Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group
Publication date: February 2010
brief introduction
This is a book that deeply analyzes the life experiences of renowned Chinese economist Wu Jinglian. This book provides a detailed account of Wu Jinglian's journey from reforming his family to becoming a young man studying economics, and then to becoming a think tank for China's economic reform. The book not only depicts Wu Jinglian's academic achievements, but also reveals his deep understanding and practice of China's economic reform concepts. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Through the initiation of Wu Jinglian's oral history project in the book, we can understand his thoughtful and rigorous attitude towards China's economic reform. His proposed concept of a market economy based on the rule of law, as well as his profound insights into the transformation of China's economic growth model, demonstrate his profound understanding of China's economic reform. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
The book also provides a detailed description of Sun Yefang's will and ideological contributions, allowing us to understand Sun Zhifang's influence on Wu Jinglian and his persistence in socialist economic construction. At the same time, Zhu Rongji's macroeconomic policies have also allowed us to understand Wu Jinglian's professional opinions and contributions in macroeconomic regulation. What do you think about this?
In addition, the book also reveals Wu Jinglian's in-depth understanding and practice of China's economic reform through in-depth analysis of key content points such as the initiation of the discussion on distribution according to work, the impact of Eastern European economic reform on China, and the low and high tide of China's economic reform. What do you think about this?
origin
This person is clean from appearance to soul
The 'mother book' of 'The Biography of Wu Jinglian' is a lengthy oral history interview I had with Professor Wu Jinglian, which took place between August and September 2009. What do you think about this?
I proposed to make an oral history for Wu Jinglian in 2007. Under the guidance of Dr. Zhou Xuelin from the China Europe International Business School, one afternoon in June, I went to China Europe in Pudong, Shanghai to visit the old gentleman. His office is very small and can only accommodate three or four people. At that time, Wu Xiaolian, the eldest daughter of Wu Jinglian, had just released a new book called "Me and Dad Wu Jinglian". He and his wife Zhou Nan seemed hesitant about my suggestion, and he tactfully said that if there was an outline, we could discuss the matter further. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Afterwards, this matter was postponed. I have been immersed in the creation of "Thirty Years of Turbulence" and "One Hundred Years of Falling". During that marathon like writing process, I repeatedly "met" Wu Jinglian, and I found that he was involved in almost all important economic reform debates after 1978. Through his ideological evolution, I can outline the general curve of China's economic reform concept. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!I purchased almost all of his works, reading and taking notes intermittently. Every time I met Zhou Xuelin, I expressed my desire to do an oral history. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The turning point occurred in the spring of 2009. One day, Dr. Zhou suddenly called me and said that Professor Wu seemed to agree a bit. He would have a concentrated lecture schedule in Central Europe from August to September and could arrange to complete the oral history during this period. I am overjoyed. So, there was an oral history record that lasted for over 20 hours. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Will China become a rent-seeking society?
Throughout the 1990s, Wu Jinglian was probably one of the most active and important economists. He has been praised by the media as the "first person in the market economy" for defending the market economy. His reform philosophy is becoming increasingly mature, and numerous policy suggestions are being referred to or adopted by decision-makers in formulating some national strategies. He is not only an enlightening economic thinker, but also an "engineer" with the ability to provide policy recommendations and design solutions. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
His personal life also underwent some changes during this period. His two daughters went to the United States to study in the 1980s, with the eldest daughter Wu Xiaolian becoming a psychology PhD and the second daughter Wu Xiaolan becoming a biomedical PhD. Their achievements should be attributed to their grandmother Deng Jixing and mother Zhou Nan. In family life, Wu Jinglian is basically a "hands off shopkeeper" who doesn't care about anything. In 1992, Wu Xiaolian had a son with her German husband, which made him a grandfather. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
On August 29, 1995, Deng Jixing, who was 88 years old, passed away in Beijing. Wu Jinglian, who was extremely filial to his mother, was deeply saddened. In an article reminiscing about his mother, "Realizing My Life Pursuit as an Entrepreneur," he wrote, "In the month since my mother passed away, I have been pondering what is the unique spirit of our mother. I have thought that if we use Max Weber's words, we can call it the "capitalist spirit" or "rationalist spirit", and if we use Stalin's words to describe it, we should call it the "pragmatic spirit" combined with "revolutionary courage". I now want to adopt a more 'neutral' approach and define it as' entrepreneurial spirit '. The so-called "entrepreneurial spirit" in economics can be roughly defined as "engaging in innovative activities in a pre planned and computable manner to maximize results". What do you think about this?
Wu Jinglian's unique interpretation of "entrepreneurial spirit" is clearly a typical reformist perspective, and perhaps I've found that it's on this point that he and his mother have achieved a spiritual consensus. What do you think about this?
As he grew older, Wu Jinglian's understanding of China's modernization also gradually improved. In the last two years of the 1990s, he once again began to think about China's future as a whole. Although he is regarded as a major contributor to China's economic reform. But at this time, in addition to having a great sense of achievement in China's economic reform and development, he also had a deep sense of crisis, paying attention to the dark aspects of Chinese society and thinking about where the rapidly spreading corruption phenomenon came from and its possible trends. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
In the summer of 1998, amidst the financial crisis that covered the sky and sun, Wu Jinglian had a dialogue with economist Wang Dingding about the future of China's reform, which was published in the 11th issue of Caijing magazine that year. It is in this dialogue that Wu Jinglian first raised the question of "how far is the capitalist system of the aristocracy from China". What do you think about this?
