Qiao Yuqiang: The New Path of Chinese-style Modernization and the New Development of Human Modernization

As an important component of the materialist conception of history, Marx's theory of world history reveals the process by which human individuals enrich and perfect themselves—moving from one-dimensionality to all-around development—as well as the process of construction and upgrading from the traditional to the modern during the transition from national-regional histories to world history. Examining the exploratory practices of modernization in human society through the lens of Marx’s theory of world history allows for a scientific grasp of the essential connotations of the laws governing the evolution of modernization, broadening the paths for both the modernization of human society and the construction of human modernization. During the transition from national-regional histories to world history, Western society took the lead in ending the shackles of feudal theology through the combined force of capital and reason, inaugurating the modern course of social development. Unlike the modernization path dominated by the logic of capital, Chinese-path modernization, as a new model of modernization, has broadened the developmental path of human society by critically reconstructing and transcendently developing the capital-dominated model. It offers a new modernization alternative for those ethnic groups and nation-states trapped in modernization dilemmas. Simultaneously, the new path of Chinese-path modernization has created a new form of human advancement, enabling the communicative relations of human society in the post-crisis era to achieve a paradigmatic shift from competitive interaction to cooperative interaction, greatly advancing the overall development of modern attributes such as the social, historical, and practical nature of human beings.

I. The Combined Force of Capital and Reason Pulls Back the Historical Curtain on the Exploration of Human Modernization

In the course of world history’s evolution, following a path of modernization is the fundamental route for humanity to shake off feudal shackles and pursue self-emancipation. It is also the fundamental method for constructing global modernity during the transition from national-regional histories to world history. However, humanity's exploration and transformation from a traditional society to a modern one does not happen overnight; rather, it is a multilinear process of world history. As the core content of Enlightenment modernity, capital and reason worked together during this transition to pull back the historical curtain on the development of human modernization.

(1) The historical appearance of capital and its dominant role in modernization

In the history of human social development, the emergence of money, banking, and credit instruments greatly weakened the feudal order of the Middle Ages and accelerated the decline of European serfdom and feudal guilds. This laid a solid foundation for Europe’s outward expansion and the construction of a modern mobile society. By the late Middle Ages, the widespread use of money provided immense energy for the rise of Europe; profit was not used for consumption but for expanded reproduction. "Surplus value was transformed into more capital," and the monetization of daily life combined with the capitalization of profit severely impacted feudal traditional modes of production, lifestyles, and ways of thinking, driving the transformation from feudal society to a modern society dominated by the logic of capital. The historical appearance of capital pulled back the curtain on humanity’s pursuit of self-emancipation and all-around development through the path of modernization, playing an important role in breaking social relations shackled by feudal theology and constructing new modern relations of production and life. Simultaneously, modern productive forces and relations of production centered on the capitalization of profit were gradually constructed during the transition from national-regional histories to world history.

Beginning with the spice trade, early European outward expansion opened vast overseas markets and triggered the Commercial Revolution, which in turn provided capital support and market space for European industrial development. Large amounts of capital were injected into the realm of productive forces. Spurred by capital, many new technical inventions were constantly updated—"technological innovation proceeded with increasing acceleration"—and human society entered an industrial era powered by non-living energy. In analyzing the modern productive forces constructed by the logic of capital, Marx pointed out that the bourgeoisie, "during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together." The logic of capital drove the exponential development of productive forces, laying the foundation for the productive needs of modern social development. Meanwhile, the logic of capital was also continuously reconstructing new modern relations of production. Traditional small-scale peasant production based on agriculture and handicrafts was crushed before modern production dominated by the logic of capital. The revolution in the instruments of production led to the bankruptcy of traditional production models that relied on the "hand" as the tool of labor and "experience" as the production standard. Capital’s extreme pursuit of production efficiency caused idyllic, traditional production to be eliminated in competition. The modern mode of production constructed by capital broke the shackles of narrow production scales and limited horizons inherent in feudal relations of production; it not only formed unified domestic markets but also opened up the world market.

Furthermore, the dominant role of the logic of capital in modernization was manifested not only in the industrial and scientific revolutions but also in political revolutions. In Europe, the urban bourgeoisie created by the economic revolution sought to break free from the constraints of religious theology and the heavy taxation of feudal royalty. Taking classical liberalism as their class ideology, they continuously pursued new rights. They no longer believed that politics was superior to the people and held that public participation in politics was an inherent right. The European political revolution broke the concept of God-given social hierarchy, giving humanity a brand-new understanding of its own rights and obligations. With the global expansion of capital, "it creates a world after its own image." In the process of transforming national-regional histories into world history, the logic of capital reshaped global modern relations and initiated the world-historical process of capital-dominated global modernization.

