To What Extent Was China Modernized by the 1930s

To what extent was China modernized by the 1930s?

For a country to be modernized, it needs to meet several criteria and adopt the features of a modern state. Politically, there has to be the presence of a representative government with a democratic system and constitution. Economically, trade has to be the driving factor of the economy of the country; capitalism should be implemented and the country should have high productivity; also, the majority of people should be living with a relatively high standard. Socially, the basic requirement for a modernized state is the presence of equality; people are generally educated, hence there is a rise of working class and capitalists; also, cities are mostly urbanized. In terms of diplomacy, the country should successfully acquire equal treatment from other powers. It is undeniable that lots of efforts were put into the modernization of China, however, not many of the criteria mentioned above were achieved by the 1930s; therefore I think that China was modernized to a lesser extent.

The political area was the least modernized among the four aspects, this was because the ultimate aim of political modernization, which is to achieve democracy, was not fulfilled by the 1930s. There were achievements, though, in shaping a representative government with constitution. By the 1930s, dynasty rule was ended by the 1911 Revolution and a republican government was set up. Constitution, which was firstly introduced during the Late Qing Reform (1901-11), was adopted with the synthesis of both western and traditional political system under the reforms of the Nanjing Government. The foundation of this combination was based on the western democratic ideologies brought into China during the LQR and the May Fourth Movement in 1919, which evaluated the old monarchic system of china, hence pushed the development of constitutional rule under the Nanjing government.

However, there were a lot of limitations to the...