Zhang Guozuo and Yang Ruonan: Mao Zedong's Exploration of and Contribution to the Path of Modernization After the Founding of New China
At the symposium commemorating the 130th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping spoke highly of Mao Zedong as the "great founder of the cause of China’s socialist modernization," [1] fully affirming Mao’s outstanding contributions to exploring the path of modernization for the New China. During the periods of the New Democratic Revolution and socialist revolution and construction, Mao Zedong devoted immense effort to pushing China toward modernization and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Particularly after the founding of the New China, Mao conducted untiring explorations into the path of modernization, accumulating vital ideological, material, and institutional conditions for the cause of Chinese-path modernization.
I. Launching the Great Journey of a Country with a Massive Population Toward Socialist Modernization
At the inception of the New China, faced with the predicament of being "poor and blank," [2] leading a destitute nation of 600 million people toward modernization required formidable self-confidence and steadfast determination. Where did Mao Zedong’s confidence and determination come from? It came from the fundamental tenet of the Communist Party of China to serve the people heart and soul, from his profound affection for the broad masses, and from his high degree of trust in the great historical power of the people. Mao Zedong knew well that the Chinese people, having stood up and regained their dignity, not only possessed an ardent longing for a better life but also the courage to "transform heaven and earth." [3] How easy could it be for a country with such a massive population, yet poor and backward, to move toward modernization? Mao had a very clear understanding of this. However, unlike most people, Mao saw the difficulties and responsibilities while simultaneously identifying the favorable conditions for overcoming those difficulties and shouldering those responsibilities. He pointed out: "To enable several hundred million Chinese people to live well, and to build our economically and culturally backward country into a wealthy, powerful country with a high level of culture, is a very arduous task." [4] Yet, "China is a country with 9.6 million square kilometers of land and 600 million people; China ought to make a greater contribution to humanity." [5] Mao believed that having a large population was a good thing. He noted: "Apart from the Party's leadership, the 600 million people are a decisive factor. More people mean more discussion, higher enthusiasm, and greater energy. Never before have the masses of the people been seen in such high spirits, with such militant will and such soaring enthusiasm as they are now." [6] Clearly, Mao Zedong’s view of modernization in a country with a massive population was dialectical: a massive population meant many difficulties in solving problems of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and a heavy responsibility for modernization, but it also meant a massive force for achieving that modernization.
After the founding of the New China, the rapid growth in population size provided sufficient human resources and talent for the country's fast development. The first generation of the Party's central collective leadership with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core attached great importance to both the quantity and the quality of the population. By implementing a series of effective measures, they created favorable conditions for the growth of the New China's population and the improvement of its quality. First, they provided a sound political environment for rapid population growth. The thorough overthrow of the old system that exploited and oppressed the people allowed them to "turn over" [7] and be liberated, becoming masters of the country. This provided the most basic institutional guarantee for the safety of the people’s lives and their production and livelihood. Second, they led and initiated large-scale mass Patriotic Health Campaigns, raising sanitation work to the level of patriotism. To counter the threat of biological weapons from the U.S. military during the war in Korea, Mao Zedong requested that the masses "get mobilized, pay attention to hygiene, reduce disease, improve health levels, and smash the enemy's germ warfare." [8] To eliminate schistosomiasis, he issued the instruction that "schistosomiasis is a great hazard and must be focused on for prevention and cure," [9] calling for the mobilization of the whole Party and the whole people to eliminate this disease which seriously threatened the safety of the masses—often causing infertility and having a very high mortality rate. Third, they established a relatively sound medical and social security system. Mao Zedong called for placing the focus of medical and health work on the rural areas, training over 1.5 million "barefoot doctors" [10] for the vast countryside. By 1976, the three-tier medical and health network at the county, commune, and brigade levels basically covered the entire rural population, and cooperative medical care run by over 90% of production brigades covered approximately 85% of the rural population. [11] This series of guaranteed measures reduced the infant mortality rate of the New China from 200‰ before 1949 to 34.7‰ in 1981; the crude death rate dropped from 25‰ before 1949 to 6.3‰ in 1978; and average life expectancy increased from 35 years before 1949 to 68.2 years in 1978. [12]
