Chinese Civilizational Alternative to the Western Development Model

In the second half of the 2000s, Western “universal values” were regarded as unacceptably abstract and detached from class and history. China’s “common values of humanity” became the official alternative aimed to foster international cooperation for building a Global Community of Shared Future. In an attempt to elevate its national development strategy to the global level, in 2021, Beijing suggested building “a new form of human civilization.” Contemporary China’s desire to construct and define a civilizational modernity based on its own conceptual instruments is closely related to its growing economic power and international influence.