Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 7, 2025

The Narrative Structure of Chinese Modernization

(Abstract)

Zhao Yiliang

From the broad perspective and grand logic of world historical development, and in light of the enduring coexistence of socialism and capitalism, Chinese modernization has forged a new path toward a shared future. It has introduced a new conceptual framework encompassing the subject, essence, characteristics, and evaluative criteria of modernization. This framework forms a tripartite narrative structure built on “subject-cooperation,” “elements-coordination,” and “wholeness-organicity,” which thoroughly breaks away from the Western “core-periphery” model for narrating modernization. In its place, it constructs a distinct narrative logic centered on historical orientation, leading subjects, essential requirements, defining features, value objectives, and strategic approaches. Oriented toward the future with the idea of “a new form of human civilization,” Chinese modernization offers a new vision for the future of modernization and provides an answer to the fundamental question of humanity’s direction. The path and logic of modernization formed through the Chinese experience have thus emerged as a new consensus and source of hope for building a better world.