[Editor’s Note] In October this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a report at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, detailing how he will lead the CCP to realize its vision of governing the country, indicating that the central task of the CCP in the future is to “unite and lead the The Chinese people will comprehensively build a modern and powerful socialist country, achieve the second centenary goal, and comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization.”
It may not be easy to understand the 20th National Congress report, which is more than 30,000 words in length, but it is the most direct document for understanding the strategic intentions and governance planning of the Chinese Communist Party in the coming period.
Why does the CCP, which takes Marxism as its theoretical banner, actively promote the Sinicization of the ideological field?
What is the long-term firm confidence shown by the CCP, and what is the difference between the "Chinese-style modernization" officially explained in the report and Western modernization?
How does the CCP understand Xi Jinping's "great changes unseen in a century", and what changes will China, which is at the center of the changes, bring to the world structure?
This series of articles revolves around these questions.
(seventh of ten in series)
Although it is easy for people to associate modernization with material things, most people agree that modernization must be about people's overall life, and material things are only a part of it.
Whether people can live in a harmonious society that guarantees fairness and justice after satisfying their material needs, and whether they can enrich their spiritual and civilized life determines whether modernization is successful.
This is the driving force for people to leave primitive feudalism, get rid of material poverty, and enter modern times.
But this is only a theory. In reality, modernization took two different paths.
This expands modernization from simple materiality to the discussion of sociality and spiritual civilization.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China mentioned "constantly planting the material foundation of modernization and constantly consolidating the material conditions for the people's happy life" and "promoting the all-round enrichment of things and the all-round development of people". "Should mean.
From Alive to Abundant
Materiality is the foundation of materialism. It is the first attribute of human beings and the natural essence of human beings. It supports and sustains human spirituality. Different material conditions affect spiritual existence.
Rich people are refreshed, and if they don't eat three meals a day, they must be listless.
Using China's development experience, the materiality of human beings can be divided into three stages: living, well-off, and material abundance. This does not only refer to individuals, but should be judged from the perspective of society as a whole.
Many Chinese people have already entered the stage of material prosperity, but as a whole, China has only eliminated absolute poverty in the past few years and entered a well-off society in an all-round way.
"Living" means eradicating absolute poverty. It refers to having sufficient material conditions for everyone to live a healthy life. The most basic is sufficient food and a stable residence, not whether there are mobile phones, cars or jewelry.
Why is modernity the pursuit of most people?
Because it keeps people from facing poverty and hunger.
The industrial revolution is great because it allows mankind to see the end of material scarcity.
As the most populous country in the world, it is commendable that the Chinese people are alive, so China's eradication of absolute poverty is a milestone historical achievement.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China believes that a major event of "great practical significance and far-reaching historical significance" that the CCP has done in the past ten years "is to complete the fight against poverty and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects" to achieve the first century-old goal.
Solving the problem of survival and entering a well-off society in an all-round way means that the main contradiction in Chinese society has been transformed into "the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development."
It points to the fact that it is not easy for the Chinese to enter a period of material abundance.
The first characteristic of Chinese-style modernization is the huge population, which is the greatest sociality. The "community" of common prosperity means all people together. This is true in history, and it is also true today.
China is the nation whose civilization most actively responds to the size of the population. The establishment of a unified system, enfeoffment system or prefecture-county system, vehicles with the same track, and books with the same text are all to cope with the huge population.
Whether it is Confucianism's thought of Great Harmony or Marx's socialism, their commonality is that they put people first and the common prosperity of society as the foundation.
In contrast, Western-style modernization took a detour, did not allow everyone to live, and did not care about common prosperity. Even if the living people have a life of material abundance, they cannot be spiritually stable. They know that some people's abundance life cannot continued.
From Material Satisfaction to Spiritual Civilization
Spiritual civilization can be understood from four dimensions: material security is the premise of mental health, a loose and solid living environment is the starting point of spiritual civilization, active and harmonious social interactions develop spiritual civilization, and rich social and cultural life is the foundation of spiritual civilization. Nature.
