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Chinese path to modernization and the new prospect of

2025-09-01   

"Human's all-round development" is the fundamental value ideal pursued by Marxism. In contemporary China, this ideal is being endowed with fresh era connotation and unique realization path through the great practice of Chinese path to modernization. Chinese path to modernization is a socialist modernization led by the CPC. It abandons the western modernization path of taking capital as the center, polarization and materialism expansion, and is committed to achieving the common prosperity of all people and the all-round development of people. This is not only an inheritance and development of Marxist humanistic thought, but also a deepening and expansion of the understanding of the laws governing the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Chinese path to modernization has laid a solid material foundation and social prerequisite for the "all-round development of human beings". The existence and development of human beings, the first prerequisite is the satisfaction of material living conditions. Marx profoundly pointed out: "We should first determine the first premise of all human existence, that is, the first premise of all history. This premise is that in order to be able to 'create history', people must be able to live. However, in order to live, they first need to eat, drink, shelter, clothing, and other things." This classic discourse reveals the fundamental role of material production in human survival and development. Although Western modernization has created enormous material wealth, its logic of capital proliferation has led to the domination of people, resulting in widespread alienation, one sidedness, and instrumentalization. Different from western modernization, Chinese path to modernization insists on taking Marxism as the guidance, adhering to the development thought of taking the people as the center, and taking "achieving common prosperity for all people" as one of the essential requirements, which fundamentally solves the core problem of "for whom development is for". General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism and an important feature of Chinese style modernization." This important discourse indicates that the development achievements of Chinese style modernization must benefit all people more and fairly, which means that Chinese style modernization is not a modernization of a few people, but a modernization that all people participate in, jointly build and share. Only when the basic material life of the people is universally satisfied and continuously improved, can people be liberated from heavy labor that only meets their survival needs, and obtain the necessary conditions and possible space to pursue higher levels of spiritual and cultural life, develop their own potential and personality. Therefore, the common prosperity of all people pursued by Chinese path to modernization requires the continuous accumulation of material wealth and the continuous improvement of material living conditions, and is committed to building a social premise that guarantees equal development opportunities for each member of society and expands its overall development space. It goes beyond simple economic growth and points towards the optimization of social structure and fundamental improvement of human development environment. Chinese path to modernization has realized the return from the logic of "things" to the logic of "people". The core of modernization is the modernization of people. The key to realize the modernization of people lies in the shaping of values and the establishment of development orientation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the essence of modernization is the modernization of people. Driven by the logic of capital, Western modernization is prone to fall into the trap of "dependence on things", where people are objectified, consumerism and materialism prevail, and the spiritual world tends to become impoverished, ultimately leading to the one-sided development of human beings. Chinese path to modernization takes a clear stand against the expansion of materialism, and takes the coordination of material civilization and spiritual civilization as its distinctive feature, thus establishing the coordinate of "all-round development of human beings" on the basis of value, so that the logic of development really returns to "human beings" itself. On the one hand, Chinese path to modernization has deeply grasped and practiced the dialectical unity of material wealth and spiritual wealth, providing internal support for people's all-round development. Marx believed that the essence of human beings lies in their free and conscious activities and rich social relationships, and the liberation of human feelings and characteristics is an important dimension of comprehensive development. The modernization that only satisfies material needs will inevitably lead to human one sidedness and sensory dullness. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "material poverty is not socialism, and spiritual poverty is also not socialism. Chinese style modernization is a people-centered modernization, and one of its important goals is to continuously improve the national economic strength and people's living standards, while enriching the spiritual world of the people, improving the level of civilization of the whole society, and promoting the comprehensive development of people." This important discourse is a profound insight into the return of human subjectivity in the process of Chinese style modernization. Material abundance is the foundation, but spiritual fulfillment is the higher pursuit of being human. Chinese path to modernization adheres to the principle of "both hands, both hands must be hard", which is intended to avoid the modernization trap of "material abundance and spiritual impoverishment", and ensure that the development results ultimately serve the spiritual growth and realm improvement of people. In other words, Chinese path to modernization not only creates rich material wealth in liberating and developing productive forces, but also places the construction of spiritual civilization in a prominent position in the overall work. It focuses on cultivating and practicing the core socialist values, vigorously promotes the excellent traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture, so that people not only have the material conditions to meet the needs of a better life, but also have noble moral sentiments, firm ideals and beliefs, rich aesthetic interests and sound scientific rationality, so as to realize the synchronous leap of material life and the spiritual world. On the other hand, Chinese path to modernization focuses on building a community ethics that integrates individual values and social values, and establishes the fundamental orientation for the all-round development of human beings. The ultimate form of Marx's pursuit of "comprehensive human development" is realized in the "union of free men", where individual development and social progress are mutually prerequisite. Chinese path to modernization has inherited and creatively transformed the essence of this thought, clearly opposed the extreme individualism of putting personal values above the society, and actively advocated the realization of self-worth in the great practice of serving