Introduction

Modernization and Chinese Civilization Inheritors of the world’s oldest continuous civilization, the Chinese can be justly proud of their achievements. Early creation of a written language, development of elaborate techniques of silk weaving and wet rice cultivation, and invention of the compass and gunpowder are but a few of the more outstanding of these accomplishments. Thus, the Chinese had good reasons for feeling secure in their image of themselves as the Middle Kingdom, Zhongguo, or that entity at the fringes of which the less favored groups of humanity existed.