Here, people see a worried Wu Jinglian. He said, "System transition is a process of restructuring the interest structure. No matter what method is adopted to achieve the transition, there will always be problems in the distribution of interests. Those who previously held power will definitely use their power to seize the public property of the past What do you think about this?
He said in the conversation, "After the strategy of 'letting go of small businesses' was determined at the 15th National Congress, the trend of clarifying the property rights of small and medium-sized enterprises is unstoppable. However, in some places, those who used to use the banner of' adhering to public ownership 'to maintain their control over the enterprise have changed their methods. They not only use their power to get the enterprise into their own hands without spending a few money, but also demand that employees pay, otherwise they will be' laid off '. Therefore, the issue of social justice has become prominent What do you think about this?
What Wu Jinglian is proposing here is actually a problem he has been pondering since 1986: the original reformers have undergone differentiation ("simply dividing people into 'reformists' and' conservatives' is too superficial"), and some people have become vested beneficiaries. They do not support restricting administrative power and promoting market-oriented reforms, but hope to maintain and expand the special interests of rent-seeking power. In this conversation, he sharply asked, "Why are normative reforms often seen as' idealistic 'or even' conservative thinking ', while various rent-seeking activities, such as the' property rights reform 'that devours public wealth, the' land leasing 'movement that seizes land, and the financial magic that plunders the vast number of shareholders, are being praised in the name of' reform 'and quickly spread throughout the country? These strange phenomena are constantly emerging, which is enough to provoke reflection What do you think about this?
After analyzing the phenomenon, Wu Jinglian gave a phased summary: "China's biggest danger mainly lies in two aspects, one is to continue the planned economy, and the other is to plunder the masses under the guise of reform. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Anyway, I've found that it's unlikely for China to return to the planned economy model. But if not handled properly, there may be a tug of war process that could develop into 'crony capitalism', 'family and friend capitalism', or 'privileged capitalism'. In fact, I've found that it's bureaucratic capitalism that older Chinese are familiar with, namely, 'feudal, comprador, state monopoly capitalism'. The signs of China in this regard are quite evident. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
To avoid its malignant development, from an economic perspective, I've found that it's necessary to develop independent private economy and private forces; Politically speaking, I've found that it's necessary to establish the rules of the game and implement the rule of law Finally, he made a sobering new judgment: "I believe that by the late 1980s, or after 1992, the main danger of reform in China did not necessarily come from conservative forces, but from whether to balance justice in social change. If the power of bureaucrats is too strong, a situation like Russia will occur; most of the wealth will be swallowed up by a small group of people, while the people will become penniless, and the country will not have peace What do you think about this?
Wu Jinglian's remarks reveal another theme of China's reform. In the first 20 years of economic development, "justice" was a vague and even completely ignored concept. In order to get rid of poverty, it was necessary to allow some people to become rich first and make them the "catfish" that stirred up society. It was necessary to dare to disrupt all order and tilt the entire society. However, as the machines of change operate and wealth begins to accumulate rapidly, social justice and transitional justice become a necessary proposition that must be followed. In the process of China's economic reform, the phenomenon of injustice not only persists, but also has a growing trend. And this is exactly what worries Wu Jinglian immensely. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Regarding "how to achieve social justice in reform", he believes that we need to think from two directions: one is how to eliminate the increasingly rampant corruption phenomenon in the reform, and the other is to ensure the interests of vulnerable groups at the institutional level. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Regarding Wu Jinglian's analysis of the root causes of the spread of corruption during the transition period, the most important thing to pay attention to is the new political economy concept of "rent-seeking" introduced by Wu Jinglian and his partner Rong Jingben in 1988. Don't forget to share your experience!
In the international theoretical community, the theory of rent-seeking was proposed in the mid-1970s. Economists used "rent-seeking" to describe the wasteful activities of certain individuals seeking wealth transfer through government protection. One of its conceptual definers, James Buchanan, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1986. What do you think about this?
In China, the concept of "rent-seeking" first appeared in the magazine "Economic and Social System Comparison" edited by Wu Jinglian. In the second issue of the magazine in 1989, an article titled "Rent seeking Society Caused by China's Price Reform" was published by Nicholas Lardy, an American expert in China studies. Professor Lardy said in the article, "The economic reforms in China after Mao Zedong's death were undoubtedly much more successful than those in other socialist countries. However, I've found that it's still unclear whether the reform of the basic organizational structure of China's industry and agriculture was sufficient to support China's rapid transition from the Soviet model to 'market socialism'." He raised two major issues with China's economic system at that time. What do you think about this?
Firstly, the most prominent innovation of the reform in the early 1980s was the implementation of a dual track system. State owned enterprises that enjoy preferential treatment can obtain inputs through the nationally controlled distribution system, mainly through collective enterprises purchasing inputs in the market. Enterprises that receive inputs at fixed national prices receive a subsidy. Don't forget to share your experience!
Secondly, China's reforms since 1978 have been seeking to expand the power of corporate managers and local governments simultaneously. This has created a stimulus for local protectionism. Under the "new revenue sharing system" (referring to the fiscal "sharing the kitchen and eating" system), "profits" retained can be used for local government expenses. These are actually a type of rent. What do you think about this?
