自鸦片战争之始的近代中国，遭受落后挨打欺凌的命运使大多数中国人形成了这样一种文化心理：技不如人，制度不如人，文化不如人。改变“西强我弱”和重振中华雄风需要从文化批判和文化革新开始。于是，中国人“睁眼看世界”，学习日本、学习欧美以至学习苏俄。我们一直处于迫切改变落后挨打、积贫积弱，急于赶超这些西方列强的紧张与焦虑之中。可以说，在一百多年来强国梦、复兴梦的追寻中，我们注重的是了解他人、学习他人，而很少甚至没有去让人家了解自身，理解自身。这种情形事实上到了1978年中国改革开放后的现代化历史进程中亦无明显变化。20世纪80、90年代大量西方著作的译介就是很好的例证。这就是近代以来中国人对“中国与世界”关系的认识历史。

但与此并行的一面，就是近代以来中国人在强国梦、中华复兴梦的追求中，通过“物质（技术）批判”“制度批判”“文化批判”一直苦苦寻求着挽救亡国灭种、实现富国强民之“道”，这个“道”当然首先是一种思想，是旗帜，是灵魂。关键是什么样的思想、什么样的旗帜、什么样的灵魂可以救国、富国、强民。一百多年来，中国人民在屈辱、失败、焦虑中不断探索、反复尝试，历经“中学为体，西学为用”、君主立宪实践的失败，西方资本主义政治道路的破产，以及20世纪90年代初世界社会主义的重大挫折，终于走出了中国革命胜利、民族独立解放之路，特别是将科学社会主义理论逻辑与中国社会发展历史逻辑结合在一起，走出了一条中国社会主义现代化之路——中国特色社会主义道路。经过最近三十多年的改革开放，我国社会主义市场经济快速发展，经济、政治、文化和社会建设取得伟大成就，综合国力、文化软实力和国际影响力大幅提升，中国特色社会主义取得了巨大成功，虽然还不完善，但可以说其体制制度基本成型。百年追梦的中国，正以更加坚定的道路自信、理论自信和制度自信的姿态，崛起于世界民族之林。

与此同时，我们应当看到，长期以来形成的认知、学习西方的文化心理习惯使我们在中国已然崛起、成为当今世界大国的现实状况下，还很少积极主动向世界各国人民展示自己——“历史的中国”和“当今现实的中国”。而西方人士和民族也深受中西文化交往中“西强中弱”的习惯性历史模式的影响，很少具备关于中国历史与当今发展的一般性认识，更谈不上对中国发展道路的了解，以及“中国理论”“中国制度”对于中国的科学性、有效性及其对于人类文明的独特价值与贡献这样深层次问题的认知与理解。“自我认识展示”的缺位，也就使一些别有用心的不同政见人士抛出的“中国崩溃论”“中国威胁论”“中国国家资本主义”等甚嚣尘上。

可以说，在“摸着石头过河”的发展过程中，我们把更多的精力花在学习西方和认识世界上，并习惯用西方的经验和话语认识自己，而忽略了“自我认知”和“让别人认识自己”。我们以更加宽容、友好的心态融入世界时，自己却没有被客观真实地理解。因此，将中国特色社会主义的成功之“道”总结出来，讲好中国故事，讲述中国经验，用好国际表达，告诉世界一个真实的中国，让世界民众认识到，西方现代化模式并非人类历史进化的终点，中国特色社会主义亦是人类思想的宝贵财富，无疑是有正义感和责任心的学术文化研究者的一个十分重要的担当。

为此，中国社会科学院组织本院一流专家学者和部分院外专家编撰了《理解中国》丛书。这套丛书既有对中国道路、中国理论和中国制度总的梳理和介绍，又有从政治制度、人权、法治，经济体制、财经、金融，社会治理、社会保障、人口政策，价值观、宗教信仰、民族政策，农村问题、城镇化、工业化、生态，以及古代文明、文学、艺术等方面对当今中国发展的客观描述与阐释，使中国具象呈现。

期待这套丛书的出版，不仅可以使国内读者更加正确地理解一百多年中国现代化的发展历程，更加理性地看待当前面临的难题，增强全面深化改革的紧迫性和民族自信，凝聚改革发展的共识与力量，也可以增进国外读者对中国的了解与理解，为中国发展营造更好的国际环境。

