Landmark buildings in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Photo: VCG

 Editor's Note:

China now stands at the end of its 14th Five-Year Plan and on the threshold of the 15th Five-Year Plan. As the practice of Chinese modernization deepens, China has demonstrated to the world the possibilities of diverse modernity and offered insights for emerging economies to explore autonomous development paths. In an interview with Global Times (GT) reporter Zhang Ao, Gabriel Rockhill (Rockhill), Professor of Philosophy and Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, drew on his firsthand observations from multiple visits to China and delved into the institutional strengths of Chinese modernization.

GT: You recently concluded a trip to China to understand China's institutional innovation and socio-economic development. What were the most striking firsthand observations that reshaped or deepened your understanding of China's institutional model, especially compared to your prior knowledge?

Rockhill: I've been to China four times. During my stay in China, I have been impressed by the level of development and its positive impact on the population, which stands in increasingly stark contrast to the US. All the Chinese cities I visited had well-maintained infrastructure and modern buildings, technologically advanced services, beautifully preserved and clean public spaces, urban greenery and impeccable landscaping, efficient and affordable public transportation, and a much more widespread use of electric vehicles than in the West. 

On this most recent trip, I participated in the fourth World Congress on Marxism. I would be remiss if I did not mention how impressed I am by the Chinese endeavors to foster international intellectual exchange. Every academic event I have attended has not only exhibited the highest degree of professionalism, but remarkable resources have been leveraged to provide translations, assistance for foreign guests, an impressive level of hospitality, and much more. 

GT: How do you assess China's institutional strengths in addressing large-scale societal challenges such as poverty alleviation, public health and urban-rural coordination, compared to traditional Western approaches? 

Rockhill: China engages in long-term planning that addresses societal challenges on a grand scale. It also has a people-centered economy that uses the wealth generated by society to serve the general population. 

Its poverty alleviation program is an extraordinary example. In lifting over 800 million people out of extreme poverty since the late 1970s, China has overseen the greatest poverty alleviation program in the history of humanity. To put this in perspective, the total population of Latin America is around 660 million people. If one were to imagine that this entire continent was in extreme poverty and was then lifted out of it due to the diligent work of the Communist Party of China, this would still be about 140 million people short of what was actually accomplished. 

This program was the result of the direct, hands-on work of communist cadres, and the Chinese government did not limit its definition of poverty to income. For poverty alleviation, it also required the assurances of adequate food and clothing, and the guarantees of access to medical care, safe housing with electricity and potable water, and at least nine years of free education. All of this was part of a larger, well-planned project of integrating communities into a quickly developing economy. This has included working to mitigate the rural-urban divide, as well as the developmental differences between the coast and the hinterlands. 

GT: Emerging economies often face pressures from globalization, geopolitical tensions, and internal development gaps. From your observations, what institutional advantages has China leveraged to navigate these challenges, and what significance does this hold for other emerging economies seeking alternative development models?

Rockhill: Long-term planning and strategic thinking have been essential to China's success. Rather than simply surrendering to capitalist forces, China made difficult and risky tactical decisions based on a materialist analysis of the global play of forces. 

This provides an opportunity for countries around the world to work with China rather than the imperialist powers. At the same time, the Chinese version of socialism, or socialism with Chinese characteristics, although it cannot simply be replicated in other material circumstances, provides a rich model for learning how to harness capitalist forces for a people-centered economy and a long-term development project. 

GT: The rise of emerging economies is often framed as a "shift in global power," but it also reflects diverse approaches to modernity. How do you see China's development contributing to the pluralization of modernity, and what does this mean for global governance and intercultural dialogue?

Rockhill: What China represents is an alternative model of modernization, which does not base its development on the subordination and underdevelopment of the rest of the planet and its peoples. It has not only proposed, however, to take an anticolonial path to modernization; it has successfully demonstrated that this is possible. China broke the chains of imperialism by escaping from the "century of humiliation" when it was the victim of imperialist pillage, and it has developed into the world's foremost economy in terms of purchasing power parity, as well as a global leader in many areas.

Indeed, there are ongoing problems in China or issues that need to be addressed. Nevertheless, China's project of anticolonial modernization is of world-historical significance, according to Domenico Losurdo's insightful analysis.

GT: From your perspective, what accounts for the vitality of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and what does it offer to the Chinese people and the international community?

Rockhill: One of the most impressive aspects of contemporary China is the way in which it has continued to develop dialectical and historical materialism as the most powerful tool that we have for transforming reality and forging - in fits and starts, with inevitable contradictions and setbacks - a more egalitarian and ecologically sustainable world. 

Since I have already touched on some of the practical successes of socialism with Chinese characteristics, let us conclude by highlighting how these are dialectically connected to major theoretical innovations. 

Deng Xiaoping insisted on the fact that socialism should unfetter the productive forces, leading to high levels of development. In this process, some will rise before others, but this can be evened out over time. Moreover, as the country becomes increasingly autonomous and more advanced, it can foster a model of modernization that functions in greater harmony with the planet and its population. 

What China offers is a form of modernization that is not founded on colonial or neocolonial subjugation, and thus underdevelopment on a grand scale. It demonstrates that human beings, instead of simply being the subjects of capital, can be agents who use the forces of capitalism for the project of socialist development in an imperialist world.