Abstract: The retreat of the leadership of the People's Republic of China from revolutionary socialism into global capitalism has called forth a reconsideration of the paradigm of revolution that has guided the historiography of China for nearly half a century. Modernization has reemerged to challenge the paradigm of revolution, which practically has disappeared from US historiography, but still has some following in the PRC. The new modernization paradigm is post-socialist. It seeks to retain revolution as a moment of modernity, overcome the Eurocentrism of earlier deployments of modernization as paradigm, and to produce a history that may be consistent with the contemporary search for an alternative modernity. The ultimate goal here is to rephrase the very idea of modernity from global perspectives. To avoid entrapment in nationalist parochialism, the new modernization paradigm must also the history of China, to bring the world into Chinese history, and Chinese history into the world. The essay concludes with some suggestions to this end.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
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