Modernity as a “Western” concept

Modernity is an idea about the present that is discontinuous with the past because of the process of social and cultural change. Marshall Berman in his book, “All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity”, talks about how to be modern is the same as having fights to change the world and make it our own. (Berman, 13) He also continues by dividing modernity as three phases. The first phase occurred from sixteenth century to the end of eighteenth century, the second phase in 1790s, and the final phase began in the twentieth century. (17) Were there aspects that had changed from 18^th century to 19^th or 29^th century? There were wide range of aspects, such as painting, sculpture, architecture, and electronic media, that did not exist century ago but since 19^th century they have existed. As well as broken into phases, modernity could also be divided into two sections; “modernization” in economics and politics and “modernism” in art, culture, and sensibility. (87)

Usually people tend to think of modernity as the Western property (it is connected to United States, Britain, and Europe) and they think that the Eastern only imitates what Western has or had done. They believe that every single modern aspect was developed by the West world rather than the East world. Here, in this blog I would like to argue that this kind of thought is not true; the truth is that Eastern and Western play equal roles in the modern life.

More department stores were established in Western major cities rather than in Eastern major cities. It is also correct that the first true department store was founded by Aristide Boucicaut in Paris, Western side. Boucicaut founded Le Bon Marche in 1838 and by 1852, every boutique was organized and variety of goods could be found inside one building for easier shopping experience. From that day, the process of modernity has deeply affected the society’s massive participation, especially women in the exploding culture of consumption; people from different classes and different cultures mingle together inside the department stores. Speaking about department store means that we are speaking about the development of everyday life in the modern city or we could call it as modernity. According to Emile Zola, a researched novelist, department stores are symbols of the “forward momentum of the age: the bold new forms of capitalism” and they are “modern machine which devours the small outdated commercial enterprises surrounding it.” (Nava, 65) The first department store, one among signs of modernity, was established in Western world but it does not mean that the innovation in modernization could not come from anywhere else but the West.

In the East, for example, Quanzhou, a city in Fujian Province south of Shanghai, was also considered as a city of modernity. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Quanzhou was considered as having the biggest sea port in the East, “marking the golden age of ocean transportation and foreign trades, tied its dealing with about a hundred nations.” (Ancient city Quanzhou, 4) It was the starting point of the "Silk Road on the Sea". Through the Silk Road which stretched its way through Asia, Europe, and Africa, gunpowder, papermaking, printing, compass, Chinese tea, porcelain, and silk production were traveled around the world. Also, the activity of exporting and importing goods between China and Europe went through the Silk Road; “providing links with ancient overland routes to Africa and Europe, the Silk Road paved the way for extensive political, economic, and cultural exchanges among widely separated regions and ethnic groups.” (Silk Road – China Style, 2) Asides from the Silk Road, China was also considered to be the first country in the world that produced silks and nowadays, “silk remains one of China's greatest offerings to the peoples of the world, surpassing every other Chinese product in the scope of its distribution.” (3)

I hope this writing could convince all of you that modernity is not only started by the West; the East also plays an equal role in affecting the world’s modernity.