What period of history did China study in modern history? Scholars in different periods have different understandings.

There are references to modernity in China's historical records, but the concept of modernity in modern history generally comes from European historians. In western languages, modern times generally refers to the historical period from about 1500 to today, that is, the history since the Renaissance. When translating western works in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, people translated modern times into "modern history". In the first half of the 20th century, when scholars adopted the concepts of "modern history" and "modern history", they often referred to the developing history not far from them. For example, Liang Qichao called "the last years of Qianlong to the present" "modern history". At the beginning of the 20th century, Lee Tae began the study of "Modern History" from Daoguang in his book "Modern History of China".

In fact, the vast majority of authors advocate taking the Opium War as the starting point of China's modern history. This is due to the great changes in China society after the Opium War, and the reasons are sufficient. Some authors put the beginning of China's modern history in the late Ming Dynasty, and think that the opening of new air routes is the beginning of Europe's modern history as well as China's modern history. For example, Zheng believes: "Since the discovery of the new air route, the world traffic has undergone tremendous changes, and human life and international relations have been significantly different from those in the Middle Ages, that is, the boundary between medieval history and modern history. The evolution of modern history has a trend of "connecting the past with the future", and its manifestations are carried forward according to past deeds. And bring forth the old and bring forth the new, thus gestating the future situation. The thought of every nation is the motive force of its evolution. Therefore, the category of modern history actually includes nearly three or four hundred years of history, regardless of Chinese and Western. " Guo Tingyi also set the beginning of the modern history of China at the beginning of the 6th century, when the Portuguese came to the East. Lv Simian also believed that the modern history of China began in the middle of Ming Dynasty, and Europeans came to the East.

The idea of comparing the beginning of China's modern history with that of Europe is to explain the origin of the great changes in China's modern history, which has its own reasons for writing. However, the emergence and development of European capitalism and its influence on China have gone through an extremely complicated historical process. As far as the history of China is concerned, there is a 300-year historical process from the late Ming Dynasty to the eve of the Opium War. In this process, it cannot be said that the modern European history has no influence on China, but it should be pointed out that this influence is negligible for China's own historical development. A modern history of China, covering the whole history from the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, still can't get into the theme of modern history of China. This is not difficult from the technical requirements of the book. On the eve of the Opium War, there were only two volumes of Modern History of China, and Zheng's Modern History of China was the handout of the Central Political School. During the period from the end of Ming Dynasty to the reign of Kang Yong in Qing Dynasty, the first volume of the Central Political School was basically the same as that of Nanfang Publishing House, and the second volume talked about the Revolution of 1911 from the Opium War. Originally, it was used to describe the modern history of China, but most of the space was used to describe the history before the Opium War, while the history after the Opium War was briefly described. Unfortunately, these writers were engaged in writing stories during the Anti-Japanese War, and they worked hard and suffered inexplicably, so it was difficult to do all the work well. But it has something to do with the improper starting point of China's modern history.

Interestingly, Luo Jialun, who introduced Guo Tingyi to the modern history of China, did not agree with Guo Tingyi, but regarded the Opium War as the beginning of the modern history of China. In the introduction, he said: "If historians talk about the modern history of China from the Opium War only for the convenience of research and the importance of this incident to various influences after the close combat between China and the West, they will take it as. . Jiang Tingfu, like Luo Jialun, believed that the modern history of China began with the First Opium War. Although there was contact between China and the West from the Ming Dynasty, there was only one commercial revolution in Europe at that time, so it had little impact on China. After the First Opium War, China had a new relationship with the West, because there was an industrial revolution in Europe, which had a great influence on China.

In 1930s and 1940s, out of the need to save the nation from extinction, more and more scholars reflected on the century-old national humiliation and tended to regard the Opium War as the beginning of China's modern history, because it was the beginning of capitalist imperialism's invasion of China and the beginning of China's national peril in modern times. Since the publication of Modern History of China by 1933, a series of writers' works have been titled Modern History of China. It can be seen that the concept of "Modern History of China" has been generally accepted since 1930s. There are dozens of books about the modern history of China with Modern History of China as the textbook or monograph.

