successfully opened up the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, opening up brilliant prospects for world socialism and allowing the socialist system to radiate great vigor and vitality.
Since the beginning of reform and opening up, China has persisted in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, achieving world-renowned success in the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations. In terms of material civilization, we completed in decades an industrialization process that took Western developed countries centuries, creating miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. In terms of political civilization, we have actively developed whole-process people's democracy and improved the institutional system through which the people run the country, ensuring that all aspects of the system and state governance better reflect the people's will, protect their rights, and stimulate their creativity. In terms of spiritual civilization, we continuously absorb the essence of fine traditional Chinese culture, inherit and carry forward revolutionary culture, and develop advanced socialist culture. We have constructed the "Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese strength," consolidating the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the Party and the people of all ethnic groups.
In terms of social civilization, we are building a "Peaceful China" [4] at a higher level, improving the social governance system, and constructing a governance system based on collaboration, participation, and common interests. We are building a social governance community where everyone is responsible, performs their duties, and enjoys the benefits, ensuring that society is both full of vitality and possesses good order. Simultaneously, we strengthen social construction with a focus on guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods, making the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security more substantial, better protected, and more sustainable. In terms of ecological civilization, historic and comprehensive changes have occurred in ecological and environmental protection. We have solved the difficult problem of balancing development and protection, providing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for humanity to address global challenges such as climate change. However, we must also recognize that we still face new problems in building political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations, requiring us to continuously study new situations and solve them in practice.
Socialist spiritual civilization, alongside material, political, social, and ecological civilizations, is an important feature of socialist society and a vital goal and guarantee of socialist modernization. If material civilization cannot develop in coordination with political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations, it not only violates the essential requirements of socialism but also restricts the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on this, since the 18th National Congress, while vigorously developing the economy and productive forces, China has attached great importance to the construction of socialist political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations. A series of major measures have been proposed to strengthen these areas and promote the prosperity of the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, achieving significant progress.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee proposed the "Five Major Development Concepts" [5]. Xi Jinping, in his speech at the ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC, identified the adherence to socialism with Chinese characteristics and the coordinated development of the "five civilizations" as the great creation of a new path of Chinese-path modernization and a new form of human civilization. The 20th National Congress further made strategic deployments for the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan to build a modern socialist country in all respects and advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. This marks the fact that our understanding of the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations has reached a new historical height, providing a theoretical guide for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era and at this new stage.
III. Further Promoting the Coordinated Development of Material, Political, Spiritual, Social, and Ecological Civilizations
On the new journey of the New Era, we must build a socialist modern country in all respects, realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and continuously meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. Meeting these needs involves not only material requirements but also the increasingly diverse needs for political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilization. This requires us to unwaveringly persist in and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and further promote the coordinated development of the "five civilizations."
First, we must strengthen the Party's unified leadership and strategic planning for Chinese-path modernization, improving the systems and mechanisms of Party leadership. Second, we must adhere to the fundamental people-centered position and thoroughly implement people-centered thoughts on modernization. Third, we must persist in taking economic construction as the center, implement the new development philosophy, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and focus unswervingly on promoting high-quality development, vigorously developing productive forces and establishing a powerful material foundation. Fourth, we must further deepen reform comprehensively, expand opening up, and build a high-level socialist market economic system and a new type of open economic system to inject new momentum into coordinated development. Fifth, we must persist in arming the whole Party and educating the people with the fruits of the Sinicization of Marxism, use socialist core values to build consensus and gather strength, and inherit and carry forward fine traditional Chinese culture. We must strive to produce more masterpieces that spread contemporary Chinese values, embody the Chinese cultural spirit, and reflect the aesthetic pursuits of the Chinese people, strengthening cultural confidence and self-awareness. Sixth, we must strengthen the construction of ecological civilization and contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to the global construction of ecological civilization.