Particularly worth praising is that the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong were committed to enabling the 600 million people of the New China to master the cultural knowledge required for socialist modernization, achieving "cultural liberation" as masters of their own house. Lenin once emphasized: "A communist society cannot be built in an illiterate country." [13] Regarding this, Mao Zedong also explicitly pointed out: "Culture is indispensable; no society can be built without culture." [14] After the founding of the New China, the state vigorously carried out illiteracy eradication campaigns and established various types of schools at all levels, striving to free the masses from their state of cultural backwardness. Under Mao’s instruction that "restoring and developing people's education is one of the important current tasks," [15] the New China passed through four large-scale illiteracy eradication campaigns, and the illiteracy rate dropped from 80% at the beginning of the New China to 32.3% in 1964. [16] Through the popularization of primary and secondary education, the number of students enrolled in middle schools and primary schools grew from 1.039 million and 24.391 million in 1949 to 58.365 million and 150.055 million in 1976, respectively. [17] The New China’s vigorous actions to popularize culture and education broke the monopoly on knowledge held by the ruling classes for thousands of years, enabling hundreds of millions of the formerly "culturally impoverished" ruled classes to become masters of society who mastered advanced culture and could thus make their own contributions to socialist modernization. This was unprecedented in history. Marx once pointed out: "Of all the instruments of production, the greatest productive force is the revolutionary class itself." [18] Mao Zedong also once said with full confidence: "Under the leadership of the Communist Party, as long as there are people, every kind of miracle can be performed." [19] The "people" referred to here are the masses who have achieved political liberation and mastered advanced cultural knowledge, thus being full of creative vitality. Facing the heartening scene of the vast peasantry enthusiastically participating in agricultural producer cooperatives, Mao Zedong remarked with emotion: "Do the Chinese laboring people still have the look of slaves as in the past? No, they have become the masters. The laboring people on the 9.6 million square kilometers of the People’s Republic of China have now truly begun to rule this land." [20] With a population possessing such an invigorated spiritual state, the New China—with its massive population scale—was bound to harbor the majestic power to build a socialist modernized country.
II. Establishing a Modernization Value Orientation of Pursuing Justice, Equality, and Common Prosperity
Mao Zedong was a true and pure Communist. The modernization he spent his entire life striving for was a modernization of justice and equality—a modernization that opposed polarization and advocated for the realization of common prosperity for all people. Mao’s understanding of this issue pierced through ancient and modern history. in his marginal notes on the Biography of Zhang Lu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, he pointed out: "In all dynasties, there were numerous peasant revolutionary struggles of varying scales; their nature is certainly fundamentally different from the present Marxist revolutionary movement. But there is one thing in common: the vast strata of extremely poor peasants dreamed of equality, freedom, escaping poverty, and having ample food and clothing." [21] After leading the Chinese people to shatter the shackles imposed on them by the ruling class of the old society through the violent means of revolution and establishing the New China, Mao Zedong led the implementation of a series of measures dedicated to achieving social justice and equality. These primarily included: establishing the system of regional ethnic autonomy and opposing Great Han Chauvinism to achieve ethnic equality; implementing equal pay for equal work to achieve gender equality; launching Rectification Movements [22] to oppose bureaucratism and achieve equality between cadres and the masses; advocating for the "Constitution of the Anshan Iron and Steel Company" [23] and promoting the "two participations, one reform, and triple combination" [24] to achieve equality between managers and workers; advocating for the abolition of "bourgeois right" [25] to eliminate the "Three Great Differences" (between industry and agriculture, urban and rural areas, and mental and manual labor) to achieve equality among laborers; abolishing the system of military ranks and adjusting the salary system to achieve equality between officers and soldiers; and so on. Throughout his life, Mao was dedicated to achieving universal equality for the broad masses, preventing the emergence of a privileged stratum within the Party that would override the people, and actively defending socialist fairness and justice. Of course, the social justice and equality that Mao Zedong strove for was not "equalizing wealth" in the traditional sense, but "opposing both egalitarianism and excessive disparity," [26] which is consistent with the basic principles of scientific socialism.
