Wu Jinglian

{{Short description|Chinese economist}} {{family name hatnote|[[Wu (surname)|Wu]]|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox economist | honorific_prefix = | name = Wu Jinglian | honorific_suffix = | image = Wu Jinglian 1930.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = 吴敬琏 | native_name_lang = zh | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1930|1|24}} | birth_place = [[Nanjing]], [[Jiangsu]], China | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | citizenship = | spouse =  | mother = [[Deng Jixing]] | website =  | institution =  | field = | school_tradition = | alma_mater = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | influences = | contributions = | awards = | memorials = | repec_prefix = | repec_id = | module = | signature =  | notes =  }} {{Liberalism in China|Intellectuals}} '''Wu Jinglian''' ({{zh|s=吴敬琏|p=Wú Jìnglián}}; born January 24, 1930) is one of the preeminent [[economist]]s of the [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC), primarily specializing in [[economic policy]] as it applies to China's ongoing [[reform and opening up]].

Renowned for his resolute conviction that socialism is compatible with a market system, he is affectionately referred to in the media as Wu Shichang ({{zh|c=吴市场|l=Market Wu}}).

Wu currently ({{As of|2006|lc=on}}) holds multiple positions, the most important of which are: Professor of Economics at both the [[China Europe International Business School]] and the [[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]]; Senior Research Fellow for the [[Development Research Center of the State Council]] of the PRC; and Member of the Standing Committee of the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]. As of 2021, he is also an adviser to the [[China Finance 40 Forum]] (CF40).<ref name=CF40>{{cite web|website=CF40|url=http://new.cf40.org.cn/plus/view.php?aid=3042|title=Organizational Structure|access-date=2021-02-07|archive-date=2021-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125162047/http://new.cf40.org.cn/plus/view.php?aid=3042|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Wu graduated from [[Fudan University]] with a degree in economics in 1954. He later attended the Institute of Economics at the [[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]]. 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 University|Yale]], [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], [[Duke University|Duke]], [[Stanford University|Stanford]], and [[Oxford University|Oxford]].

A prominent target of political persecution during the [[Cultural Revolution]], Wu was criticized for advocating the doctrine of "bourgeois rights."

He was forced to make public denunciations of his revered teacher [[Sun Yefang]], for which he later expressed deep regret. He has honoured the memory of another victim of political persecution, [[Gu Zhun]], 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'' ({{zh|c=政治经济学读本}}) 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]] (more often the "[[magnate]] capitalism" in Chinese). In the last ten years he has joined [[Qin Hui (historian)|Qin Hui]], [[He Qinglian]] and other public intellectuals in raising [[social justice]] to prominence on the policy agenda.

Wu is also the author of several 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]]'' was authorized to call him such indicates that his economic and political ideas are great annoyances for the current leadership.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news |last= Barboza|first=David |date=26 September 2009 |title=China's Mr. Wu Keeps Talking |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/global/27spy.html|newspaper= [[The New York Times]]|access-date=13 January 2016 }}</ref>

Wu pointed out that "old-style Maoists" have been gaining influence in the government since 2004.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> These groups, he said, are pressing for a return to [[economic planning|central planning]] and placing blame for corruption and social inequality on the very market reforms he championed.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

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.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Because of these developments, Wu is not optimistic about the future of China, because "[t]he Maoists want to go back to central planning and the cronies want to get richer." <ref name="nytimes.com"/>

==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 ({{ISBN|1-58799-197-7}})

==References== {{Reflist}} *[http://www.ceibs.edu/faculty/cv/1106.shtml Biography from the China Europe International Business School] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716180711/http://www.ceibs.edu/faculty/cv/1106.shtml |date=2011-07-16 }}, retrieved June 7, 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Jinglian}} [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese economists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Duke University faculty]] [[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty]] [[Category:Stanford University faculty]] [[Category:Yale University faculty]] [[Category:Chongqing Nankai Secondary School alumni]] [[Category:Fudan University alumni]] [[Category:Economists from Jiangsu]] [[Category:Educators from Nanjing]] [[Category:Writers from Nanjing]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese writers]]