The thriving and well ordered society of China in the 1600s and its eventual downfall was due to leadership. In this case, China’s society was in part designed and damaged by both great and corrupt leadership, demonstrating the importance of leadership to the development of a nation. To view China today in a different light beyond its historical societies, one without empires or dynasties would be an impossible task. To view China as country moving towards “modernity” means understanding what “modern” entails according to different scholars. It is also about understanding that China, like any other country, cannot be China today without the influence of its past. It is common for many to associate “modernity” or “newness” with becoming western. I believe that to be new does not necessarily mean being created anew but instead as a revision process whereby old ideas are reshaped to fit the present, keeping in mind the historical context and purpose of the original ideas. “Modern China ” can be thought of in this way going by Rena Mitters’s definition of modern, where the word “modern” does not translate to recent or contemporary but rather a state where the events of the past and their effect of the present are acknowledged. Mitter’s definition of what it means to be “Chinese” is also vital part of the phrase “Modern China” as they describe it as a group of people sharing a common identity, which is an interesting perspective. Mitter also noted that self awareness is an integral aspect to modernity. This can be understood as a country having a firm grasp of themselves, being aware of other countries and their lifestyle, but choosing what aspects, if any, that they choose to emulate. Jonathan Spence seems to disagree with the possibility of China being a modern nation since he argues that to be modern means being “integrated and fairly receptive” While it can be argued based on facts that China does fit into those categories, it is unclear whether the author is interested in facts or the purpose/intents behind those facts which isn’t always present in the facts themselves. China has been a nation involved in global markets, however, I believe that his argument is not that China has not tried to fit his definition of modernity but that it has not been able to appear “convincingly” modern. In other words, perhaps China may have tried to appear modern but the intent behind their actions were unclear to him.
References:
Mitter, Rana. Modern China: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. First ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999
A group of Chinese people
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