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Chinese Modernization: A Theoretical and Practical Leap Over the Capitalist “Caudine Forks”

New Exploration of Ideology and Politics / 2026,8(1): 36-52 / 2026-02-04 122 81

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• Authors: Shengxu Feng
• Information:

  China University of Geosciences School of Marxism, Wuhan, China

• Keywords:
  Modernization; Chinese modernization; Caudine Forks
• Abstract: The issue of modernization in Eastern societies has always been an important aspect of socialist development. Marx and Engels proposed a theoretical conception of the leap over the “Caudine Forks” in Russia’s development path. Under the principle of historical materialism, they delineated the material, institutional, and revolutionary prerequisites for leaping over the “Caudine Forks”. After the October Revolution, China embarked on the socialist path, and the leap over the “Caudine Forks” also became an important issue facing China’s social development. In the new era of socialist construction, Chinese modernization has combined the issue of the leap over the “Caudine Forks” with the construction of modernization paths, achieving new significant breakthroughs in theory and practice, and representing the latest theoretical frontier of scientific socialism. Logically, Chinese modernization relies on the people as the main body and realizes the leap over the capitalist developmental stage while absorbing the achievements of the capitalist mode of productio through the contradiction movement of productive forces and production relations; in the practical path, Chinese modernization starts from the three dimensions of productive forces, production relations, and forms of civilization, breaks through the inherent drawbacks of capitalist modernization, and expands the new path of modernization. Chinese modernization provides profound value inspirations at the levels of methodology, values, and civilization outlook for developing countries seeking modernization and the overall evolution of human civilization. Therefore, both from the theoretical logic and the practical path, it has been confirmed that China’s leaping over the “Caudine Forks” and taking a socialist modernization path with Chinese characteristics is highly realistic and feasible.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.35534/neip.0801004 (registering DOI)
• Cite: Feng, S. X.(2026). Chinese Modernization: A Theoretical and Practical Leap Over the Capitalist “Caudine Forks”. New Exploration of Ideology and Politics, 8 (1), 36–52.