(2) The development of Enlightenment reason and its internal regulation of modernization

From the perspective of the history of human social development, the formation of both agricultural and industrial societies underwent a process of enlightenment in the realms of thought and material production. For instance, the glorious achievements of Eastern agricultural society benefited from the agricultural enlightenment movement during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods ^[1] in China. Although Western agricultural civilization did not fully mature due to the destruction of Ancient Greek achievements, it cannot be denied that the agricultural enlightenment movement laid the ideological and material foundations for humanity’s entry into agricultural society and the establishment of agricultural civilization. The modern European Enlightenment, which rose in the 17th and 18th centuries, provided the ideological support for the establishment of industrial revolutionary achievements and the rationality of bourgeois revolutionary theory. It promoted the fundamental transition of Europe from an agricultural society to an industrial society and pushed the development of human society from the traditional to the modern.

Some scholars view the European Enlightenment starting in the 18th century as an "enlightenment of liberation" and an "enlightenment of jurisprudence" in the process of social evolution, revealing the dual world-historical mission of the Enlightenment. On one hand, by holding high the banner of reason, it liberated humanity from a state of feudal ignorance; on the other hand, it highlighted the theme of human existence by signing contracts and formulating rules to guarantee rights to survival and development. In this process, reason was applied to all fields of human society: "crush the infamous thing" in the religious sphere, "laissez-faire" in the economic sphere, and the idea of the "social contract" in the political sphere all became core contents of Enlightenment reason. By utilizing the power of reason, the Enlightenment enabled people to break free from feudal shackles and move from darkness into light. Simultaneously, everything had to submit to the test of reason; Enlightenment reason became the yardstick for measuring all things in the world and the most revolutionary factor for criticizing the traditional feudal order. Human subjectivity was also re-established by Enlightenment reason to critique all feudal authority, ensuring that "everything must justify its existence before the judgment seat of Reason or give up existence." Consequently, capital also obtained legitimate existence under the protection of reason; "Enlightenment reason laid a brand-new cosmology, ontology, and axiology for modern social development and created a brand-new world order, namely the capitalist world system."

Of course, the internal regulation of modern society by Enlightenment reason was a multilinear construction process. By dissolving and disenchanting the theological shackles of feudal ignorance in the realm of thought, by continuously stimulating human creative vitality to achieve the liberation and development of production technology in the realm of productive forces, and by constructing a modern political system centered on the realization of human rights in the realm of relations of production, Enlightenment reason continuously established norms for the developmental path and value destination of modernization dominated by the logic of capital. Objectively, this greatly expanded the space for the logic of capital to pursue profit, thereby promoting the marriage of reason and capital. This made reason and capital the core elements in constructing the modern social order and human modernization development under the dominance of the logic of capital.

(3) The measures and limits of modernization jointly dominated by capital and reason

The historical appearance of capital drove a brand-new development in the practice of human material production, "marking a new epoch in the process of social production." Through the critique and reconstruction of feudal theology and traditional hierarchy, it established norms and defined boundaries for the construction of modern society with a new social developmental impetus, driving the transition from national-regional histories to world history. At the same time, in the world-historical process of humanity shaking off feudal ignorance to pursue freedom and liberation, Enlightenment reason enabled "humanity to emerge from its self-imposed immaturity," established human subjectivity, pulled back the curtain on the development of modern human society, and played a pivotal role in constructing modern civilization. As some scholars have noted, "modern history is the confluence of the material power of capital and the metaphysical power of reason." The organic interaction and integrated development of capital and reason, in the early stages of modernization dominated by the logic of capital, greatly promoted the global modernization process of transforming national-regional histories into world history, becoming the yardstick for measuring early modernization standards. On one hand, capital provided the spatio-temporal field for the appearance of reason. With its immense capacity for material production and valorization, capital broke the constraints of feudal theological thought in pre-capitalist societies, providing the space and time for the emergence and development of reason. It assisted in the transformation of the forms of reason, pushing reason from the spiritual field to the practical field, and provided a favorable external environment for the construction and perfection of reason's own theoretical system. On the other hand, reason laid the theoretical foundation for the logic of capital's valorization. The fundamental interest of Enlightenment reason lay in dispelling the superstition and blind following of religious theology, liberating humans from a state of ignorance, and achieving the liberation of human nature. The metaphysical theoretical attributes of reason matched capital’s attribute of infinitely pursuing profit in the secular world. The theories constructed by reason in spiritual and institutional aspects promoted the transformation of capital from the primitive to the modern, providing theoretical rationality for the globalization logic of capital. Together, the two drove the modernization of human society from national-regionality toward world-historicity, thereby realizing a great revolution in modes of production, a great change in states of existence, and great progress in civilizational development, pulling back a new curtain on the development of human modernization.

