Hu Angang () is an
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
professor at
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...
.
Hu Angang was born on 27 April 1953. He is a professor in the
School of Public Policy & Management at
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...
as well as Director of the Center for China Study at Tsinghua-CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences).
Hu Angang received his master's degree at
Beijing University of Science and Technology in 1984. He received his PhD in
Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
in 1988.
["Angang Hu." The Complete Marquis Who's Who. 23rd ed. 2007. LexisNexis Academic.]
Political and economic positions
Hu claims that the Chinese socialist system is superior to other systems. In a July 2011 article for the ''People's Forum'', Hu wrote that: "The CPC has always adhered to the mass line, rooting itself among the people in order to make democratic decisions. This is manifested in the superiority of the socialist policy-making system with Chinese characteristics. This policy-making system is based on the mass line of the Party, that is from the masses, to the masses and putting into practice what has been learned from practice."
Hu is also a proponent of China's
state-owned enterprise
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...
s, claiming that they are the backbone of national growth in China. In an op-ed for the ''
People's Daily'' Hu wrote: "The Western corporate culture emphasizes individualism, while the State-owned enterprise culture focuses more on harmony and collectivism. A good business model not only creates material wealth, but also creates spiritual wealth. Chinese corporate culture reflects this spiritual wealth, which in turn is a form of internal and external soft power. China, being a huge economy, needs large, internationally competitive State-owned enterprises. This is the only way that China can ensure that its enterprises enjoy a strong position amid fierce international competition." This puts him at odds with Chinese Premier
Li Keqiang who publicly favors reducing State intervention in the economy and has said that the Government should reduce its role in the economy even if doing so feels "like cutting one’s wrist." His advocate of China's SOE has led him to be described as a
Chinese New Left
The Chinese New Left () is a term used in the People's Republic of China to describe a diverse range of left-wing political philosophies that emerged in the 1990s that are critical of the economic reforms instituted under Deng Xiaoping, which ...
.
In 2012 Hu co-wrote a paper calling for the
forcible assimilation of ethnic
Uighurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghu ...
in Xinjiang in an effort to create a standardized Chinese "state-race."
Although this hard line policy was initially criticized within China it later gained popularity as a policy proposal.
Hu is known in China for his strong support of
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
. In July 2013 he wrote an op-ed for the ''People's Daily'' stating: "Compared with the civil society in the West, the people's society is superior... it is a great made-in-China innovation in theory and practice." He went on to say that "
e people's society is a socialist society under the leadership of the Communist Party." This drew strong criticism within China from social media sites and Chinese academics such as
Yu Jianrong.
In August 2018 he was criticised in an open letter written by Tsinghua University alumni calling for the university to fire Hu. The letter accused him of using “self-serving criteria” in his research so as to exaggerate claims of China’s greatness. The letter states that Hu espoused an exaggerated sense of national superiority and
overt nationalism that, according to the letter, harms China’s foreign relations whilst also misleading the public.
See also
*
Maoism
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
*
New Left
References
External links
*Hu Angang Biograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Angang
Living people
1953 births
Chinese New Left
Harvard University staff
Academic staff of Tsinghua University
People from Anshan
Educators from Liaoning
Economists from Liaoning
Writers from Liaoning
People's Republic of China writers
People's Republic of China economists