In the historical process of exploring socialist modernization, Mao Zedong consistently integrated the concept of common prosperity. At a 1955 symposium on the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce, he emphasized: "Now we are implementing such a system and such a plan that can move toward becoming richer and stronger year by year... and this wealth is common wealth, this strength is common strength; everyone has a share." [27] He added, "This kind of common prosperity is certain; it is not something where we don't know today what will happen tomorrow." [28] Regarding how to realize a modernization characterized by common prosperity, Mao had deep reflections; his general approach was to implement a strategy of "overall planning and all-round consideration" [29] and a step-by-step process. To resolve the contradictions of unbalanced regional development and urban-rural opposition—contradictions that neither Western capitalist countries nor the socialist Soviet Union had managed well—Mao wrote "On the Ten Major Relationships" based on a thorough investigation of China’s national conditions. He proposed that to balance the layout of industrial development, "the coastal industrial bases must be fully utilized" while "inland industry must be vigorously developed." [30] To balance the interests of the state and the peasants, he noted: "Our agricultural tax has always been relatively light. In the exchange of industrial and agricultural products, we adopt a policy of narrowing the price scissors [31] and implementing exchange at equal value or near-equal value. Our unified procurement of agricultural products is at normal prices; the peasants do not lose out, and the procurement prices have actually increased gradually. In supplying industrial products to peasants, we adopt a policy of high volume at low margins and stable or appropriately reduced prices; in supplying grain to peasants in grain-deficient areas, there is generally a slight subsidy." [32] At the 30th meeting of the Central People’s Government Committee in June 1954, Mao Zedong put forward this vision: "How much time is actually needed to build a great socialist country? We won't set a hard date now, but roughly three five-year plans, or about fifteen years, can lay a foundation... Roughly after fifty years, or ten five-year plans, it will be more or less done, it will look like something, and it will be very different from now." [33] This was one of the earliest conceptions of the "two-step" vision for China to build a socialist modernized country. At this meeting, Mao particularly emphasized that it was impossible to build socialism all at once. He said: "To implement socialist principles, is it possible to implement socialism across the whole country in one single morning? This would be very revolutionary in form, but it lacks flexibility, would not work, would be opposed, and would fail. Therefore, things that cannot be done for the time being must be allowed to be done gradually." [34] This strategic and flexible guiding thought indicates that Mao Zedong’s attitude toward realizing common prosperity was prudent and scientific, not the result of a momentary "fever."
III. Planning a Development Pattern of the Joint Improvement of Material and Cultural Life
Mao Zedong’s modernization concept of the joint improvement of material and cultural life was initially formed in "On New Democracy," focusing on the coordinated development of people-centered politics, economy, and culture in the New China. When sketching the blueprint for the New China, he proposed: "We want not only to change a China that is politically oppressed and economically exploited into a China that is politically free and economically prosperous, but also to change a China that is ruled by the old culture and is therefore ignorant and backward into a China that is ruled by the new culture and is therefore civilized and advanced." [35] After the founding of the New China, Mao became even more clearly aware that the modernization of people is the internal driver of national modernization as well as its ultimate goal. He attached great importance to the mutual promotion and influence of people's material and cultural lives, believing that "every living person must live; they must lead both a material life and a cultural life." [36]
In terms of improving the people's material standard of living, Mao Zedong proceeded from a scientific grasp of the dialectical relationship between the productive forces and the relations of production. He persisted in using new relations of production to promote a significant increase in the productive forces, and used the constantly improving productive forces to drive the new relations of production toward increasing perfection. He pointed out: "Revolution is meant to clear the way for construction. Revolution changes the relations of production and the superstructure; it changes the economic system and the superstructure—government, ideology, law, politics, culture, and art—but the goal is not to establish a new government or new relations of production for their own sake, but rather to develop production." (28) The purpose of the New Democratic Revolution led by the Communist Party of China was to destroy all the old relations of production that fettered the development of the productive forces, and to promote the development of social productive forces through new relations of production. After the old relations of production were eliminated, Mao Zedong creatively proposed to "gradually realize the socialist industrialization of the state over a fairly long period of time, and gradually realize the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce by the state." (29) This treated industrialization as the key factor in liberating and developing social productive forces—the fundamental condition for consolidating the new state power and the newly established relations of production and social system—while simultaneously paying attention to the transformation of the relations of production to drive the continuous development of social productive forces.
