On the afternoon of April 28, the 3rd Academic Salon “Highlights of Strategic Thoughts for Major Economies” for Ph.D. Students in Theoretical Economics in 2023 (63rd in history) was staged by the China Center for Special Economic Zone Research (CCSEZR), Shenzhen University (SZU) at conference room 1500 of the Huiwen Building. The salon was honored to host Prof. Wu Shanlin from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Prof. Wu, Chair Professor, Doctoral Advisor, and Doctor in Economics of School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, has published more than 50 papers in journals including Economic Research Journal, Social Sciences in China (Internal Circulation), Academic Monthly, and Journal of Finance and Economics, one third of which were reprinted by Xinhua Digest, Chinese Social Science Digest, China University Academic Abstracts, and China Social Science Excellence, and 7 academic monographs. He won 3 second and third prizes awarded by the Ministry of Education for excellent outcomes of scientific research (humanities and social sciences) in colleges and universities, 1 second prize awarded by the Ministry of Finance for excellent outcomes of theoretical research in finance in China, and 5 first, second and third prizes for excellent outcomes in philosophy of social science. He presided over and participated in a total of 7 general, key, and major projects of the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), 2 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and 5 provincial- and ministry-level projects. Currently, Prof. Wu as a chief expert chaired the “Research on History of Strategic Economic Thoughts of the People’s Republic of China”, a major NSSFC project, and “Research on China’s Building of a New Development Dynamic Featuring Positive Interplay Between Dual Economic Flows Under New Circumstances”, a project under Scientific Research and Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, long devoting himself to research on “Strategic Economic Thoughts Regarding Rise of Western Powers and Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation”. Concurrently, he serves as an editorial board member of the Bulletin of the History of Economic Thought, Chinese Journal of Political Economics, and Journal of Economics of Shanghai School, vice president of the China Association for the Study of Foreign Economics, and executive director of Chinese Association for Political Economy. The salon was presided over by CCSEZR Prof. Li Fan and attended by more than 20 people including CCSEZR Associate Professor Huang Yiheng, and graduate and doctoral students in theoretical economics from CCSEZR.
The lecture was concentrated on the UK and the US. In the long course of recent and modern history, the success of the two countries provided important historical clarification and temporal positioning of the transition of economic growth model from free trade, colonial system, and mercantilism to the stage of national development characterized by the synergy of free market and government intervention. However, the successful development paths of the two countries provided limited reference value in the end, as now when globalization stagnated and even showed a declining trend in recent years, they fail to adapt to the needs of the majority of developing countries for industrialization. In contrast, China’s concept of peaceful development serves as a new reference for the world today. Prof. Wu summarized the significance of effective strategic decisions for the rise of the UK and the US, as correct guidance on strategic thought is conducive to the prosperity of a country by promoting industrial transformation and upgrade and increase in national income, arousing the interest of teachers and students present in the value of national strategic thoughts. The lecture was based on rich historical materials. Prof. Wu clarified his thoughts on the future of US-China relations with game theory, from the perspective of international relations. In the third part of the lecture, Prof. Wu indicated that the establishment of the great strategy to “fully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, continue reforms to develop the socialist market economy, promote high-standard opening-up, and accelerate efforts to foster a new pattern of development that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows” was strategically important under the new era with regard to the achievement of the goal of developing China into a country with its comprehensive national power surpassing that of hegemons, taking the achievement of two great strategic goals under different times as examples: the goal of “standing up” by supporting agriculture with industry and laying a solid foundation for heavy industry between 1949 and 1978 and the goal of “growing prosperous” by ushering in a new era of modernization of socialism with Chinese characteristics based on marvelous fruits of reform and opening-up before 2012. This marked the end of the salon with acclaim of all teachers and students present, who were left wanting and hungry for more knowledge with a sense of pity due to limited time.
This salon lasted for two hours. With the completion of the lecture, Prof. Wu replied to questions from teachers and students present, and his reply inspired them with great wisdom. All people present gained valuable insights from this lecture and they took a group shot with Prof to round off this salon.
Correspondent: Ma Yang
