--- - |2 Abstract This paper aims at a new understanding of modernity from the perspective of connected history. It demonstrates that with the case of Taiwan, so‐called ‘modernity’ emerged from the interactions and connections among the various regions, cultures, and civilizations. Thus, modernity has been entangled since its birth, and has had diverse variants. When we combine this reconceptualization of modernity with the concept of functional differentiation as the most essential structural condition of modernity, a theoretical escape from the trap of Eurocentrism emerges; additionally, we are able to integrate sociological theoretical reflections with the advancements of world history study. - 'Journal of Historical Sociology, Volume 31, Issue 3, Page 330-345, September 2018. '