In terms of raising the people's cultural standard of living, Mao Zedong proceeded from a scientific grasp of the reaction of consciousness upon matter. He called upon intellectuals to integrate with the masses of workers and peasants, and for literature and art to serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers, as well as socialism. He vigorously promoted the improvement of the masses' cultural level, laying a solid spiritual and cultural foundation for accelerating the development of social productive forces. Within this solid spiritual and cultural foundation, cultural confidence [37] was of paramount importance. Mao Zedong was a great leader full of cultural confidence; his confidence always inspired generations of Chinese Communists and the broad masses to be brave, fearless, and to forge ahead. He once profoundly pointed out: "We must see imperialism and all reactionaries for what they really are—paper tigers." (30) This world-shaking yet philosophically profound assertion is a classic expression of Mao Zedong's cultural confidence. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong spoke at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh CPC Central Committee: "The Chinese people can not only live without begging from the imperialists, but will live better than the people in imperialist countries." (31) In a context where the war had not yet ended, the country was "poor and blank" [38], the majority of the masses were illiterate, and development was extremely backward, no one could be as confident as Mao Zedong. This confidence was a powerful form of cultural soft power, stemming primarily from Mao's personal ideals and beliefs, theoretical cultivation, and strategic wisdom, as well as his profound grasp of historical materialism, his deep insight into the nature of imperialism, his profound perception of the people's great power, and his deep understanding of historical laws. With an extremely strong sense of cultural confidence, Mao Zedong shaped the unique advantage of the Chinese people having "less steel but more spirit" [39] and the tenacious qualities of self-reliance and hard struggle, which became an incomparably powerful spiritual force driving the socialist modernization of New China. In March 1957, Mao Zedong called on the whole Party: "We must maintain the same vigor, the same revolutionary enthusiasm, and the same death-defying spirit we had in the period of the revolutionary war, and carry our revolutionary work through to the end." (32) Subsequently, the nationwide movements of "In industry, learn from Daqing," "In agriculture, learn from Dazhai," and "The whole nation learns from the People's Liberation Army" were all permeated with this great spiritual power. In short, Mao Zedong’s planning for a developmental pattern of simultaneous improvement in material and cultural life played a vital role and achieved significant successes in the process of building a modern socialist country.
IV. Focusing on Simultaneous Economic Development and Nature Protection
Developing the economy must not come at the expense of the natural environment; this is a basic tenet of Marxist dialectics of nature. Mao Zedong had a profound understanding of this. He pointed out: "We must use natural science to understand, overcome, and transform nature, so as to attain freedom from nature." (33) In the process of exploring New China’s path to modernization, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, engaged in valuable reflection and practice regarding the simultaneous development of the economy and protection of nature. This raised New China’s ecological and environmental protection to a new historical level, producing typical examples of "green transformation" represented by places like Saihanba [40] and Youyu.