Once a person obtains material assurance, his mental state should be healthy, and then he will strive for a relaxed and meaningful spiritual living environment for himself.
The external role of society, especially providing a positive and friendly social environment and eliminating the nihilistic and decadent social culture, can provide space for the development of spiritual civilization.
Material security and social interaction are all necessary to support a comfortable spiritual life. If the social and cultural fields are rich, social anxiety can be reduced.
This is the meaning of the all-round development of human beings.
Sociality is a major category of spiritual civilization.
When people solve the two problems of material and society, combined with their own health in the spiritual field, people begin to transform into the existence of the subjective meaning, that is the freedom and liberation of people. He not only actively develops himself, but also actively develops the connection with society. Strive for the all-round development of people.
The emancipation of the individual is the starting point for the emancipation of all, and the emancipation of the individual is real only when all are emancipated.
Modernization is of course material, but the all-round development of human beings is not just material. Without spiritual civilization, there is no modernization for the all-round development of human beings.
Owning guns cannot guarantee safety, huge military supplies cannot avoid terrorism and geopolitical conflicts, and even with advanced medical reserves, millions of people have died from the virus, all of which show that materials are not enough to make up for the requirements for security.
The United States is certainly rich, but its society is disharmonious, guns, drugs and drug abuse make communities live in fear, and its mainstream culture can be regarded as negative, nihilistic, and impetuous.
Dissident groups have been arguing for decades over abortion rights, because immigration policies have attacked each other, political opponents are full of endless verbal violence, and society is torn apart. What does this chaos have to do with modern life?
Modernization is a theory of structural changes in society at different historical stages. Whether as an individual or one of the 1.4 billion people, people cannot escape the constraints of society.
When a society with a small population pursues modernization, the impact of the gap between the rich and the poor is relatively easy to deal with. Norway, Denmark and Singapore, with a population of less than 6 million, are praised by many as modern societies with common prosperity.
In contrast, if there is a clear gap between the rich and the poor in China with a population of 1.4 billion, social unrest will be inevitable.
This kind of material civilization is not desirable. China chooses the modernization of common prosperity and makes it a bond of social unity in order to ensure the modernization of material and spiritual civilization.
Developing China is not yet a modern power, but it has no gun or drug abuse, no racial conflicts, no abortion rights, no troubles with immigration policies, and its society is harmonious and progressive.
In China, politics is serious business, not entertained or populized like in the West.
This type of political manipulation is backward, not Chinese-style modernization, let alone modern spiritual civilization.
The West may not agree with Chinese-style modernization, but it is enough to make the West start to reflect on its own modernization.
The modern relationship between man and nature
Matter comes from nature, human material existence is natural existence, and modernization is the result of the close connection between nature and society in a specific environment.
In addition to the characteristics of population size, common prosperity, and the coordination of material civilization and spiritual civilization, Chinese-style modernization is more active in responding to the relationship between man and nature, including responding to the challenges that material needs continue to threaten ecological nature.
In the early days of Western modernization, people did not know that material progress would cause natural disasters such as climate warming. However, after the ecological deterioration, Western countries did not correct it in time. The need for material deteriorated into dependence on material, and greed for wealth replaced poverty. Vested interests are unwilling to change the original mode of material production.
Modernization must shake entrenched vested interests.
The capital that monopolizes the traditional automobile industry does not want electric vehicles to rise easily. Fossil energy refuses to be replaced by green energy. Even collective transportation such as high-speed rail is "softly boycotted" by traditional capital because it will change the existing profit model.
China has been criticized for severely damaging the ecological environment, but, as a backward country, it can only develop manufacturing to eradicate poverty.
China has not resisted criticism. On the contrary, it understands that sacrificing the environment is unsustainable development.
