A Study On The Debate On China 's Modernization In The 1930s

The debate about Chinese modernization in the1930s is the important part of thoughts on Chinese modernization since modern times and the inevitable results from the boost of Chinese modernizing movement. The direct reasons of the debate are the contrast between the economic crisis in capitalist world and success of Soviet’s socialist building in the1930s, the huge gap between China as late modern country and the Occident, and the increasing national calamity after Japan launched September18th Incident.The debate, mainly launched by intelligentsia, broadly explores the definitions, types and paths to Chinese modernization, covers political, economic, cultural spheres, includes totally Westernizing or Chinese localizing, firstly farming or firstly industrializing, planning economy or liberalist economy, and democracy or dictatorship, also the CPC’s answers to Chinese modernizing. In the debating process, there are so many different ideas of modernization’s definition that modernization is equal to the neoteric, modernization is equal to occidentalization, modernization is equal to economic modernization; in the discussion between totally Westernizing and Chinese localizing, most scholars agree Westernizing, but think totally Westernizing is too extreme, also think Chinese localizing as the variation of Chinese culture and Western science and technology; the debate between firstly industrializing or firstly farming is mainly about the different opinions of Chinese developing paths, though there are disagreements that put stress on industry or agriculture, urban areas or rural areas, it reaches a consensus that China will become a industrialized country;the debate between planning economy and liberalist economy, most scholars propose China exerts planning economy, and fully discuss the preconditions, main forms and steps of planning economy, meanwhile some scholars argue that market is necessary to the resource distribution, economy should be to some extent liberal; the debate between democracy and dictatorship, liberalist change views from former occident liberal democracy to enlightened autocracy and new dictatorship, which displays the adaptability in tactics of the intellectual at the times of national calamity, and such people as Hu Shi insist liberal democracy which lets democracy return to kindergarten democracy; though CPC didn’t participate in the above hot debate, they had their own viewpoints and opinions of Chinese modernization, and gradually built New Democracy theory in the late1930s which started the great course of Chinese independent, autonomous modernization.Through the study of the debate on Chinese modernization in the1930s, it shows that at that time there is great progress about opinions of Chinese modernization from all debaters including the intelligentsia. Problems, thought by people, are broader and deeper, also are away from the dead end of cultural determinism, further people gradually know modernization is both the inevitable trend of world’s development and the only way of Chinese development. There are many precious ideological wealth, which put deep effect and important enlightening on the exploration of Chinese modernization, such that democracy is the direction of political development, it should be limited for the government to intervene the economy, and it should be consistent for the economic development to put emphasis on agriculture, and so on.