Modernity's Transformation: The Mutual Construction Of Migrant Workers And Modernity

Nation-state's history into world history, is an objective historical process that not according to men's will. Since the impact of the Western invasion in Opium War, traditional social order of Chinese civilization, which was defined as imperial order that was mainly regulated by Confucianism,has been gradually disintegrated.Therefore,China's own modern civilization and social order has not yet been fully established.The way that Chinese society changes from a traditional society to modern society,is the process of modern civilization and order that China should have been established,and furthermore,that is the process of building modernity in China.Given the historical background of Chinese social transformation, the establishment and construction of China's modern civilization and social order executed slowly.Under the irradiation of modernity,any country and society was inevitably changing from the traditional and agricultural society to modern and industrial society.In this process.the mass rural labours' transfer to urban and gradually settled in the city or eventually converted to be urban citizens was not a special phenomenon had occured only in China during a particular period but in most countries and regions in different historical periods.China's migrant workers after the reform and opening-up,"get into the city ",was a prelude and the overture to modernity transformation of China.The emergence of them resulted changes in political,economic,social and other aspects,as the chord of the song. To start modernity transformation,there was a strong association with the migrant workers and their rural-urban migrations.The transformation in modern China's civilization,especially China's road that featured with the Chinese model after the reform and opening,that practice told us the construction of modernity in China,had to absorb the resources of world civilization,the resource from socialist, capitalism, most important of all, should have China's own cultural traditions.The construction of China's modernity should be an modern civilization and order with Chinese cultural character.However, the social transition to modern civilization was not a natural process, especially the definition of social transformation in China has been defined not only a revolutionary replacement of dynasties in Chinese history, but also a far more arduous task than American Revolution.It involved economic, institution and value system transformations in the civilization's formation.China's history and culture is deeply rooted in traditional social structures, in order to accept and integrate the modernity on the basis of Chinese tradition,there must be found the point and intermediary between traditionality and modernity.In this process,due to the migrant workers' presence and their shuttling in urban and rural,the industrial structure and economical structure in China had changed,China's social structure had changed eventually. If taking the individual migrant workers from the point of view, this cross between urban and rural areas would have little effect in social changes, however,hundreds of millions of migrant workers' crossing and the changes they brought about would be enormous and immeasurable.As the recipient and disseminator of modernity,in the process of receiving and disseminating modernity in China,migrant workers played an essentially role and also to legalize it.Through them,modernity is spreading from the cities to the vast rural areas,from the spread inland to coastal areas.As the the middle classes that had been played a big role in European process of civilization,migrant workers also occupied an important position in Chinese modernity's spreading.This position is not just determined by the current system and the social environment,but the trend of historical development that decided.There is no doubt that seeds of Chinese modernity and development needs the elite and urban,which is consistent with the general laws of development,but the further deepening of China's modernity,whether in cities or by the proliferation of urban to rural areas,there is the middle class---migrant workers' fuzzy and clear scene. Especially in the transformation of Chinese society and modernity in China,also the deepening of China's modernization, and their groups will assume the burden of history,this burden will not lifted until the day of migrant workers'own elimination.As the history tells us, the modernity in China requires Chinese tradition's integration to complete its construction. The migrant worker's occurred in the background of the social transition's acceleration. They travelled between cities and villages to obtain and spread modernity gradually.They became the meeting point of the coexistence of traditionality and modernity although they have been stuck in the middle of modernization. The transformation from of migrant workers was influential and even determined the process of the modernity in China.Like a bridge, migrant workers have communicated the urban and rural area, the traditionality and modernity. Without them, the construction of China's modernity was difficult to achieve. This paper is due to reveal and clarify not only the transformation process of Chinese society from a traditional to modern era, but also the process of building modernity in China,which was based on the integration between traditionality and modernity. Because of the coexistence of modernity and traditionality, caused by migrant workers, they become the key to the construction and establishment of modernity, social order and civilization in China,even the key to decide the success of China's social transformation and flourish in the long run. The flow of hundreds of millions of migrant workers------the grand social and historical events' fundamental answer is also here.