PART II “WESTERNIZATION” VS. “SINICIZATION”: AN INEFFACEABLE PARADOX WITHIN CHINA’S MODERNIZATION PROCESS YU Keping Translated by Ping Zhu and Adrian Thieret The history of China’s modernization already spans 150 years. It can be traced back to the Qing government’s Westernization Movement (洋务运动) of the mid 19th century. Since that Westernization movement launched China’s modernization voyage, the process has continued, albeit with minor interruptions, through today. China’s modernization can be divided into three phases: the modernization led by the Qing government from the mid 19th century until 1911; the modernization led by KMT from 1912 to 1948; and the moderniza- tion led by the CCP after 1949 and especially after the 1980s Reform and Opening. These three different phases of modernization actually represent three different modes of modernization, as they were com- bined with three different political frameworks. In current discourse within China, these three modes are known as the feudalist modern- ization of the Qing dynasty, the capitalist modernization of the KMT, and the socialist modernization of the CCP. However, it is both interesting and thought-provoking that despite the fundamental differences between these three modes, they share a common internal logic. This logic runs through and connects the three different phrases of China’s modernization. What is this logic? It is the logic of “Westernization” (西化) and “Sinicization” (中化), and the incessant confl ict and mixing between them. “Westernization” and “Sinicization” constitute an ineffaceable paradox within China’s modernization process. “Westernization” fundamentally implies that the process of China’s modernization is a process of comprehensively imitating and approaching the West—meaning to adopt Western institutions and methods not only in economy and technology, but also in culture and politics. The essential meaning of “Sinicization” is that despite the fact that China technologically and economically lags behind the West, Chinese politics and culture are in fact the most .