Although the modern society constructed by capital and reason stripped away the mysterious veil shackling social development, it did not truly achieve the modernization of the human being. Instead, with the upgrading and transformation of capital forms and the development of extreme instrumental reason, the subjective status of the human being in modern society has gradually been lost. Humans have been reduced to tools for the logic of capital to increase production efficiency and chase profit; they have increasingly become the "means" for capital and technology. The logic of modernization dominated by capital and reason is constantly pushing the limits of its internal tension. The distorted developmental practices of modern humans within the competitive logic of industrial society have not made the human being an "end" in the sense described by Enlightenment philosophers. Instead, they have diverged from the humanistic tenets of freedom and equality advocated by those philosophers. As Engels said, "Compared with the splendid promises of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, the social and political institutions established by the 'victory of reason' proved to be bitterly disappointing caricatures." At this stage, the modern society constructed by capital and reason is already a world full of contradictions, complexity, and uncertainty. The kinetic energy it provided to drive history toward world history shows signs of exhaustion. Modern society has fallen into global risk. How human society can effectively respond to global risks and resolve the crisis of global modernity has become a difficult problem that all of humanity must face together. Surpassing the competitive interaction under the dominance of capital and reason through cooperative interaction between sovereign states will ultimately become the main direction for the reconstruction of global modernization and the development of human modernization.

II. The New Path of Chinese-path Modernization Makes a Historical Contribution to Global Modernization Practice

The new path of Chinese-path modernization has broken the monopoly of Western capitalist modernization and pioneered a brand-new practice of modernization. It has broadened the modernization path for human society and provided a new modernization model for reference and a choice of path for those ethnic groups and nation-states that wish to maintain their independence while pursuing development. The successful practice of the new path of Chinese-path modernization has created a new form of human advancement, making new historical contributions to global modernization practice in terms of subjects, impetus, values, and goals.

(1) Subjective contribution: The person becomes the core subject in the construction of the modernization path

Since capital and reason pulled back the historical curtain on human modernization, the logic of capital began to dominate modernization during the process of history’s transformation into world history. From the perspective of historical materialism, modernization dominated by the logic of capital is essentially the product of the intertwined development of modernization and globalization during the primary stage of world history; it is a process of modernization where civilization and barbarism coexist, and progress and regression remain side by side. On the one hand, the dominance of capital over modernization ended human feudal civilization and opened up human modern civilization, which "is more favorable to the development of the productive forces, to the development of social relations, and to the creation of elements for a new and higher form." On the other hand, through external expansion and internal absorption, the development of capital-driven modernization carried out the exploitation and oppression of human beings "under the drive of the lowest, most sordid, most petty, and most hateful greed," causing human development to become deformed and to exhibit "one-dimensional" ^[2] attributes. Man was reduced to an essential link in the chain of capital valorization, and "obscured the reality of the physical body amidst the pursuit and worship of capital valorization." In short, although the dominance of the logic of capital over modernization objectively promoted the integrity and global development of human society, in the current era where the destiny of humanity is manifest as a community, modernization dominated by the logic of capital has reached the limit of its inherent tension and can no longer meet the objective requirements of the in-depth development of world history. As the subject of social development, man exhibits a relationship of comprehensive alienation from nature, the self, and the "other" within the world-historical process of modernization dominated by capital logic, seriously deviating from the value destination of humanity’s pursuit of modernization. Therefore, the construction and development of global modernization objectively call for a new subject of modern construction.

