 Professor
Li Yining, one of China's most well-known economists, spearheaded on a
theoretical basis of the reform that has resulted in the growth of the
Chinese economy since the 1980s.
Professor Li graduated
from the Department of Economics of Peking University. As a young economist,
he was labeled as a "rightist" in 1957 when the anti-rightist
campaign was launched. During the period of the Cultural Revolution from
1966 to 1976, he suffered greatly for his ideals and was sent to live
in a farming village. He was rehabilitated in 1978 and garnered attention
for his bold theoretical declaration in support of economic reform, which
had just gotten underway.
Professor Li's theoretical
contribution to economic reform was his insistence that the first key
step of reform was to reform ownership, and his proposal that the goal
should be a share-holding system--in other words, privatization--of state-run
companies. Until the mid-1980s, the mainstream tenet of systemic reform
of the economy was the theory of giving precedence to price reform. Professor
Li, however, presented the theory that precedence should be given to ownership
reform. He insisted that price reform did nothing more than create a competitive
environment for companies, while ownership reform solved the problems
related to profit, accountability, stimulus, and the driving force for
development.
The correctness of
his assertion was borne out in 1988, when price reform, which had been
implemented too quickly, generated serious inflation, throwing into danger
the entire process of economic reform itself.Professor Li insisted that
the objective for giving priority to ownership reform was to create companies
accountable for profits or losses. The means to accomplish this, he claimed,
was by creating a shareholding system to reform state-run companies, whose
accountability for profits or losses was ill-defined. That's why he came
to be known as "Mr. Stock Market Li". Thus, his theory and policy
proposals for reforming the ownership system contributed greatly to current
Chinese economic reform and growth, and became widely hailed throughout
the world.
Professor Li has held
many important positions. He has been a member of the Standing Committee,
a core organization of the National People's Congress, the Chinese national
legislature, and a member of the advisory organization, the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee. He also
has been involved with formulating fiscal and economic policy. In addition,
he has for many years been the Dean of the Guanghua School of Management,
China's premier business school founded by Peking University. Thus, he
helps train many young economists, economic technocrats, and economic
scholars in industry, government, and academia. Further, he contributes
to the development of amicable relations between Japan and China, serving
as a Chinese member of the 21st Century Committee for Japan-China Friendship
and the Chairman of the Chinese Society for History Studies of Sino-Japanese
Relations.
It is said that the
growth of the Chinese economy will have an increasingly major impact on
the world in the 21st century, particularly the economies of Japan and
the Asian region. It also is noted that it will face the new challenge
of sustained development. Professor Li's research and his wide-ranging
activities have provided the theoretical guidelines for the development
of the Chinese economy. For that, he is indeed a worthy choice for the
Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes. |