First, during the process of socialist industrialization, he emphasized tree planting, afforestation, and "greening the motherland." At the beginning of the New China, the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which served as a "provisional constitution," explicitly stipulated the need to "protect forests and develop forestry in a planned manner." (34) In the "Drafting of Seventeen Points on Agriculture for Consultation" in December 1955, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Trees must be planted according to specifications in all possible places to achieve greening." (35) In March 1956, he issued the great call to "green the motherland." (36) In August 1958, at an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, he continued to emphasize: "We must make the rivers and mountains of our motherland entirely green, achieve a garden-like state, make everywhere beautiful, and transform the face of nature." (37) Mao Zedong believed that greening could not be achieved without long-term hard struggle. In March 1964, while listening to work reports from heads of Shaanxi, Henan, and Anhui provinces, he said: "A few years ago you talked about greening in one or two years; how can greening be done in one or two years? Doing it in two hundred years would be Marxism. First make a plan for ten or fifteen years, 'the Foolish Old Man removes the mountains' [41]—if this generation dies, the next generation will keep at it." (38)
Second, he proposed the idea of coordinated development of agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. In March 1958, while reviewing and revising Liao Luyan’s draft speech for the Chengdu Conference, Mao added a paragraph to the section "Several Problems in the Management of Agricultural Cooperatives": "The management of agriculture and animal husbandry must be combined with the management of various types of large, medium, and small forest plots (timber forests, fuel forests, other economic forests, windbreaks, sand-fixation forests, seaside shelterbelts, and scenic forests). In short, the three industries of agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry must be integrated." (39) Regarding the relationship between these three, he made a vivid metaphor in an October 1959 letter to Wu Lengxi, then Director of Xinhua News Agency and Editor-in-Chief of the People's Daily: "I believe that agriculture and forestry are the ancestors of animal husbandry, and animal husbandry is the son of agriculture and forestry. Then, animal husbandry becomes the ancestor of agriculture and forestry (mainly agriculture), and agriculture and forestry become the sons. This is the logic of the three mutually depending on each other in balance." (40)
Third, he believed that ecological and environmental protection is an important guarantee for the development of the economy and people’s livelihoods. Since the founding of New China, and especially after the Eighth National Congress of the CPC, Mao Zedong attached high importance to ecological and environmental issues, with his focus on promoting industrial and agricultural development to serve economic construction and people's lives. In On the Ten Major Relationships, he pointed out: "The air in the sky, the forests on the ground, and the treasures underground are all important factors needed for building socialism." (41) Regarding the importance of forests for socialist construction, he specifically mentioned: "Trees have great economic value; wood is a chemical raw material and more should be planted"; "Forestry is the foundation of the chemical and construction industries." (42) Addressing the worrying issue of soil erosion, Mao Zedong pointed out: "When reclaiming wasteland, it must be combined with plans for water and soil conservation to avoid the danger of soil erosion." (43) Mao Zedong’s aforementioned ideas were primarily directed at the problem of insufficient attention paid to ecological protection by some localities blindly pursuing production scale and speed during the early period of socialist construction. They have had a profound influence on China's persistence in simultaneous economic development and nature protection and its pursuit of a sustainable development path.
V. Striving to Create a Peaceful International Environment for New China’s Modernization
A peaceful international environment is an indispensable condition for the modernization of any country, especially for the vast number of developing countries. Without a peaceful international environment, modernization lacks a reliable security guarantee. However, the international environment New China faced at its inception was extremely grim and complex. After the United States launched the Korean War, it established a "crescent-shaped" encirclement of New China stretching from South Korea and Japan to China’s Taiwan and then to Southeast Asia, attempting to strangle the New China in its cradle. Faced with this situation, Mao Zedong believed that the peaceful international environment required for New China's modernization could not be begged for, nor could it be obtained by living at the mercy of others' charity; it had to be won through struggle, unity, morality, and one's own strength.