As a practical mode of humanity's pursuit of its own liberation and development, the essence of modernization is to achieve the modernization of man, and the goal of modernization is to construct the modern, complete person. The historical emergence of Chinese-path modernization accords with the essential requirements of modern development, achieves the organic integration of socialism and modernization, and creates a new model for the development of modernization. Taking the people as the constructive subject of the new path of Chinese-path modernization is also an essential requirement of historical materialism. The new path of Chinese-path modernization was opened up by the Communist Party of China leading the Chinese people through the processes of revolution, construction, and reform. It unfolds around "achieving high-quality development, developing whole-process people's democracy, enriching the spiritual world of the people, achieving common prosperity for all people, promoting harmony between humanity and nature, promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and creating a new form of human civilization." In this process, the CPC has always regarded the people as the core subject for exploring modernization and constructing modernity, vividly interpreting the historical subjectivity of the people in theory and practice, and establishing the people’s subjective status in the new path of Chinese-path modernization.

Upholding the subjective status of the people in the new path of Chinese-path modernization, on the one hand, transcends the reign and dominance of the "logic of things" over the "logic of man." Under the premise of effectively and rationally utilizing, guiding, and regulating "things," it serves the comprehensive development of "man," correcting the alienation of man found in the historical process of modernization dominated by capital logic. Through the critical sublation ^[3] of capital, Chinese-path modernization successfully harnesses capital, making it a beneficial factor in serving the new path of Chinese-path modernization. The people have replaced capital as the subjective core and pivotal axis of the construction of Chinese-path modernization, achieving a new development and transcendence of the dominant logic of modernization. On the other hand, in the process of globalization and post-industrialization, the crises of capital modernity occur frequently. This objectively requires that the practice of modernization paths in human society achieve a shift from competitive modernization to cooperative modernization, and the dominant logic hidden behind this is to achieve the shift from capital to man. The new path of Chinese-path modernization establishes human subjectivity in theory and practice, transcending the logic of capital's dominance over modernization through the subjectivity and holistic development of man as a "species-being" ^[4], thereby making a subjective contribution to the practical exploration of global modernization.

(2) Contribution of Power: "Endogenous" Power Transcends "Exogenous" Power

The so-called power of modernization refers to the driving force that allows modernization to develop forward and undergo movement and change. In different historical stages of the construction of human modernization, modernization possesses different sources of power. After capital and reason raised the curtain on the development of human modernization, modernization began to use the profit-seeking attributes of capital to promote its own development. Its power structure involves continuous changes alongside the upgrading of capital forms, pushing modernization forward with an "exogenous" power. Commercial capital, as the initial form of capital, opened the history of human modernization in the struggle against feudalism. Through primitive monopoly and violent plunder of the market, it promoted the extensive development of modernization. It can be said that modernization dominated by commercial capital "is directly combined with violent plunder, piracy, kidnapping slaves, and conquering colonies." Industrial capital began to shift from the sphere of circulation to the sphere of production. Under the guidance of liberalism, it internally demanded the overthrow of feudal autocratic regimes to construct liberal states, and externally promoted the rules of free trade. Through the capitalist modernization and transformation of colonies in economic, political, and ideological terms, it advanced the modernization and development of human industrial capital. Financial capital developed into the advanced form of capital alongside the "emergence of interest-bearing capital, the universalization of the credit system, and the overflow of fictitious capital." Financial-monopoly imperialism, relying on the dual logic of productive and non-productive accumulation of financial capital, promoted the maximization of global capital profits, thereby realizing development where financial capital dominates modernization. In short, the power of modernization dominated by capital logic mainly originates from capital's pursuit of profit; this power structure changes from explicit to implicit as the form of capital upgrades.

The contribution of power that Chinese-path modernization makes to global modernization practice lies in the fact that the "endogenous" power of this new type of modernization transcends the "exogenous" power of traditional Western modernization. It has pioneered an "endogenous" power structure of "State-Market-People" relative to modernization, making up for the deficiency of the single power structure of modernization dominated by the logic of capital, and contributing a new power system to global modernization practice. Some scholars have pointed out: "The main criteria for measuring the power mechanism are speed, efficiency, and vitality." The "China speed," "China efficiency," and "China vitality" contained in the new path of Chinese-path modernization hold important world-historical significance for the development of global modernization.

