Mao Yushi (; born 14 January 1929 in
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...
) is a Chinese
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
. Mao graduated from
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU; ) is a Public university, public research university in Shanghai, Shanghai, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China ...
in 1950 and was
labeled a 'rightist' in 1958. In 1986, Mao was a visiting scholar at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, and in 1990, Mao was a senior lecturer at
Queensland University
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = Br ...
.
Career
He co-founded the Unirule Institute of Economics, which educated new and old generations of Chinese on the importance of private property, freedom of choice, voluntary exchange, rule of law, and other aspects of the free market economy, teaching how to transition away from central planning. On 4 May 2012, Mao Yushi was awarded the
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Ind ...
's Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty for his work in
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, e ...
and
free-market economics
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
. In October 2014, Beijing began a "crackdown on dissent" by banning the publication of his works. In January 2017, they also shut down his Web site.
Criticism of Mao Zedong
Mao Yushi wrote an online column criticizing the
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
and
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
policies of
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
in China. He was attacked by
Maoists
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 Chi ...
in the country, who called for his arrest.
Family
Mao's uncle was the famous engineer
Mao Yisheng.
References
External links
Texts by Mao Yushi translated in French and English
1929 births
People's Republic of China economists
University of Queensland faculty
Living people
Chongqing Nankai Secondary School alumni
Shanghai Jiao Tong University alumni
Chinese classical liberals
Chinese anti-communists
Chinese democracy activists
Educators from Nanjing
Economists from Jiangsu
Writers from Nanjing
People's Republic of China writers
{{China-economist-stub