Modernity And China's Modernization

"Modernity" is relevant to "Modern times". In order to understand modernity, we must know what is modern times firstly. Generally speaking, modern times and ancient times are distinguished by the Renaissance. Before this historical event, human beings think traditional experiences and methods are superior to present experiences; Therefore, people always learn living's experiences and social management's methods from ancient people. On the other hand, owing to religion's governing, human ration is absent. Religion provides the sources of the validity of the nature, society and morality. After the Renaissance, these traditions are changed or converted, human ration begins to play the most important role in the world and religion begins gradually withdraw from historical stage, modern times comes into being. In a word, modernity is rationality, it believes history and nature are dominated by some essences or laws, and people are able to conquer the world and make it serve human beings by knowing these essences and laws. Universalism and essentialism become knowledge and scientific research's targets. Under this condition, subjectivity is expanding its strengths, people see everything as their objects, and the relation of subject-object becomes knowledge and practice's internal framework. In a result, some modernity's crises, such as totalitarianism, ecological problems and alienation, begin to trouble human society.Consequently, "post-modernity" appears. In contrast to modernity, post-modernity advocates non-rationalism, ambivalence, differences and so forth. It suspects and criticizes rationalism and universalism. Pluralism is its favorite. However, post-modernity is not the enemy of modernity, but is an internal gadbee; It can provide a kind of reference system to modernity, which can make modernity adjust and improve itself.In the term of historical development, modernity has two patterns: one is formed inside society, the other is formed from outer influences. Obviously, China belongs to the latter, which is decided by many factors, including cultural, political, economical, social factors. China begins its modernity at the Late-Qing Dynasty because of western invasion, without this propel, modernity can not emerge inside China. China's modernity paves its way in the background of "the World History", which means China can learn and utilize a lot of earlier modernity's resources. On the meanwhile, in order to avoid earlier modernization's problems, China must dual with at least four relations: the relation between modernity and post-modernity, the relation between modernization and westernization, the relation between System and elements, the relation between universality and individuality.