First, China speed was generated from the social development practices of China over the forty-plus years of reform and opening up. The great innovative capacity of the Chinese people is the power base of China speed. China speed has enabled China to become the world's second-largest economy, historically eliminate absolute poverty, and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. China speed is becoming an important force pulling global economic development. Second, Chinese-path modernization is able to "integrate and promote the leadership of the Party, the allocative power of the market, and the subjective power of the people," forming China efficiency. Among these, the leadership of the Party provides the directional guidance for Chinese-path modernization; market allocation provides the structural driving force; and the subjectivity of the people provides the target traction. The organic combination of the three can maximize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the broad members of society. Third, the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" general layout of Chinese socialist economy, politics, culture, society, and ecology can scientifically and effectively stimulate the power and vitality of various elements and fields of social development, endowing the new path of Chinese-path modernization with vigorous vitality and promoting global modernization construction to move forward more healthily and efficiently. The "endogenous" power structure contained in the new path of Chinese-path modernization opens up the fundamental power for the forward development of modernization, transcending the Western "exogenous" power structure that relies on the antagonistic profit-seeking attributes of capital, thus contributing power to global modernization practice.

(3) Contribution of Value: Common Values Consolidate the Foundation of Global Modernization

The transition of human society from tradition to modernity once benefited in value terms from the modern construction of Western civilization, which allowed the history of nations and regions to continuously develop into the depths of world history. However, after entering the 21st century, the historical progressiveness of Western modern civilization began to face various challenges from the construction of modernity in human society and the development of global modernization. Western civilization can no longer support the transformation of national and regional history into world history, and modern society under the dominance of "universal values" has fallen into a state of chaos. From a philosophical perspective, Western "universal values" are essentially an externalization of an antagonistic "subject-object dichotomy" philosophical thinking. The "Western-centrism" formed on this basis regards Western civilization as the superior civilization of human social development, suggesting that the non-Western world should be subordinate to the Western world. As Hegel said, "World history goes from East to West, for Europe is absolutely the end of History, Asia the beginning." This "Western-centric" rhetoric, which celebrates the end of human history in Western history, is intended to "flaunt the universality of Western values and the uniqueness of the Western path," making Eastern societies subordinate to Western ones and developing countries dependent on developed ones.

Clearly, this presents a structural contradiction with the current world-historical position of human society, which is characterized by high complexity and high uncertainty. At this stage, world history has developed into the stages of globalization and post-industrialization. The construction of modernization in human society is full of uncertainty and complexity. The "universal values" formed in the early stages of industrial society have completed their historical mission of promoting modernization during the initial stage of world history and can no longer support the construction of modernization in the process of globalization and post-industrialization. The construction of global modernization must be based on the high complexity and uncertainty of human modern development to seek the value intersection of human society, leading global modernization practice toward the modernization of man with a new value concept that transcends Western "universal values."

The common values contained in the new path of Chinese-path modernization lay the value foundation for the construction of global modernization. Proceeding from historical materialism, common values take the "common needs and interests" of people in the real world as their value cornerstone. They critique the homogenized values of "universal values" that serve capital valorization, transcend the "metaphysical and mystical" philosophical foundations of "universal values," and are committed to promoting the development model of global modernization from competitive antagonism toward cooperative interaction. This injects new value concepts into global modernization and solidifies the value foundation of modern construction. Among these, peace and development are the objective requirements for the construction of global modernization. At the current stage, the culture of free competition contained in "universal values" is the primary reason hindering world peace and development; the alienation of free competition leads human society into endless antagonistic conflicts. In the current stage where the destiny of all humanity is shared, peace and development are the objective requirements to ensure the continuation of human civilization and the construction of global modernization. Fairness and justice are the inherent requirements of global modernization construction. Although the unbalanced and barbaric development of the primary stage of global modernization objectively promoted the forward development of world history, the profit-seeking nature of capital meant there was no fairness or justice to speak of in that stage. Fairness and justice within the scope of "universal values" are merely the criteria for the division of spoils among the internal interests of the bourgeoisie. True fairness and justice must be consistent with the development needs of sovereign states and the holistic development needs of human society; this is also the inherent requirement of global modernization construction. Democracy and freedom are the essential pursuits of global modernization construction. The democracy and freedom contained in common values are those under the premise of respecting the interests of nation-states, based on equal interaction between nation-states, transcending the metaphysical, abstract democracy and freedom in the concept of "universal values." Global modernization practice involves creating an international environment of peace and development through concrete practical measures of fairness and justice based on the equal interaction of international actors, so as to guarantee the democracy and freedom of all sovereign states in the construction of global modernization.

