Wu Jinglian (; born January 24, 1930) is one of the preeminent

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 ...

s of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(PRC), primarily specializing in

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

as it applies to China's ongoing series of economic reforms. Renowned for his resolute conviction that socialism is compatible with a market system, he is affectionately referred to in the media as Wu Shichang (). Wu currently () holds multiple positions, the most important of which are: Professor of Economics at both the

China Europe International Business School China Europe International Business School (CEIBS; ) is a business school located in Shanghai, China. Established under an agreement between the Chinese government and the European Commission in Shanghai in November 1994, CEIBS was the first bus ...

and the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

; Senior Research Fellow for the

Development Research Center of the State Council Development Research Center (DRC; Chinese: 国务院发展研究中心 Hanyu Pinyin: Guówùyuàn Fāzhǎn Yánjiū Zhōngxīn) of the State Council of China is a public institution responsible for policy research, strategic review and consulting ...

of the PRC; and Member of the Standing Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

. As of 2021, he is also an adviser to the

China Finance 40 Forum The China Finance 40 Forum or CF40 is a Chinese think tank created in 2008 which specializes on issues of economic and financial policy. In January 2021, the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program ranked CF40 as #8 to ...

(CF40). Wu graduated from

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

with a degree in economics in 1954. He later attended the Institute of Economics at the

. Through his long career, he has, in addition to his professorships at Chinese universities, been visiting researcher and professor at a number of international universities, including

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. A prominent target of political persecution during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Wu was criticized for advocating the doctrine of "bourgeois right," more simply understood as the principle of "compensation according to work." He was forced to make public denunciations of his revered teacher

Sun Yefang Sun Yefang (; 24 October 1908 – 22 February 1983) was a pioneering Chinese economist. Biography Sun was born in Wuxi County (now Wuxi), Jiangsu, on 24 October 1908. His elder brother (1895–1980) was a politician in the government of th ...

, for which he later expressed deep regret. He has honoured the memory of another victim of political persecution,

Gu Zhun Gu Zhun (; 1915–1974) was a Chinese intellectual, economist and pioneer of post-Marxist Chinese liberalism. A victim of "anti-Rightist" purges, he spent his later life in prisons and reeducation centres. The recovery and publication of Gu's p ...

, whose unyielding character and pioneering attempts to revise Marxian economics in a market-oriented direction were for Wu a source of enlightenment. In the 1960s, Wu participated in a group led by economist Yu Guangyuan to write a textbook on political economy. The first economics textbook printed in China after 1949, the ''Political Economy Reader'' () was widely circulated and played a significant role in later economic reforms. Having called for China's opening up and celebrated its entry to the WTO, Wu was distressed by the side-effects of rapid growth: corruption, inequitable distribution, and

crony capitalism Crony capitalism, sometimes called cronyism, is an economic system in which businesses thrive not as a result of free enterprise, but rather as a return on money amassed through collusion between a business class and the political class. This is ...

(more often the "

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

capitalism" in Chinese). In the last ten years he has joined

Qin Hui Qin Hui or Qin Kuai (January 17, 1090 – November 18, 1155) was a Chinese politician. He was a Chancellor of the Song dynasty in Chinese history. He was a contemporary of Yue Fei during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song. Modern historians ...

He Qinglian He Qinglian () is a Chinese author and economist, most prominently known for her critical view of Chinese society and media controls in China. Biography She was born in Shaoyang, Hunan, China, in 1956. She studied history in Hunan Normal Univ ...

and other public intellectuals in raising

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

to prominence on the policy agenda. Wu is also the author of a number of books on China's economic reform. In 2008, state-owned media in China started calling Wu a spy for the U.S. The fact state-owned newspaper ''

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...

'' was authorized to call him such indicates that his economic and political ideas are great annoyances for the current leadership. Wu pointed out that “old-style Maoists” have been gaining influence in the government since 2004. These groups, he said, are pressing for a return to

central planning A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, pa ...

and placing blame for corruption and social inequality on the very market reforms he championed. Wu also pointed out that corrupt bureaucrats are pushing for the state to take a larger economic role so they can cash in on their positions through payoffs and bribes, as well as by steering business to allies. Because of these developments, Wu is not optimistic about the future of China, because “ e Maoists want to go back to central planning and the cronies want to get richer.”

Books

* ''Fifteen Critical Issues of the Reform of SOEs'', 1999 * ''Reform: Now at a Critical Point'', 2001 * ''Understanding and Interpreting Chinese Economic Reform'', Texere, 2005 ()

References

Biography from the China Europe International Business School
retrieved June 7, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Jinglian 1930 births People's Republic of China economists Living people Duke University faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Stanford University faculty Yale University faculty Chongqing Nankai Secondary School alumni Fudan University alumni Economists from Jiangsu Educators from Nanjing Writers from Nanjing People's Republic of China writers People of the Republic of China