After the introduction of Marxist historiography into China, Marxist historians began to accept the staging method of Soviet historiography and regarded the October Revolution as an epoch-making historical symbol. The period before the October Revolution is called "modern times". From a global perspective, it was the era of the formation and development of capitalism, the era when capitalism defeated feudalism and pre-feudalism, and a modern world history was the history of the formation and development of world capitalism. The period after the October Revolution, called "modernization", refers to the world proletarian revolution and the socialist era. Thus, "modernity" and "modernity" have become two time scales with different meanings, endowed with different social attributes, and become two continuous historical periods, in which "modernity" as a concept refers to the historical period that has ended, and "modernity" refers to the recent historical stage, which is still developing. From this perspective, observing the history of China, we think that China has no independent history of capitalist development, but after the 1840 Opium War, China had a semi-colonial and semi-feudal era of capitalist system. "What we usually call the modern history of China refers to the semi-colonial and semi-feudal history of China. Therefore, people who have always studied the history of China from a Marxist point of view have declared that the Sino-British Opium War of 1840 is the starting point of China's modern history, because the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in China began from this. "

With regard to the lower limit of China's modern history, most of the authors, in their works before 1949, linked the lower limit of China's modern history with the current era in which scholars lived. Fan Wenlan's Modern History of China, published by North China Xinhua Bookstore 1947, is the first volume, which puts forward a complete definition of the time limit of China's modern history, shows a Marxist historian's creative contribution to China's modern history discipline, and marks the beginning of the maturity of China's modern history discipline. Zhu Fan defined China society after 1840 as a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society, classified China history after1840-19 as the period of old democratic revolution in China's modern history, and classified society after 19 19 as the period after the May 4th Movement. Fan Wenlan was written in 1945 and published in 1947. At that time, it was impossible for him to predict the final victory of 1949 new-democratic revolution. However, in the explanation of the book, he said: "The modern history of China is divided into two parts. The first part describes the era of the old democratic revolution, and the second part describes the era of the new democratic revolution. The first part is divided into two volumes, the first volume is from 1840 to 1905, and the second volume is from 1905 to19. This book is the first volume in the series. " The catalogue of the book clearly States: "The first part of the old democratic revolution era-the Opium War to the May 4th Movement". His "Try the Volunteer Army", the first volume of the first book only wrote 190 1 year, and there was no more. However, the framework of the discipline of modern history in China has been basically laid.

According to Fan Wenlan's design, scholars such as Rong Mengyuan and Liu Guiwu from the History Research Office of North China University (the predecessor of the Institute of Modern History of China Academy of Social Sciences) compiled 1948 "Modern History of China", which clearly marked "The Opium War to the May 4th Movement". The editor's note of this textbook points out: "This book is a textbook of China's modern history in junior high school. The book is divided into two parts: the first part describes the old democratic revolution era (1840-1919); The second part describes the era of new democratic revolution (19 19- 1945). " This textbook is a complete series of China's modern history, which not only solves the urgent need of junior high school history textbooks at the beginning of the founding of New China, but also summarizes the compilation system of China's modern history books before 1949, and points out the basic direction for the study of China's modern history after the founding of New China.

However, in 1950s, due to historical and practical reasons, most scholars advocated the May 4th Movement as the lower limit, 1965438- 1965438 as the research object and time range of modern history in China, and the May 4th Movement as the starting point of modern history in China. Before the 1940s, there was no clear boundary between the modern history of China and the modern history of China. For example, Li Dingsheng's Modern History of China (1933, Shanghai, Guangming Bookstore) and the first edition of Modern History of China (1940, Hongkong, Cathay Pacific Publishing Company) deal with basically the same content and time range. Since 1950s, the modern history of China and China have been divided into different stages. Wang Tingke demonstrated the distinction between the modern history of China and that of China. According to Lenin's judgment on distinguishing the basic characteristics of different eras, which class is the center of the era, which determines the main content and development direction of the era, he proposed: "The so-called' modern history' refers to the history of that era centered on the bourgeoisie; The so-called' modern history' refers to the history of that era centered on the proletariat. " He claimed that 19 19 was the lower limit of the modern history of China and the beginning of the modern history of China. In his view, from the May 4th Movement of 19 19 to the establishment of the New China of 1949, the proletariat of China and its vanguard, the China * * * Production Party, stood at the center of the times and determined the main content and direction of the times. Therefore, the history of China has changed from "modern" to "modern"; The history of China's new-democratic revolution and China's old-democratic revolution cannot be included in the scope of China's modern history without distinction. It is necessary to truthfully link the history of China's new-democratic revolution with the history of China's socialist revolution and write a complete modern history of China "; If we juxtapose the history of the new-democratic revolution with the history of the old-democratic revolution and put it in the category of China's modern history, "objectively, it will degrade the status of China's new-democratic revolution. "