First, he dared to "end war through war." The phrase "ending war through war" (以战止战) comes from the Sima Fa [42], an important ancient Chinese military text, which states: "If one must attack the people to provide them with peace, it is permissible; if one must kill the people to provide them with love, it is permissible; if one must end war through war, even war is permissible." Mao Zedong, who was well-versed in excellent traditional Chinese culture, understood the profound philosophy within this military strategy. He always believed that "if we seek unity through struggle, unity will survive; if we seek unity through concessions, unity will perish." (44) To safeguard New China’s strategic security over a long historical period, Mao Zedong persisted in the guiding ideology of "ending war through war." By leading the Chinese people in struggles against imperialism and hegemonism, he created a peaceful international environment for our country's modernization. The world-renowned War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the Sino-Indian Border Self-Defense Counterattack, and the Zhenbao Island Self-Defense Counterattack are all brilliant examples of this. Discussing the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, Mao Zedong once pointed out: "We do not want to invade any country; we only oppose the imperialists' aggression against our country. ... But since the U.S. aggressors have already attacked us, we cannot but raise the banner of anti-aggression; this is absolutely necessary and absolutely just." (45) In order to oppose imperialist oppression and aggression, and to support the peace and liberation of the peoples of the world, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, did not believe in fallacies or fear ghosts; they dared to struggle and dared to win, securing the strongest confidence for New China to carry out socialist modernization.
Second, he advocated for peaceful coexistence. After the founding of New China, developing relations with newly independent national states became a focus of China's diplomatic work. To enhance mutual trust with these countries and establish peaceful and friendly international relations, New China proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Mao Zedong attached great importance to these five principles. In November 1957, at the meeting celebrating the 40th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution, he solemnly declared to the world: "Without imperialist oppression, all nations in the world are perfectly capable of coexisting in harmony"; "The governments and peoples of socialist countries are the builders of a new life of peace. We absolutely do not need war and resolutely oppose a new world war"; "We resolutely advocate that all countries implement the well-known five principles: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence." (46) Under New China's advocacy, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence gradually became basic norms governing international relations accepted by the vast majority of countries in the international community. It was also based on these principles that New China began to provide large-scale assistance for the construction of developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This greatly strengthened the forces of the socialist camp and the international anti-hegemonic camp, establishing a national image of upholding justice, speaking out for righteousness, and being generous and selfless among developing countries. In October 1971, the 26th Session of the UN General Assembly voted on the "Restoration of the Lawful Rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations." The resolution (UNGA Resolution 2758) passed with an overwhelming majority of 76 votes in favor, 35 against, and 17 abstentions. Among the 76 votes in favor, developing countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America accounted for nearly 60 votes. It was precisely these initiatives and actions for peaceful coexistence that won an increasingly favorable international environment for New China's socialist modernization.
The third is persisting in being strong without being hegemonic. Mao Zedong was intimately aware of the heavy suffering that Western powers had inflicted upon the Chinese nation since the Opium War. He harbored a deep-seated hatred for imperialism and hegemonism, consistently standing at the foremost front of the international struggle against these forces and firmly supporting the just struggles of the world’s oppressed peoples and nations. As Xi Jinping noted at the symposium commemorating the 130th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth, Mao was "a great internationalist who made major contributions to the cause of the liberation of the world's oppressed nations and to human progress" [43]. In May 1960, the British military strategist Field Marshal Montgomery visited Mao Zedong. During their conversation, Montgomery suggested that it would take about 50 years for China to get everything in order, and expressed concern that once China became powerful, it might be inclined to invade other countries. To this, Mao responded explicitly: "To engage in foreign aggression would be to be struck back" [44]. In January 1962, recalling this conversation, Mao once again declared his stance: "We are Marxist-Leninists, our country is a socialist country, not a capitalist country; therefore, in a hundred years, or ten thousand years, we will never invade others" [45]. Starting from the early 1960s, the New China actually faced immense threats from the two hegemonic powers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Under these circumstances, there was no choice but to strengthen war preparedness. To dispel the international community’s doubts about China, Mao—based on the domestic and international situations facing the country as well as the socialist nature of the state and the proletarian standpoint—publicly proposed the guiding ideology of "dig deep tunnels, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony," further concretizing the strategic principle of "prepare for war, prepare for famine, and do everything for the people" [46]. Mao Zedong acted as he spoke, and the New China followed suit. The New China has never launched a war of foreign aggression, occupied an inch of another country's territory, controlled an overseas colony, or plundered overseas resources for its own modernization. Mao Zedong's explorations cultivated the genes of peaceful development for the New China's socialist modernization and shaped China's image as a major power that treasures peace.
