Compared with China's ancient history, what are the characteristics of China's modern historical development?

First of all, its historical changes are very rapid and drastic. China has a long history and rich contents in ancient times, but from the macro aspects of historical development, that is, the mode of production, political system and social ideology, it should be said that it is in a state of long-term relative stagnation and changes very slowly. Some foreign scholars are very confused about this. For example, Hugo, a great writer, lamented that "China is really an alcohol bottle for preserving the fetus". The famous writer Hegel once said: "The history of China itself has not developed, so we don't need to know all the details of this history." At that time, a German scholar said, "China in front of us has no past, but we have known it since ancient times. A country that still exists exactly the same today. " The famous German historian Jean-Claude Runck (1795- 1886) put it more typically: "The people of China will always rest in peace" (see History of Cultural Exchanges between China and Foreign Countries, p.18-1/. The ancient history of China has not changed much. China's modern history is different. New China was founded only 1 10 years ago, but it experienced two historical stages of the old and new democratic revolution, which can be said to be a leap-forward change. In addition to the changes in social nature and revolutionary stage, it is also manifested in many other aspects. For example, in the 80 years of modern times, there were no fewer than a dozen wars, events and major struggles that shocked the whole country and even had international influence. Society has undergone unprecedented changes in politics, economy, ideology and culture, so we should pay attention to the drastic changes in China's modern history.

Second, its social changes are very complicated. This complexity is mainly because it is not a complete and single social form. Its performance can be roughly seen from the following points:

(1) is manifested in lifestyle. Since modern times, China has always been in the state of the decline of the old mode of production and the emergence and development of new modes of production. The feudal economy showed a declining trend after the Opium War, but the natural economy, the cornerstone of the feudal economy, which was closely combined with small-scale agriculture and cottage industries, never completely disintegrated. Even in the early days of liberation, this trace was still obvious in quite a few remote areas. However, the modern industrial production of capitalism, which should be regarded as a new mode of production in society, does not mainly come from the capitalist bud that has been bred in feudal society since the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties (this bud was almost destroyed after the invasion of foreign capitalism), but is produced and developed by commercial stocks and small-scale commercial enterprises attached to private enterprises run by the Westernization School in the crack of imperialist oppression and feudal bondage, which is very limited. In social production, it has never dominated, and foreign capital is much stronger than national capital. In this way, China's modern social economy has a variety of economic forms, such as local economy, small-scale peasant economy and capitalism with different components. In a word, in modern China, various economies have always coexisted, and it is not as simple as one mode of production replacing the old one.

(2) in the class structure. It is based on the above viewpoint that various economic components coexist alternately, which correspondingly leads to the coexistence of various class forces and complex class relations. As we know, the feudal society in China is the landlord class and the peasant class is the most basic class. The situation in modern China is different, because semi-feudalism and semi-capitalism coexist, so there are mainly four classes: the landlord class, the peasant class and the bourgeoisie. The proletariat (there are also slave owners and slaves in other ethnic minority areas, and the existence of serf owners and serfs is not dominant). However, the internal situation of these four classes is relatively complicated, and they are in the process of drastic differentiation and change. For example, the bourgeoisie, composed of bureaucrats, comprador and businessmen, many of whom are landlords or even landlords and capitalists for two terms. There is a natural connection between farmers and the working class, that is, some bankrupt farmers have flowed in. As the reserve army of the proletariat, it became the industrial proletariat. Take the bourgeoisie as an example. It is very complicated and can be divided into two parts: the bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie. In the national bourgeoisie, the division between the upper class and the lower class is clearly shown. In a word, the class situation in modern China is very complicated.

(3) Class contradictions and ethnic contradictions are intertwined. In the feudal society of China, the main contradiction of social groups was relatively simple, that is, the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class. In modern China, not only the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class still exists as the main contradiction of society, but also the main contradiction between capital imperialism and the Chinese nation. The people of China shoulder the dual tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. The relationship between feudal rulers in China and foreign invaders is subtle, that is, there are contradictions and conflicts on the one hand, and collusion and alliance on the other. The specific situation varies from time to time, so the pattern of anti-aggression and anti-feudalism struggle in modern China is very complicated.

(4) It is also reflected in the special situation that China is a semi-colony under the joint control of big powers and has been invaded. Modern China is different from an independent country and a complete colony controlled by an imperialist country, but a semi-colony slaughtered by all countries. Great powers have different social characteristics, geographical environment, national strength and status in the international political arena, so the methods and characteristics of invading China are not exactly the same. However, they all tried to control and influence the central and local governments in China, each holding one or several political forces. There are both collusion and competition in the aggression, and they all want to seize as many rights and interests of aggression as possible, but they can't be immune to it, and they must maintain a certain balance, which makes China in a semi-colonial state, which also increases the complexity of modern China's social history.