In 1950s and 1960s, the discipline system of modern history in China was guided by Marxism.

Just established, scholars' interest and research direction are still in the late Qing Dynasty. The modern history of China is centered on the revolutionary history, which is the history of the late Qing government and can only serve as a foil to the revolutionary history. The history after 19 19, mainly the study of China's party history and the history of the new-democratic revolution, has just started. In fact, the study of China's modern history abroad is also pursuing the origin of the founding of New China, and the research line of sight still stays on the social and historical changes in the late Qing Dynasty.

This is because the new China has just been established, and the enthusiasm of the revolutionary period continues, and people are eager for it

I want to know the origin of the new democratic revolution, how the old democratic revolution developed into the new democratic revolution and the history of imperialist aggression against China, so I attach great importance to the modern revolutionary history before the May 4th Movement. Politically speaking, the history before 1949 has just passed, many historical parties are still there, and the two sides of the strait are still hostile. Therefore, free academic research on the history after 19 19 was an obstacle in the political environment at that time.

In fact, as early as 1950s, when discussing the stages of China's modern history, some scholars thought that the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 was the lower limit of China's modern history. "Because of 1840- 1949, the social nature of China is still a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the revolutionary nature is also a bourgeois revolution against imperialism and feudalism (and later against bureaucratic capitalism)."

At the same time, "the division of modern history and modern history should not be a stage within a society, but should mark the alternation from one revolution to another and the transformation from one social form to another." "Modern China was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. 1840 The Opium War was the beginning of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. 1949 The victory of China People's Revolution led by China's * * * Production Party was the end of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. " This society "is not a capitalist society in the full sense, but a perverted society under foreign capitalist aggression." Therefore, it is more scientific to summarize the history of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society as a capitalist social form with modern history, instead of dividing a social form in the May 4th period into two pieces of modern history, and it can fully reflect the law of social change and development in China since the Opium War. At that time, Li Xin, Liu Danian and Rong Mengyuan all held this view.

With the passage of time, people's understanding of modern China has deepened. More and more scholars believe that taking 19 19 as the lower limit of China's modern history is not conducive to historical understanding and discipline construction, and advocate studying the history of 1840- 1949. As early as 198 1, Hu Sheng said in the preface of "From Opium War to May 4th Movement": "When People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded for more than 30 years, it seems more appropriate to divide the modern history of China and China according to the social nature".

After the publication of "From Opium War to May 4th Movement", the academic circle of modern history in China once again paid attention to the lower limit of modern history in China, and listed various disadvantages of not taking 1949 as the lower limit of modern history in China, which was mainly not conducive to understanding and grasping the whole process of China's historical development and revealing and understanding the laws of China's modern history development. China's modern 1 10 period should be regarded as a complete historical period. "The so-called complete historical period means that 1 10 is different from any historical period since the Qin and Han Dynasties, but a special historical and social form, that is, a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society that was involved in the capitalist world in the collapse of feudal society."

1997, when Hu Sheng congratulated the publication of Modern History ResearchNo. 100, he reiterated that "it is more appropriate to take the 80 years before 19 19 and the 30 years after as a whole, collectively referred to as' Modern History of China'. In this way, the modern history of China has become a complete semi-colonial and semi-feudal history of China, beginning and ending. 1949 The history after the founding of the People's Republic of China can be called' Modern History of China', and it is not necessary to call the history of 1840- 1949' Modern History of China'. " In the appendix, the author continues to expound Hu Sheng's viewpoint on the staging of modern history in China, and discusses the related issues of the staging of modern history in China. After this discussion, the understanding of China's modern history was generally unified.