Conclusion
In On Practice, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Practice, knowledge, again practice, and again knowledge. This form repeats itself in endless cycles, and with each cycle the content of practice and knowledge rises to a higher level" [47]. Our Party's understanding of Chinese-path modernization has also undergone such a process, which fully accords with the epistemology of dialectical materialism. Facing the war-torn ruins left by the old China, a very weak industrial and scientific research base, extremely poor infrastructure, frequent and rampant natural disasters, a national illiteracy rate of 80%, the tense international situation after the Korean War, and the harsh economic blockade and "crescent-shaped" military encirclement by the United States, the New China's steps toward modernization were exceptionally difficult! However, Mao Zedong remains the great founder of the cause of China’s socialist modernization; his desire to build a prosperous and strong China was intense, and his will was steadfast. "Self-reliance and arduous struggle" [48] became the most resonant slogan of our Party and people during the Mao Zedong era. Amidst a complex domestic and international landscape, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, rooted themselves in China while keeping the world in view. They conducted pioneering explorations into the path of modernization and provided preliminary answers, both in theory and practice, to the question of how an "impoverished and blank" New China could move toward modernization [49]. These arduous explorations initially revealed five characteristics inherent to Chinese-path modernization that distinguish it from Western modernization: first, a huge population; second, the pursuit of justice, equality, and common prosperity; third, the simultaneous improvement of material and cultural life; fourth, the simultaneous advancement of economic development and environmental protection; and fifth, the creation of a peaceful international environment.
After Mao Zedong's passing, through more than 30 years of continued exploration during reform and opening up, our Party finally ushered in the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Party's understanding of modernization has reached an unprecedented new height. Xi Jinping has creatively inherited, enriched, and developed the precious experience gained from Mao Zedong’s exploration of the New China’s path to modernization, forming a comprehensive and systematic theoretical system and summarizing it as "Chinese-path modernization." Xi Jinping explicitly proposed: "Chinese-path modernization is socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It shares the common features of modernization in all countries, but more importantly, it has Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions." These Chinese characteristics mean that "Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of a huge population," "it is the modernization of common prosperity for all," "it is the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement in coordination," "it is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature," and "it is the modernization of peaceful development" [50]. Xi Jinping summarized the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization as: "upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhering to socialism with Chinese characteristics, achieving high-quality development, developing whole-process people's democracy, enriching the people's cultural world, achieving common prosperity for all, 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 advancement." He planned the overall strategic arrangement for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country as follows: "from 2020 to 2035, basically realize socialist modernization; from 2035 to the middle of this century, build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful." He summarized the major principles that must be firmly grasped in advancing and expanding Chinese-path modernization as: "upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership," "following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics," "applying a people-centered development philosophy," "remaining committed to deepening reform and opening up," and "carrying forward our fighting spirit" [51]. By studying Xi Jinping’s important discourses on Chinese-path modernization in depth, one can see the shadow of Mao Zedong’s explorations of the New China’s modernization path, and even more so, appreciate Xi Jinping’s further innovation and development of Mao’s explorations. This provides scientific theoretical guidance for continuously advancing and expanding Chinese-path modernization on the new journey of the New Era.