the society and contributing to the country under the guidance of socialist core values. This path closely links the future and destiny of individuals with the future and destiny of the country and the nation, integrates personal life ideals into the grand cause of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, effectively avoids the spiritual emptiness and loss of meaning caused by the atomization of society in the process of Western modernization, and provides a profound social soil and a broad value practice field for the comprehensive development of human beings. Chinese path to modernization has expanded the practice path of "all-round development of human beings" and realized the fundamental change of the development mode. "all-round development of human beings" is not a static goal, but a dynamic process in the process of historical practice. Based on China's basic national conditions, Chinese path to modernization has expanded the practical path of "all-round development of people" and realized the fundamental change of the development mode. Create conditions for enhancing human abilities through high-quality development. Chinese path to modernization has realized the transformation from extensive development to high-quality development under the guidance of new development concepts on the basis of a profound summary of development experience. High quality development is comprehensive and systematic, not only in the optimization of economic structure and the improvement of efficiency, but also in the higher and more comprehensive requirements for the most active factor in productivity - the quality and ability of "people". This orientation will inevitably drive the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talents, encourage social members to continue to learn new knowledge, master new skills, and update their way of thinking, and realize the comprehensive development of their own cognitive ability, practical ability, and innovative ability in the process of actively participating in the practice of Chinese path to modernization. Marx and Engels believe that the future society will be a "social form based on the comprehensive and free development of everyone". Chinese path to modernization is paving the way for the realization of this lofty principle by building a learning society, a skill society and an innovative society. Developing people's democracy throughout the entire process, establishing and consolidating the subjectivity of individuals. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "People's democracy is the life of socialism and an essential part of building a socialist modernized country comprehensively. Whole process people's democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics, and it is the most extensive, authentic, and effective democracy." The all-round development of human beings cannot be separated from the guarantee of democratic politics. People's democracy throughout the development of Chinese path to modernization ensures that people participate in the management of state affairs, the development of economic and cultural undertakings and the practice of social governance through various channels and forms in accordance with the law. These extensive, genuine, and effective democratic practices are not only a powerful demonstration of the people's subject status and rights, but also a profound and effective form of civic education. It can better stimulate the spirit of ownership of the people, enhance their political participation ability, deliberation and consultation ability, and sense of responsibility, and promote individuals to mature and improve in social and political life. Marx pointed out in "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law" that "in democracy, the state system itself is only manifested as a regulation, namely the self-determination of the people". The whole process people's democracy is the contemporary practical form of this ideology, which puts the people at the center and makes them the main force in the operation of the national system, providing indispensable institutional support for the comprehensive development of people. Promote harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and expand the space for human development. Western modernization has caused serious ecological crises at the cost of sacrificing the natural environment, which in turn threatens the survival and development of humanity itself. Chinese path to modernization takes the "harmonious coexistence of man and nature" as an important feature, and unswervingly follows the path of civilized development featuring production development, rich life and good ecology. This is an inheritance and development of Marx's view in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 that "humans are directly natural existences" and "if an existence does not have its own natural world outside of itself, it is not a natural existence and cannot participate in the life of nature". In the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "humans and nature are a community of life" and that "human harm to nature will ultimately harm humanity itself, which is an irresistible law", further revealing the extreme importance of the ecological dimension for the comprehensive development of human beings. Chinese path to modernization attaches great importance to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, which is not only responsible for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, but also greatly enrich and expand the connotation of the all-round development of man. When a beautiful ecological environment (blue sky and white clouds, green mountains and clear waters) becomes the most universal welfare for people's livelihoods, it will elevate people's aesthetic experience, ensure their physical and mental health, and comprehensively improve their quality of life. More fundamentally, the relationship between humans and nature has shifted from conquering opposition to harmonious coexistence, marking the return of humans to their own "essence" and a profound manifestation of their comprehensive development in the ecological dimension and the achievement of higher levels. Chinese path to modernization depicts the future prospect of "all-round development of human beings", pointing to the lofty ideal of the "free man association", which is proved by history and reality. Chinese path to modernization is the only way to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and is also the realistic ladder to the "free man association" of the communist society envisaged by Marx. The new vision of "comprehensive human development" it presents is the concrete manifestation of the vivid practice of the lofty ideal of communism in contemporary China. Marx envisioned in the Communist Manifesto that 'the free development of each individual is the condition for the free development of all individuals'. It can be said that the whole practice of Chinese path to modernization is a historic effort towards this glorious goal. By solidly promoting common prosperity, continuously enhancing people's well-being, and creating solid conditions for achieving social harmony and true equality among individuals; By promoting material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization

Edit:Luo yu Responsible editor:Zhou shu

Source:GMW.cn

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