Why is Chinese path to modernization good for the whole world? This Swiss historian has talked thoroughly about modernization | the country | the historian

The book "China's Long March to Modernization: A Non European Centralist Perspective" published by Swiss historian and honorary professor at the Bern Academy of Arts, Bert Schneider, at the end of last year, has attracted attention in Western countries.

With the blueprint of Chinese path to modernization becoming a reality step by step, the research on the new concept of Chinese path to modernization has become increasingly popular in the international academic community. Professor Schneider's recent article "Modernization is not equal to Westernization" is the latest interpretation of Chinese path to modernization.

The discussion about modernization in the world mainly centers on two different kinds of modernization: western modernization and Chinese path to modernization.

The modernization of the West is closely related to the cultural changes in Europe. Due to its association with the process of enlightenment, secularization, science and technology, and bourgeois revolution, it is also known as "modernity" and is touted as a model of liberation, progress, and social modernization.

Western modernization has been packaged and promoted as a universal discourse, which seems to have been widely recognized and accepted. But in reality, this is a narrow, European centric perspective - it understands world history as Western history, a process of occupying non European worlds.

Whether it was the Crusade, missionary work, colonization, or other forms of enslavement, they were actually subject to an iron law: making non white civilizations subordinate.

The modernization of the West in the 19th century divided the world in half, with the North being a few wealthy and privileged countries, and the South being a poverty-stricken world mostly exploited by colonialism.

This dichotomy is a favorable "business model" for Europe, as it is economically profitable and fully safeguarded in terms of culture, religion, and philosophy. But this model is destructive to the non Western world. The people who were oppressed by colonialism paid the price of blood.

Until today, G7 countries still attempt to dominate other countries and regions through coercion and violence.

Western modernization is essentially the result of technology and capitalist revolution being seized by a small group of privileged countries. These achievements are unattainable dreams for other countries.

After World War II, third world countries that were heavily oppressed by colonialism began anti colonial liberation movements, but most of these countries ultimately only achieved formal independence and still could not shake off their neocolonial dependence on Western imperialism.

In the 1990s, with the establishment of a unipolar world order, the process of decolonization came to a complete halt. As the sole superpower, the United States has begun to pursue a more aggressive military colonial foreign policy.

Nowadays, the unipolar world order led by the United States is slowly disintegrating. There have been many changes in the world economy and politics, and emerging participants such as China have begun to enter the geopolitical stage. The so-called "Washington Consensus" is being questioned.

At present, China is rapidly rising to become an economic and political power closely connected with the world, and has entered world history again after nearly two hundred years of silence, with its rise exceeding Western expectations. For most southern countries still in the stage of neocolonial exploitation, seeking to escape poverty and suffering, this brings hope for liberation.

China has proven to countries in the southern world that modernization can cover the majority of the world's population, and that countries can participate in the modernization process firsthand. This prospect was unimaginable in the second half of the 20th century.

The rise of China has triggered a reshuffle of the world's geopolitical landscape. China, with thousands of years of historical and cultural accumulation, has successfully launched anti colonial struggles and socialist revolutions under the leadership of tested political parties, forming the foundation of independence from American hegemony.

It can be said that China is the creator and designer of its own modernization, demonstrating how to eliminate absolute poverty of hundreds of millions of people, develop productivity on an unprecedented scale, and achieve fundamental changes in people's living conditions.

Chinese path to modernization, or the modernity created by China, is unprecedented. It provides a new direction for the modernization of the world.

What are the characteristics of Chinese path to modernization?

First, Chinese path to modernization is mainly based on the development of economy, technology and science. At present, China is accelerating to become a world leader in the field of technology. At the same time, China is taking a more efficient path than capitalism and can more effectively achieve social equity.

Second, Chinese path to modernization is a modernization in which the government can play an active role. The combination of market and government guidance is why Chinese path to modernization is also called "mixed modernity".

Third, Chinese path to modernization is a modernization that follows the path of peaceful development. China is the only country that has not become a world power through military means.

Fourth, Chinese path to modernization also means the amazing construction of new ecological civilization. China has been a global ecological pioneer for a long time.

Finally, Chinese path to modernization also includes Chinese tradition, philosophy and culture. The combination of economic vitality and culture makes Chinese path to modernization more attractive at the level of civilization, especially for those countries who have been ignored by western culture and economic exploitation and want to follow their own path.

China rejects "Westernization" and confidently denies that "modernization equals Westernization".

Unlike the exclusion, division and exploitation of Western modernization, Chinese path to modernization is committed to promoting the building of an inclusive world order through the construction of the "the Belt and Road". China is committed to building a world order based on mutual benefit and win-win outcomes among people of all countries, laying a reasonable foundation for a multipolar order. Southern countries, which account for 85% of the global population, will gain their say for the first time.