(4) Contribution of Goals: Achieving the Sustainable Development of Human Society and the Liberation of Man

Throughout the evolution of modern human society, competition, as a core constituent element in the construction of the primary stage of modern society, has played a massive driving role in the transition of human society from tradition to modernity, injecting immense momentum and vitality into the construction and development of modern society. However, in the process of globalization and post-industrialization, competition driven by the logic of capital has moved toward its historical opposite. This has not only led to an increase in the consumption of material resources but has also caused antagonistic thinking to become prominent within human society. It has not only "corroded social relations and the forms of human life but also increased the overall resource consumption and operating costs of society." Under the dominance of the logic of capital, a "center-periphery" global modernization pattern has gradually formed. This modernization pattern is essentially a "mode of rule by which capitalist core countries control the world through financial hegemony, cultural hegemony, and military hegemony." It has not only intensified the unfairness and imbalance between the "center" and the "periphery" in the global modernization process but has also mired global modernization in a swamp of prominent deficits and intensifying contradictions. The goal of global modernization dominated by the logic of capital is to establish the hegemony of capitalism over the world and to institute a hierarchical structure of global development. To consolidate the "center" position of developed capitalist countries and to realize the continuous rule of "personified capital" over humanity as a whole, the capital-logic-dominated global modernization has already pushed humanity into the abyss of the risk society. At this stage, however, human society has already merged into a community with a shared future amid the tide of globalization; it is no longer composed of isolated national or regional individuals. "A shared destiny has transcended all other civilizations, barbarisms, and ignorances of humanity." Therefore, the goal of global modernization hegemony dominated by the logic of capital will ultimately go bankrupt as world history develops in depth.

In the process of history transforming into world history, the new path of Chinese-path modernization has pioneered a new model for human modernization. It has promoted a model transition in the construction of modernity from competitive antagonism to win-win cooperation and established goals that transcend capitalist hegemony to achieve the sustainable development of human society and the liberation of humanity, fitting the historical position and objective requirements of current human social development. At this stage, human society is already in a state of global risk, where regional risks are globalized and global risks are regionalized. Various conventional and unconventional risks seriously threaten the sustainable development of human society and the liberation of human beings existing as a "species" (Gattungswesen). Various global crises of modernity triggered by the logic of capital have already threatened the holistic survival of human society. The role of capital and rationality in driving world history has now given way to the leading role of win-win cooperation in guiding world history. The goals of achieving sustainable human development and human liberation contained within the new path of Chinese-path modernization seek to respond to the common risks faced by human society by breaking the "central" hierarchical structure of traditional global modernization, overturning capitalist hegemonic rule, and promoting the autonomy and diversity of ethnic nations in pursuing their own paths to modernization. Based on a culture of capital competition, it establishes the modernization boundaries of capital. It aims to both stimulate the innovative vitality of various ethnic nations—advocating for the sustainable development of human society through interaction based on equal cooperation—and to correct the deformed development and human alienation caused by capital-logic-dominated modernization. On the basis of existing productive forces, it improves the relationships between man and nature, man and self, and man and society, realizing to the greatest extent the sustainable development of human society and the collective liberation of human beings as a "species."

III. The Modernizing Attributes of Human Beings Achieve New Development Within the New Path of Chinese-path Modernization

Marx's theory of world history reveals the holistic generation and modern development of human beings during the transition from national-regional history to world history. The new path of Chinese-path modernization was formed within the global modernization practice of world-historical development. It aligns with the laws of world-historical evolution, allowing the modernizing attributes of human beings—such as their sociality, historicity, and praxeological nature—to achieve new historical development and leaps within the field of Chinese-path modernization. This transcends the shackles placed on human modern development by the capital-logic-dominated modernization model and pushes human modernization toward the direction of free and comprehensive development.

(1) The sociality of human beings achieves new development within the new path of Chinese-path modernization

From the perspective of historical materialism, the essence of man is the "ensemble of the social relations." Sociality is the essential attribute of human existence, and the modernization of human beings is the modernization of human social relations. The human pursuit of modernization essentially requires the continuous deepening and development of human sociality in the process of transition from national-regional history to world history. Since the reform and opening up, China has actively and initiatively integrated into the process of global modernization. In the practice of exploring the path of modernization, it has undergone a "process from passively adapting to the challenges of global modernization to gradually and initiatively meeting those challenges." It has continuously expanded the sociality of the construction of Chinese-path modernization, making the modern development of human beings the fundamental purpose of this construction. The continuous expansion of human sociality within the new path of Chinese-path modernization has promoted the generation of real individuals and human beings in the full sense, transcending the modernization goals of "object-orientedness" (以物为本) and serving only a minority.

