“中国式现代化”的理论解读与政策分析

Abstract

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proposed the concept of “Chinese Path to Modernization” at the 20th National Congress of the CCP in October 2022. Thereafter, President Xi Jinping further developed the concept in various public speeches and saw it as a key theoretical innovation for the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. “Chinese Path to Modernization” embodies five main features: modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development. It indicates that China expects to breaks the modernization model of Western powers and seeks to build theoretical foundation for its own development path. Despite “Chinese Path to Modernization” growing into a heated topic among the Chinese academia, existing research appears to be overwhelmingly propaganda-oriented and lacks of solid academic basis. Meanwhile, the “Chinese Path to Modernization” theory has also drawn substantial research attention in Korea. Korea’s China experts have provided various analysis on possible impacts to Chinese political economy and Sino-Korean relations in the future. This paper reviews the evolution of modernization theory in China. Moreover, this study also explores the core ideas and key implications embedded into this emerging concept, and looks at its potential impacts to China’s national governance from both theoretical and policy-based landscapes.