context: People’s Daily launched a new series of commentaries on Chinese-style modernisation and its characteristics. The first article, published on 3 November, states that to modernise, a country should pursue a path that ‘suits its reality’ and ‘conforms to its national conditions’.
Although modernisation is the common pursuit of people all over the world, each country's historical heritage, cultural traditions and national conditions differ. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all modernisation model or standard, states the article titled ‘Successfully Promote and Expand Chinese-style Modernisation’. Chinese-style modernisation has not only the general characteristics of modernisation but also Chinese characteristics based on China’s national conditions. Chinese-style modernisation is the modernisation of
- a huge population
- common prosperity for all
- material and cultural advancement
- harmony between humanity and nature
- peaceful development
While Western modernisation is capital-centred, materialistic, polarised or based on expansion and plunder, the article claims that Chinese-style modernisation is material, political, cultural, ethical, social and ecological advancement. Whether a country’s path is feasible depends on whether it
- conforms to its national conditions
- conforms to the development trend of the times
- can bring about economic development, social progress, improvement of people’s livelihood and social stability
- can win public support
- can contribute to the cause of human progress
To prove that the path of Chinese-style modernisation is correct, feasible and stable, the article mentions the following achievements of the PRC over the past 10 years
- GDP topped C¥ 110 tn
- the world’s largest health, education and social security systems were built
- enhanced soft power and influence of Chinese culture
- historical changes in environmental protection
- improved international influence and appeal
The article also warns about the challenges lying ahead. A developing country with a large territory, a vast population and wide regional differences will bear various pressures and severe challenges that other countries have never encountered. Therefore, it claims, ‘our modernisation is both the most difficult and the greatest’. The article adds that China’s development has entered a period when
- strategic opportunities, risks and challenges co-exist
- uncertainties and unpredictability mount
- all kinds of ‘black swan’ and ‘grey rhino’ events may happen at any time