In this way, after nearly a century of development, the subject object of China's modern history was finally established: the history of China in semi-colonial and semi-feudal society was taken as the research object. The time range of this research object is 1840 from the Opium War to the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), with a history of about 1 10 years. This understanding was obtained under the guidance of the basic principles of Marxism, and was based on the investigation of the social and economic form of modern China, that is, the social nature of modern China. It should be said that this understanding is in line with the real historical process of modern China, that is to say, the establishment of the subject object of modern history in China was formed on the basis of long-term exploration and contention by several generations of scholars, and it is a scientific subject system.

In reaching this conclusion, there are two issues to be discussed. First, the historical staging proposition of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union regards the history before the October Revolution as the history of the occurrence and development of capitalism and the modern history of the world. It is the modern history of the world to regard the history after the October Revolution as the history of the proletarian revolution and the socialist era. This view breaks the traditional view of western European centralism and reflects the progress of historical view, but it can't be simply applied to China's historical staging, just as we can't simply apply the European historical staging method to China's history. The historical development of China has its own characteristics, and China has its own national conditions. China experienced a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in modern history, which neither Europe nor the Soviet Union experienced. Combined with the 5,000-year historical development of China, this paper mainly investigates the major historical changes that have taken place since modern times, and regards the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society experienced by 1840 to 1949 as the modern history of China, which conforms to the laws and characteristics of China's own history. /kloc-0 The establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC) in June, 949 marked the end of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in China and the independent development of socialist modernization in China. China's history has surpassed modern times and entered its own modern times.

Another issue is the relationship between the new-democratic revolution and the old-democratic revolution. The problem of the new-democratic revolution and the old-democratic revolution is a proposition of the producers in China. The theory of new-democratic revolution is the basic theoretical program established by the Communist Party of China (CPC) people when dealing with the revolutionary tasks they are facing, and it is also their own revolutionary practice program. The basic factual basis for putting forward this revolutionary theory is that the China Revolution was carried out in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The task of this revolution is to strive for national independence abroad and overthrow feudal rule at home, which is usually called the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal national democratic revolution. This revolutionary task runs through the whole semi-colonial and semi-feudal historical period, and has not changed since the establishment of the 192 1 China * * * production party. The difference is that the specific object of the revolution changes with the changes of the times, and the leading force of the revolution changes because the proletariat stepped onto the historical stage and the political party China, which represents the proletariat, appeared. The national democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism is a bourgeois democratic revolution, not a proletarian socialist revolution. This bourgeois democratic revolution is different from the old democratic revolution because of the different leadership. Mao Zedong systematically discussed China's modern new-democratic revolution and old-democratic revolution in his works such as China Revolution and China's Producer Party and On New Democracy. Mao Zedong said in 1935: "Obviously, the present stage of the China revolution is still a bourgeois-democratic revolution, not a proletarian-socialist revolution. Only the counter-revolutionary Trotskyites say that China has completed the bourgeois-democratic revolution, and any further revolution will only be a socialist revolution. The revolution of 1924 1927 is a bourgeois-democratic revolution. The revolution was not completed, but failed. From 1927 to now, the agrarian revolution led by us is also a bourgeois democratic revolution, because the task of the revolution is to oppose imperialism and feudalism, not capitalism. This revolution will remain unchanged for a long time to come. " Mao Zedong said in 1939: "What revolution are we making now? What we are doing now is the bourgeois democratic revolution, and everything we are doing is within the scope of the bourgeois democratic revolution. Now we should not destroy the private property system of the general bourgeoisie, but should destroy imperialism and feudalism. This is called the bourgeois democratic revolution. However, the bourgeoisie has been unable to complete this revolution, and it must rely on the efforts of the proletariat and the broad masses of the people. What is the purpose of this revolution? The aim is to overthrow imperialism and feudalism and establish a People's Democratic Republic. This People's Democratic Republic is a revolutionary Republic of the Three People's Principles. It is different from the current semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries and the future socialist system. " These two paragraphs have made clear the basic issues of the new-democratic revolutionary theory. Generally speaking, the anti-feudal revolution is a bourgeois revolution. This revolution should be led by the bourgeoisie. However, in semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, the strength of the bourgeoisie is weak and it cannot complete the task of leading this revolution to victory. The proletariat should undertake this leadership task through its political party, China Producers Party, so it is called bourgeois democratic revolution.

