关键词: 中国式现代化, 中西现代化比较, “机器大工业”, “社会大生产”, 资本主义现代化, 社会主义现代化

Abstract: Comparisons between Chinese and Western modernization must adhere to rigorous scholarly parameters. Comparisons without premises are not conducive to the scientific exploration of the Chinese path to modernization. The following three basic premises should be established. The first one is the conceptual premise, which requires clarifying the “common characteristics” of modernization to define its universal patterns. Considering production modes as decisive factors in social development, the universal features of modernization can be identified as the “largescale machine industry” and “socialized mass production”. Second, the historical premise necessitates examining the “established realities” of modernization to delineate its developmental status. In todays global landscape, capitalist modernized nations, though longestablished, face challenges on sustainability, while socialist modernization in China has secured important progress but there is still a long road towards its national rejuvenation goals. Finally, the value premise demands clarifying the “spatiotemporal coordinates” of modernization to assess the worldhistorical significance of each developmental path. According to the dialectical relationship between the universality and diversity of human historical development, the specific modernization paths are not mutually exclusive opposites, but a community of equality and mutual learning. These premises simultaneously demarcate the boundaries for comparing Chinese and Western modernization. Only within these boundaries can such comparisons yield rational, scientific conclusions with universal persuasiveness.

Key words: the Chinese path to modernization, comparison between Chinese and Western modernization, “large-scale machine industry”, “socialized mass production”, capitalist modernization, socialist modernization