Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 10, 2025

Analyzing the Political Dimension of the Chinese Path to Modernization

(Abstract)

Yan Jirong and Li Xiuke

Modernization is a systemic social transformation rooted in industrialization. As modernization spread globally, different countries developed distinct models. As a latecomer to modernization, China successfully advanced and expanded the common features of modernization found in various countries, and more importantly, it has developed a Chinese path to modernization with distinctive Chinese characteristics based on its national conditions. However, in international academic discussions on China’s modernization, the political dimension is often overlooked or casually dismissed under the label of “Chinese characteristics.” In fact, within our analytical framework of the “party-state-government-society,” China’s “mission-oriented party,” “autonomous state,” and “proactive government,” working in dynamic interaction with society, have developed a form of adaptive governance that serves the overarching goal of national modernization. This institutional configuration explains the sustained progress of China’s path to modernization. China’s achievements in modernization not only corroborate existing theoretical knowledge but also provide valuable institutional references for late modernizers in areas such as political institution building in relation to political parties, state building, government capacity, and general society.