Mao Zedong's theory of "two halves" became the starting point for the whole party to observe the general theory of modern China society.

For the theoretical needs of guiding the new-democratic revolutionary politics, The Producer of China attaches great importance to the study of the social nature of modern China. Based on this, in the process of combining Marxism with China's revolutionary practice, Mao Zedong always attached importance to the study of the social nature of modern China as the main basis for determining China's revolutionary strategy and tactics. He has many incisive expositions on this, thus forming his systematic "two and a half theories". The theory of "semi-colonial and semi-feudal society" constitutes the important content of Mao Zedong Thought and becomes the theoretical starting point for all party comrades, Marxist-Leninist theorists and historians to observe and analyze contemporary China society.

During the ten years from the early 1920s to the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Mao Zedong's exposition on the social nature of modern China focused on the semi-colonial problem of China, and on this basis, he analyzed and emphasized some characteristics of China's new-democratic revolution and its war. 1July, 923, he pointed out: "The current political problem in China ... is a simple national revolution problem"; "The semi-colonial politics in China is a double oppressive politics in which the external forces of warlords collude with each other to muzzle all the people", and the general public can only succeed if they "establish a strict United front". At the beginning of 1926, when analyzing the political attitudes of all classes in China society, he said: "In semi-colonial China, where the economy is backward, the landlord class and the comprador class are completely vassals of the international bourgeoisie, and their survival and development are dependent on imperialism ... They are extremely counter-revolutionaries." 1928, 10 also pointed out that the red base area in China exists in "semi-colonial China, which is economically backward under the indirect rule of imperialism", which is "a strange phenomenon that has never happened in any country in the world". "There are two reasons for this phenomenon: the local agricultural economy (not a unified capitalist economy) and the imperialist policy of splitting and exploiting the sphere of influence". 1935 12 When analyzing the political situation in China on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, he said: "As we all know, for almost a hundred years, China was a semi-colonial country ruled by several imperialist countries ... and maintained a semi-independent status"; "Now it is Japanese imperialism that wants to turn the whole China from a semi-colonial state in which several imperialists share a piece of the pie into a colonial state monopolized by Japan." As can be seen from the above, although Mao Zedong also talked about the backward agricultural economy in semi-feudal society during this period, he even emphasized that it was the semi-colonial status of modern China that determined the particularity of China's new-democratic revolution.

From the materials we have seen so far, we can draw the conclusion that Mao Zedong has fully understood the special national conditions of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in modern China since 1936 on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War. In the following four or five years, he often used semi-colonial and semi-feudal theory to analyze China society, and on this basis, formulated the Party's strategy and tactics in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. 1936 12 when he talked about "how to study war" in "Strategic Issues of Revolutionary War in China", he pointed out: "Our war was fought in China, a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. Therefore, we should not only study the laws of general war ... but also study the more special laws of China's revolutionary war. " In the same article, he mentioned some political and economic characteristics of this semi-colonial country at least five times. Obviously, Mao Zedong used the theory of "semi-colony and semi-feudalism" to explain the nature of modern China society at the latest. This is the result of his long-term study of China's national conditions. Wen Li said that Mao's "China Social Thought" was "directly influenced" by He Ganzhi's research, and it was not formed until the beginning of 1938. This is purely subjective nonsense.

