Abstract: A common view of the significance of the Reform Movement of 1898 sees it as advancing China modernization from technical to organizational reform. From the standpoint of goals this characterization is reasonable， but in terms of actual outcome the Reform Movement of 1898 failed to reform the political systerm. It cehief significance in China’s early modernization is rather as th efirst relatively comprehensive mobilization for the capitalist modernization of soeiety. In the realm of thought it introduced science and democracy. With regard to the quality of the populace，it laid the foundation for the engineering of the modern person. In the area of social construction，it led to the development of modern collective consciousness. And in the economic order，it was the first step in the construction of capitalist economic ethics.