(W.E.Talk·Understanding the Chinese path to modernization) Zhang Xiping: Why do we regard the Chinese path to modernization as a new model for human advancement? (3)

Meanwhile, Chinese modernization is based on China’s land and culture and it inherits the ethos of benevolence, people-orientation, integrity, justice, harmony, seeking common ground while shelving differences in traditional Chinese culture. It is because “Chinese civilization is extensive and profound, and has a long history stretching back to antiquity. It is the cultural identity of the Chinese nation, the foundation of the contemporary Chinese culture, the cultural bond holding all Chinese around the globe together, and it is the treasure trove inspiring cultural innovation of Chinese culture. In the long historical process, the Chinese nation has gone through a path different from other civilizations in the world by enduring great hardships with persevering resolution and willpower.” 

We uphold the basic cultural values of the Chinese nation while carrying forward the common values of humanity, and this means to maintain particularity in pursuit of universality; we do not deviate from common values of human civilization while sticking to our own basic cultural values, and this means to maintain universality while sticking to particularity. 

Chinese modernization is a new model for human advancement created by the people with the leading of the Communist Party of China. It is a modern expression of the ideas of “harmony between humanity and nature”, “promoting harmony among all nations”, "seeking harmony without uniformity" and “helping both others and ourselves achieve” valued in traditional Chinese culture; it is the new development of the socialist civilization, and a new pursuit of building a human community with a shared future. In both the history of human civilization and that of modernization, China demonstrates the diversity in modernization and contemporary civilization with its own road, achievements and system. 

Humans have only one earth, and all countries share one world. All the oceans are connected, and people in the east and west are under the same blue sky. Peace is the eternal pursuit of humanity; development is the eternal driver for the progress of humanity. The east and west should join hands to create a brighter future by learning from history and reproduce the great integration of the eastern and western civilizations in a new era, thus promoting the building of a human community with a shared future. (End)

The interview record was first published on November 15, 2022 by China News Service.