In the field of Chinese-path modernization, the development of human sociality is concentrated in the socio-historical practice of achieving common prosperity for all people. Historical materialism holds that "the mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political, and intellectual life." People continuously deepen their connections in the social practice of material production, solidifying the material foundation for the development of human sociality. China's material production practice over more than forty years of reform and opening up has forged a new path of modernization that conforms to the national conditions, history, and reality. It has achieved great development in the field of material production; the GDP has risen to second in the world, and in 2020, the development goal of exceeding 100 trillion yuan was achieved. In the modernization process of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, common prosperity has enhanced the sociality of individual members. The interaction and exchange between individuals and nature, between individuals, and between individuals and society have continued to develop in depth. This enables people to achieve holistic social interactions across classes, ethnicities, regions, and professions, overcoming the limitations and one-sidedness of individual existence and development under the horizon of traditional modernization. By using the state of existence of real and concrete human beings to break the abstract and illusory state of human beings in the horizon of Western capitalist modernization, it marks that the dignity of every member of society is guaranteed, their potential is developed, and their needs are met. Simultaneously, to overcome the negative effects brought by economic modernization in the primary stage of socialism, common prosperity places greater emphasis on the rationality of the social structure and social distribution. it contains not only the goal of achieving overall material abundance in society but also the goal of achieving spiritual richness for social members. In the New Era, the change in the principal contradiction of our society objectively requires that common prosperity pay more attention to the optimization of social structure and development. By straightening out the structure of social interests and establishing fundamental values and behavioral orientations of social fairness and justice, it ensures equality of rights, opportunities, and rules for individual members of society. This stimulates the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of social members, further promoting the development of individual sociality.

(2) The historicity of human beings achieves new development within the new path of Chinese-path modernization

As social-historical beings, the sociality of humans reveals their horizontal survival state, making them human beings in a realistic sense, while their historicity reveals their vertical evolution, making them human beings in a historical sense. "From the perspective of world history, the comprehensive development of human beings is actually the process of the generation of world-historical individuals." From the dependence on people under natural conditions to the dependence on things in industrial society, and finally to the free individuality and comprehensive development of communist society, "the development of human individuals has undergone a process from spontaneity to consciousness, and from one-sidedness to comprehensiveness." In short, human beings achieve their historical development through historical interaction with nature, themselves, and society; they evolve from the socio-historical practice of the continuous transformation of productive forces. Human beings in the modern sense are generated in the process of the transition from national-regional history to world history and formed in the historical practice of global evolution. It can be said that "the formation of human beings is the result of historical accumulation." A scientific grasp of human modern development must be based on human historicity. Only in this way can we leap out of the misunderstandings of metaphysics and grasp the essence of human beings from a dynamic perspective.

To date, humanity has formed two models in its practical exploration of modernization: one is the Western path of modernization opened by capitalism in the 18th century; the other is the new path of Chinese-path modernization created by the Communist Party of China in the processes of revolution, construction, and reform. The historical contribution of the Western path of modernization lies in opening the historical prologue of the holistic development of human society, laying the material foundation for the generation of human modernization, and enabling human society to achieve the rapid growth of material wealth in a short period. However, its historical limitations have also become increasingly prominent. The internal limits of the logic of capital have caused human historicity to halt at the primary stage of world-historical development. Human time, space, practice, and social relations are continuously distorted within Western modernization relations. The competitive-antagonistic social interaction structure it constructs and its value pursuit of "interests above all else" cause the survival and development of human beings to be continuously alienated in the modernization process. Therefore, to realize the historical development of human beings in the process of world history, a new modernization model must be used to transcend the Western path of modernization. The historical generation of the new path of Chinese-path modernization transcends the one-sided instrumental rationality of the Western path. In the historical practice of constructing modernization, it has achieved the organic fusion of instrumental rationality and value rationality, allowing human historicity to achieve new development. The new path of Chinese-path modernization was pioneered by the CPC leading the masses. As the subjects of the construction of the new path of Chinese-path modernization, the masses have transformed from bystanders of revolution, construction, and reform into the main participants, and from objects of national governance into the masters of the country. Through the critique of the alienated relationships between man and nature, man and self, and man and society within the horizon of Western modernization, human historicity is generated in the history of constructing the new path of Chinese-path modernization and achieves in-depth development in the theory and practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era.