As early as the beginning of the 21st century, China put forward a scientific concept of development for the green transformation of industrial production. Xi Jinping’s "supply-side structural reform" and "beautiful China" policy after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China are China's "new development concept". The foundation was laid.
China's achievements in ecological and environmental protection today are the product of the implementation of state governance.
How did China become an absolute leading producer of various green industries, whether it is solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, or nuclear energy, are extremely competitive?
This is not just because of technological progress or hard work of the people, but because the CCP uses the scientific material production theory to define Chinese-style modernization, emphasizes the relationship between man and nature, and insists on resolving the conflict between ecological nature and society's pursuit of material abundance.
Human beings need to continue to promote industrialization and the development of manufacturing. Technology should not only pursue the progress of materials and production processes, but also allow technology to serve the harmonious relationship between man and nature.
Chinese-style modernization is the modern practice of the idea of "harmony between man and nature" in China's excellent traditional culture. It is not a new invention.
As an agricultural society with a history of thousands of years, people must consider where food comes from, whether it is safe, abundant, and sustainable. This requires us to pay attention to soil, water, and climate.
In an industrial society, we cannot fail to pay attention to how energy, raw materials, and production equipment are obtained, and whether they are used in a safe, sufficient, and sustainable manner. These all determine that human beings have no conditions not to pay attention to the ecological environment.
China's industrial policy and environmental policy are closely linked today, unlike the political parties in Europe and the United States who are still struggling with the balance between fossil fuels and vested interests.
modern times must be peaceful
Many people think that war and modern times are contradictory, and believe that modern times must be peaceful.
But in fact, Western-style modernization has not stopped wars, and most wars are even launched in the name of modernization.
This has been the case with colonial wars for hundreds of years. In recent years, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and the Cold War were all launched directly or indirectly in the name of modern civilization.
Going further, whether it is the conquest of the Indians in North America or the black slave trade, in fact it is racial discrimination and violent exploitation, but it is under the banner of modernization for the barbarians.
The wars of aggression that China has personally experienced, whether it is the Opium War, the Eight-Power Allied Forces, or the Japanese invasion of China, are all barbaric and nasty things done in the name of modernization.
The Communist Party of China proposes that Chinese-style modernization should follow the path of peaceful development, which is to subvert Western-style modernization and draw a clear line with it in terms of the peaceful development of all people.
Peace is the most important public property of human society, and development is the key means to solve all problems, both of which are prerequisites for modernization.
How can society be modern if life is gone and there is no way out for life?
Peace is especially important after entering the industrial age, because the industrial revolution not only provided humans with advanced daily necessities, but also provided humans with weapons of mass destruction.
Even China, a large agricultural country with a long history, was invaded by advanced industrial countries with guns due to its backward technology and late industrialization.
New China has undergone reform and opening up to become the world's second largest economy, but still insists on not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and insisting on resolving international disputes through peaceful or diplomatic means. Explain why Chinese-style modernization insists on peaceful development.
Modernization is development, and it is to solve the relationship between human beings and nature and provide human beings with a rich life.
Although the modernization of the past few hundred years has created a huge material supply, it cannot meet the requirements of the all-round development of human beings, and even created various new problems for human beings.
The emergence of Chinese-style modernization occurred during China's peaceful rise, successful development, and "great changes unseen in the world in a century." It will give mankind a brand-new imagination.
"Deconstructing the Top 20" series of articles:
Deconstruct the 20th National Congress.
1｜Why should we read the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and deconstruct the 20th National Congress.
2｜From the structure of the report to sort out the overall context and deconstruct the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
3｜The Sinicization and Deconstruction of the Chinese Communist Party's Ideology at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
4｜Understanding how the Chinese Communist Party has been in power for a long time and deconstructed the 20th National Congress.
5｜What is the new development concept and new development pattern deconstruction of the 20th Congress.
Six｜Comparative Deconstruction of Two Kinds of Modernization.
7｜Chinese-style modernization: spiritual, social, natural and peaceful modernization
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