The People and the Nation: The Governance Logic of "A Great Nation with Small Farmers"

Zhou Feizhou 

Published in Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2025, Issue 1.

Editorial Note:

Amid the progress of modernization, China’s remarkable socio-economic development has captured worldwide attention, establishing a unique path distinct from Western models—the Chinese-style modernization. A defining characteristic of this approach is its people-centered nature. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in the report on the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, “People-centeredness is an essential attribute of Marxism. The Party’s theories originate from, serve, and benefit the people, and the creative practices of the people are an inexhaustible source of theoretical innovation.”

For sociologists, this means advancing the discipline by building a sociology with Chinese characteristics, rooted in the practice of Chinese-style modernization, to address key questions concerning China, the world, the people, and the era. In response, Society has organized a special symposium on “People-Centeredness as the Defining Feature of Chinese-Style Modernization”. Scholars have contributed valuable insights from various perspectives, including its origins in Chinese traditional culture, its role in constructing mechanisms for managing uncertainty and risk, its foundational importance in understanding digital society, and its universal significance in cross-civilizational exchange. The discussions from this symposium are compiled in this issue in the form of written dialogues for our readers.