(3) The praxeological nature of human beings achieves new development within the new path of Chinese-path modernization

In the field of Marxist philosophy, the meaning of human existence lies in social practice. Practice is the core concept of Marxist philosophy and the main path for real "man" to understand and transform the world. From the perspective of historical materialism, human practical activities include the dual connotations of labor practice and revolutionary practice, both of which are of great significance to the modern development of human beings. Labor practice can provide a material basis for human survival and development, and in the process of labor, it can expand the sociality among social members, causing social members to form new social relations at different socio-historical stages. Revolutionary practice, meanwhile, is the practical process by which the proletariat abolishes private property and breaks the political shackles of the exploiting classes; it enables the proletariat to obtain political independence and legitimacy, thereby realizing the possession of the means of production. In short, social practice is the main path for eliminating social alienation and constructing modernization, and the praxeological nature of human beings is an important yardstick for measuring the level of human modernization. Within the new path of Chinese-path modernization, "man generates and realizes himself in practice," and the praxeological nature of human beings will continue to achieve new development.

The Chinese-path modernization has been forged under the leadership of the Communist Party of China by the broad masses of the people through the practices of revolution, construction, and reform. Human practicality ^[12] permeates every stage—from the germination and formation to the development and refinement—of the Chinese-path modernization. As the world today faces "profound changes unseen in a century" ^[13], understanding the human practicality within Chinese-path modernization requires a dual grasp of both the micro-domestic and macro-international perspectives. From a domestic perspective, Chinese-path modernization is essentially the practice of the CPC leading the people to explore a modernization path consistent with the country's basic national conditions and traditional culture. Human practicality is primarily manifested in the fact that the masses are the subjective agents of Chinese-path modernization; the history of the people carving out this new path is the concentrated expression of human practicality. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, under the leadership of the CPC, the minds of the masses have been greatly emancipated. Countless socialist laborers, practicing the "spirit of the craftsman," have struggled across various industries and fields of socialist modernization, enabling the masses to lift themselves out of poverty and complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It can be said that human practicality has achieved immense longitudinal development within the historical construction of the Chinese-path modernization. From an international perspective, the continuous enhancement of human practicality is primarily manifested in the fact that Chinese-path modernization has initiated a new mode of human interaction and engagement, created a new form of human civilization, and advocates for the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity within a "risk society" to collectively address challenges threatening human survival. Modern society is fraught with uncertainty and instability; traditional national and regional risks have evolved into global and world-historical risks, natural risks have transformed into man-made risks, and material risks have escalated into moral risks. Against this backdrop, China advocates to the international community the realization of sustainable development through deep interaction and cooperation and opposes the currents of anti-globalization—that is, a shift from the competitive human interaction of early industrial society to the cooperative interaction of post-industrial society. This represents the horizontal international extension of human practicality provided by the Chinese-path modernization.

IV. Conclusion

In summary, the fundamental task of modernization is to realize the modernization of the human being as a "species-being." ^[14] The early practices of Western capitalist modernization revolved around the liberation of human rationality, which to a great extent promoted the development of human modernization. However, due to the historical limitations of capitalism and the proliferation of extreme rationalism, the modernization of the human as a species-being gradually gave way to the modernization of capital or the modernization of things, plunging human society into global risks. The Chinese-path modernization is a new path of modern construction initiated by the CPC leading the Chinese people, rooted in our basic national conditions and excellent traditional culture, utilizing the scientific methodology of Marxism, and centering on the realization of human modernization. It both successfully harnesses capital and makes it serve human modernization, thereby breaking the monopoly of Western capitalist modernization. The historical generation of the Chinese-path modernization aligns with the multilinear developmental needs of the transition from national-regional history to world history. it compensates for the defects and deficiencies in the theory and practice of Western capitalist modernization, broadens the path choices for modernization in human society, and promotes the development of modern attributes such as human sociality, historicity, and practicality. It provides beneficial experience for those nation-states that seek to pursue modernization while maintaining their own independence, makes an original contribution to the global practice of modernization and the diversified development of human modern civilization, and lays a new theoretical and practical foundation for realizing the liberation and the free and comprehensive development of the human being as a species-being.