In the next few years, although Mao Zedong sometimes focused on the analysis of China's semi-colonial national conditions, references to China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society often appeared in his speeches and works. 1938 in March, Mao Zedong emphasized in his speech to some students in the third phase of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University: "China is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, which is the most essential law. We should use this law to observe everything. " In May of that year, he repeatedly stressed in his famous book On Protracted War: "We are a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country." In June of the same year 165438+ 10, he pointed out in the summary report of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee: "The characteristics of China are: it is not an independent democratic country, but a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country; There is no democratic system inside, but it is oppressed by feudal system; There is no national independence abroad, but it is oppressed by imperialism. "

After entering 1939, Mao Zedong made a systematic and summative exposition on the nature of modern semi-colonial and semi-feudal society according to the actual needs of China's new-democratic revolutionary struggle. In the article "The Direction of Youth Movement", he pointed out: "We are now carrying out a bourgeois democratic revolution" and "the purpose is to overthrow imperialism and feudalism and establish a democratic republic. This kind of people's democracy is different from the current semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries and the future socialist system "; "At this stage, we are not practicing socialism, but eliminating imperialism and feudalism, changing China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal status and establishing a people's democratic system." When discussing the nature, object and motive force of China revolution in Preface to Producers, he said: "Because China is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country with unbalanced political, economic and cultural development, a semi-feudal economy and a vast land. This not only stipulates that the nature of China's current revolution is bourgeois democratic revolution, the main targets of the revolution are imperialism and feudalism, and the basic revolutionary motive force is the proletariat, the peasant class and the urban petty bourgeoisie, but also stipulates the participation of the national bourgeoisie in a certain period and to a certain extent, and stipulates that the main form of China's revolutionary struggle is armed struggle. " In his article "China Revolution and China * * * Production Party", he comprehensively, systematically and deeply discussed the social nature and democratic revolution of modern China. The third section of the first chapter specifically discussed the nature of "modern colonial, semi-colonial and semi-feudal society", pointing out: "Since the Opium War in 184, China has gradually become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society." Emphasized: "The invasion of China by imperialist powers, on the one hand, promoted the disintegration of feudal society in China, promoted the capitalist factors in China, and turned a feudal society into a semi-feudal society; On the other hand, they brutally ruled China and turned an independent China into a semi-colonial and colonial China. " The combination of imperialism and feudalism in China turned China into a semi-colonial and colonial process, that is, the process of China people's resistance to imperialism and its lackeys. When talking about the relationship between China's social nature and modern democratic revolution, he said: "Only by knowing the social nature of China can we know the object of China revolution, the task of China revolution, the motive force of China revolution, the nature of Chinese revolution and the future and transformation of Chinese revolution. Therefore, a clear understanding of the nature of China society, that is, a clear understanding of China's national conditions, is the basic basis for a clear understanding of all revolutionary issues. " At the beginning of 1940, Mao Zedong pointed out when talking about the future and transformation of China's revolution in "On New Democracy": "Because China's current society is colonial, semi-colonial and semi-feudal, this determines that China's revolution must be divided into two steps: the first step is to change this colonial, semi-colonial and semi-feudal social form and make it an independent democratic society. The second step is to promote the revolution and build a socialist society. The current revolution in China is taking the first step. The preparation stage of this first step is still from 184. Since the Opium War in, that is, since China began to change from a feudal society to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. "

In a word, Mao Zedong has always attached importance to the investigation of the social nature of modern China, and made a long-term study on it. Combining with the practice of China's new-democratic revolutionary struggle, he made a series of incisive, profound and original explanations on the social nature of China's modern semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in recent twenty years, which made the theoretical generalization of "semi-colonial and semi-feudal society" constantly perfect and deeply rooted in people's hearts. In his view, knowing and understanding the social nature of modern China is a top priority related to the overall situation of the revolution, and it must not be ignored or taken lightly-because "the nature of China society, that is, the special national conditions of China, is the most basic basis for solving all revolutionary problems in China". Mao Zedong's theoretical summary of "semi-colonial and semi-feudal society" in modern China, if only understood conceptually, may find it inappropriate to put the two concepts of "semi-colonial" and "semi-feudal" which originally explained different situations together. However, if we regard it as a theoretical innovation in the process of combining Marxism with China's revolutionary practice, we will find that the theoretical generalization of "semi-colonial and semi-feudal society" in modern China has withstood the test of China's democratic revolutionary struggle, so it is also in line with historical reality and still full of dialectical vitality. It has not faded, nor is it out of date. *