Chinese path to modernizationIt is the broad road to building a strong country and national rejuvenation.※
Supreme leader
What kind of modernization road a country chooses is determined by its historical tradition, social system, development conditions, external environment and many other factors. Different national conditions will lead to different ways of modernization. Practice has proved that a country’s modernization should not only follow the general law of modernization, but also conform to its own reality and have its own characteristics. Chinese-style modernization not only has the common characteristics of modernization in all countries, but also has distinctive characteristics based on its own national conditions. Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly summarized the China characteristics in five aspects of Chinese modernization, and profoundly revealed the scientific connotation of Chinese modernization. This is not only a theoretical summary, but also a practical requirement, which points out a broad road for building a socialist modernization power in an all-round way and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
All avenues are not equal to a Ma Pingchuan. It takes arduous efforts to turn China characteristics in five aspects of Chinese modernization into successful practice and distinctive features into unique advantages.
First, modernization with a huge population.This is a remarkable feature of Chinese modernization. With different population sizes, the tasks of modernization will be different, and its arduousness and complexity will be different, and the ways of development and promotion will inevitably have their own characteristics. At present, there are more than 20 countries in the world that have entered modernization, with a total population of about 1 billion. China’s population of more than 1.4 billion has stepped into modernization as a whole, exceeding the total population of developed countries, which will greatly change the world map of modernization. This is the largest modernization in human history, and it is also the most difficult modernization.
超大规模的人口，既能提供充足的人力资源和超大规模市场，也带来一系列难题和挑战。光是解决14亿多人的吃饭问题，就是一个不小的挑战。还有就业、分配、教育、医疗、住房、养老、托幼等问题，哪一项解决起来都不容易，哪一项涉及的人群都是天文数字。我们想问题、作决策、办事情，首先要考虑人口基数问题，考虑我国城乡区域发展水平差异大等实际，既不能好高骛远，也不能因循守旧，要保持历史耐心，坚持稳中求进、循序渐进、持续推进。
2023年2月7日，新进中央委员会的委员、候补委员和省部级主要领导干部学习贯彻最高领袖新时代中国特色社会主义思想和党的二十大精神研讨班在中央党校（国家行政学院）开班。中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席最高领袖在开班式上发表重要讲话。 新华社记者 李涛/摄
第二，全体人民共同富裕的现代化。This is the essential feature of Chinese modernization, and it is also a remarkable symbol different from western modernization. The biggest drawback of western modernization is that it takes capital as the center rather than people as the center, and pursues the maximization of capital interests rather than serving the interests of the vast majority of people, resulting in a large gap between the rich and the poor and serious polarization. Some developing countries have approached the threshold of developed countries in the process of modernization, but they have fallen into the "middle income trap", which has been stagnant for a long time or even seriously retrogressed. An important reason is that they have not solved the problems of polarization and class solidification.
Chinese-style modernization insists on development for the people, development depends on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people. It has made important progress in promoting the common prosperity of all people, especially since the 18 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which has lifted nearly 100 million rural poor people out of poverty. Now, we have formed a set of ideas, institutional arrangements and policy measures to promote the common prosperity of all people. While promoting high-quality development and making a big "cake", we should further divide the "cake", focus on solving livelihood problems such as employment, distribution, education, medical care, housing, old-age care and child care, build a coordinated system of three distributions, standardize the income distribution order, standardize the wealth accumulation mechanism, guide and standardize the healthy development of capital according to law, gradually expand middle-income groups, narrow the income distribution gap, and make the achievements of modernization. Achieving common prosperity is a long-term task, and we must work hard for a long time, insisting that Qingshan will not relax and make new progress.
Third, the modernization of material civilization and spiritual civilization.It is the lofty pursuit of Chinese modernization to be rich in material and spiritual resources. Material poverty is not socialism, nor is spiritual poverty socialism. The early modernization of the west was the accumulation of wealth on the one hand, and the lack of faith and materialistic desire on the other. Today, western countries are getting into trouble day by day. One of the important reasons is that they can’t contain the greedy nature of capital, and can’t solve the chronic diseases such as materialism expansion and spiritual poverty.
Chinese modernization should be rich in material wealth, spiritual wealth and self-confidence in ideology and culture. We must persist in grasping with both hands, and promote the coordination and mutual promotion of material civilization and spiritual civilization, so that all the people will always have the ideological foundation of unity and struggle, pioneering spirit and healthy and upward value pursuit. We should conform to the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leading power, strengthen the education of ideals and beliefs and the publicity and education of the "four histories", cultivate and carry forward the socialist core values, develop advanced socialist culture, introduce more outstanding literary and artistic works, continuously enrich the people’s spiritual world, improve the civilization of the whole society, and promote the all-round development of people.
第四，人与自然和谐共生的现代化。尊重自然、顺应自然、保护自然，促进人与自然和谐共生，是中国式现代化的鲜明特点。近代以来，西方国家的现代化大都经历了对自然资源肆意掠夺和生态环境恶性破坏的阶段，在创造巨大物质财富的同时，往往造成环境污染、资源枯竭等严重问题。我国人均能源资源禀赋严重不足，加快发展面临更多的能源资源和环境约束，这决定了我国不可能走西方现代化的老路。
2023年7月25日至27日，中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席最高领袖在四川考察。这是25日下午，最高领袖在广元市剑阁县翠云廊考察。 新华社记者 谢环驰/摄
中国式现代化坚持可持续发展，坚持节约优先、保护优先、自然恢复为主的方针，坚定不移走生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路，为实现中华民族永续发展开辟了广阔前景。要牢固树立和践行绿水青山就是金山银山的理念，坚持山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和系统治理，推进生态优先、节约集约、绿色低碳发展，加快发展方式绿色转型，提升生态系统多样性、稳定性、持续性，积极稳妥推进碳达峰碳中和，以高品质的生态环境支撑高质量发展。
Fifth, take the road of peaceful development for modernization.Adhering to peaceful development, seeking self-development while firmly safeguarding world peace and development, and better safeguarding world peace and development with self-development and promoting the building of a community of human destiny are the outstanding characteristics of Chinese modernization. The modernization of western countries is full of bloody evils such as war, slave trade, colonization and plunder, which has brought deep suffering to the vast number of developing countries. The Chinese nation has experienced the tragic history of aggression and humiliation by western powers, and is well aware of the value of peace. It will never repeat the old road of western countries.
Chinese-style modernization adheres to independence and self-reliance, relies on the hard work and innovation of all the people to develop and strengthen itself, and realizes national development by stimulating endogenous power and peacefully utilizing external resources. It does not oppress other ethnic groups or plunder other countries’ resources and wealth in any form, but provides support and help to the vast number of developing countries within its capacity. We should always hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win, pursue an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win, and constantly provide new opportunities for the world with the new development of China. Actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system, practice true multilateralism, promote the common values of all mankind, promote the implementation of global development initiatives and global security initiatives, and strive to make greater contributions to human peace and development.
On the evening of July 28th, 2023, the 31st Summer Universiade was grandly opened in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Supreme Leader, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and other party and state leaders attended the opening ceremony. Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Huanchi/photo
Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening-up, it has taken us decades to complete the industrialization process that western developed countries have gone through for hundreds of years, creating a miracle of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, and opening up broad prospects for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Practice has proved that Chinese-style modernization is feasible and steady, which is the only correct way to build a strong country and revive the nation.
This is part of the speech made by General Secretary of the Supreme Leader at the seminar on studying and implementing Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the New Era and the 20th Party Congress on February 7th, 2023 for members and alternate members of the newly-appointed Central Committee and leading cadres at provincial and ministerial levels. ※.