Toward a New Chinese Idea of Culture

Abstract

The concept of modernity could be described as capitalism’s cultural form. It rested on a system of knowledge that codified the superiority of the West in historical terms, setting Europe’s recent ascendancy against the ancient backwardness of non-Europe. Western capitalism first spread into China in the form of imperialism and colonialism. Although the Chinese elite quickly recognized the enormous productive capacity and military power that capitalism was able to generate, they were forced to resist it, and think of other ways to acquire modernity. In fact, the choice facing China’s modernizing elite was between a liberal modernity that accepted the capitalist reformation of Asian society and a socialist modernity that resisted it.