Abstract: What is the relationship between revolution, reform and the rise of China? This is not only a major theoretical question, but also a serious practical question that should never be overlooked in China’s future reform. From the perspective of the growth of a modern state, the legacy left by China’s revolution, featuring both nationalism and communism, is a double-edged sword which, on the one hand, has created the sovereign state as the base of the rise of China and, on the other hand, has introduced the party-state system as the target of reformation. The revolutionary legacies, intersecting and interacting with each other, have become bases, obstacles, and pushing forces for the rise of China. The combined model of both “lacerative boundary changes” and “contingency kernel persistence” has developed a systemic framework of double effects for the rise of China. For the short term, fantastically integrating the state, the market and the party into one systemic framework has provided the vital energy, the driving force and the stabilizer for the rise of China and thus created a temporarily prosperous China. However, in the long run, the joint development of the party-state system and republican values contains severe internal tension and serious problems that remain to be solved.
Keywords:modern state, China’s revolution, China’s reform, the rise of China, party-state system
一、中国崛起的根源何在:学界的解释与争论
随着最近三十多年来中国经济的飞速成长和综合国力的不断增强,中国正在崛起已经成为一个不争的事实。由此引起学界热烈争论的一个话题是,中国崛起的根源究竟何在?如果按照著名左派历史社会学家佩里·安德森(Perry Anderson)2010年在《新左派评论》(New Left Review)上发表的《两场革命》一文中的说法,围绕中国崛起之根源的探讨,学术界主要有三个互相竞争的思想学派或三种解释视角:第一个学派是历史分析的视角。它将中国的崛起从根本上归因于中华帝国悠久的历史遗产。这些遗产包括广阔的疆域、基于密集型农业的商业活力、日益深化的劳动分工、日益繁荣的城市网络和国内商贸的扩张、创纪录的人口增长等因素。在历史学视角下,中国的崛起不过是在遭受一百多年外国侵略和内部混乱的打击之后回归到她自己在世界上本来应有的位置而已。第二个学派主要持经济学视角。按照这些经济学家们的解释,中国之崛起其实是中国姗姗来迟地融入世界资本主义经济的结果:随着中国向外资开放投资市场,并逐步加强产权保护,生产要素最终被解放出来,形成了经济增长的巨大活力;而充足的廉价劳动力供给与海外资本和技术相结合形成的出口贸易极大地拉动了中国经济。第三个学派虽不局限于但主要分布在社会学界,不妨称之为社会学的解释视角。按照这一学派的解释,中国(经济)崛起的关键在于中国革命所确立的前提性条件:正是毛泽东时代的成就为改革开放时代的繁荣奠定了深厚的基础。这些基础性的条件包括一个强大的主权国家,一支受过一定教育、有纪律约束的劳动大军,以及在容忍一定程度的省级自主性制度框架下所建立的强有力的经济控制机制,如计划经济、公有经济等。①