2014年1月9日

Since the beginning of the Opium War, the fate of modern China has suffered backwardness, beating, and bullying, which has caused most Chinese to form such a cultural psychology: technology is inferior to people, systems are inferior to people, and culture is inferior to people. Changing the "strong west and I am weak" and reviving the Chinese majesty need to start with cultural criticism and cultural innovation. Therefore, Chinese "open eyes to the world" and learn from Japan, Europe and the United States, and even Soviet Russia. We have been in the midst of tension and anxiety in the urgent need to change, backwardness, beating, poverty and weakness, and rushing to catch up with these Western powers. It can be said that in the pursuit of the dream of a strong country and the dream of rejuvenation for more than a hundred years, we have focused on understanding and learning from others, and rarely or even did not let people know themselves and understand themselves. In fact, this situation did not change significantly in the historical process of China's modernization after the reform and opening up in 1978. The translation of a large number of Western works in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century is a good example. This is the history of Chinese's understanding of the relationship between "China and the world" in modern times. But the parallel side to this is that in modern times Chinese in the pursuit of the dream of a strong country and the dream of Chinese rejuvenation, through "material (technical) criticism", "system criticism" and "cultural criticism", we have been painstakingly seeking the "Dao" to save the country from extinction and realize the prosperity of the country and the people. The key is what kind of thinking, what kind of banner, what kind of soul can save the country, enrich the country, and strengthen the people. For more than a hundred years, the Chinese people have constantly explored and tried repeatedly in humiliation, defeat and anxiety, and experienced the failure of "middle school as the body, western learning as use", the failure of the practice of constitutional monarchy, the bankruptcy of the political road of Western capitalism, and the major setback of world socialism in the early 90s of the 20th century, and finally walked out of the road of victory of the Chinese revolution and national independence and liberation, especially combining the theoretical logic of scientific socialism with the historical logic of China's social development, and blazed a trail of China's socialist modernization. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. After more than 30 years of reform and opening up, China's socialist market economy has developed rapidly, great achievements have been made in economic, political, cultural and social construction, comprehensive national strength, cultural soft power and international influence have been greatly enhanced, and socialism with Chinese characteristics has achieved great success. China, which has been pursuing its dream for a century, is rising among the nations of the world with a more firm attitude of self-confidence in the road, theory and system. At the same time, we should realize that the long-term understanding and learning of Western cultural and psychological habits have made us seldom actively present ourselves to the people of the world - "historical China" and "today's real China" when China has risen and become a world power today. Westerners and nations are also deeply influenced by the habitual historical model of "strong west and weak in the west" in cultural exchanges between China and the West, and rarely have a general understanding of China's history and current development, let alone an understanding of China's development path, as well as the knowledge and understanding of such deep-seated issues as "Chinese theory" and "Chinese system" for China's scientificity, effectiveness and unique value and contribution to human civilization. The absence of "self-understanding display" has also made the "theory of China collapse," "theory of China threat," and "Chinese state capitalism" thrown out by some dissidents with ulterior motives very popular. It can be said that in the development process of "crossing the river by feeling the stones", we spend more energy on learning the West and understanding the world, and are accustomed to using Western experience and words to understand ourselves, while ignoring "self-knowledge" and "letting others know ourselves". When we integrate into the world with a more tolerant and friendly attitude, we are not objectively and truthfully understood. Therefore, it is necessary to sum up the "way" of success of socialism with Chinese characteristics, tell Chinese stories and Chinese experiences, use international expressions, tell the world a real China, and let the people of the world realize that the Western modernization model is not the end of human historical evolution, and socialism with Chinese characteristics is also a precious wealth of human thought, which is undoubtedly a very important responsibility for academic and cultural researchers with a sense of justice and responsibility. To this end, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized first-class experts and scholars of the academy and some external experts to compile the "Understanding China" series. This series of books not only sorts out and introduces the Chinese road, Chinese theory and Chinese system, but also objectively describes and explains the development of China today from the aspects of political system, human rights, rule of law, economic system, finance and economics, finance, social governance, social security, population policy, values, religious beliefs, ethnic policies, rural issues, urbanization, industrialization, ecology, as well as ancient civilization, literature and art, etc., so that China can be presented concretely. It is expected that the publication of this series of books will not only enable domestic readers to more correctly understand the development process of China's modernization over the past 100 years, look at the current problems more rationally, enhance the urgency and national self-confidence of comprehensively deepening reform, and condense the consensus and strength of reform and development, but also enhance the understanding and understanding of China by foreign readers and create a better international environment for China's development. January 9, 2014（AI翻译）