Wellington Conference on Contemporary China 2012

The Chinese Model of Modern Economic Development and Social Transformation

Date: 13-14 August 2012

Location: James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor Wellington

Cohosted by: New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Government, Peking University

Leading China scholars from China, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and others, including Professor WANG Shaoguang of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor WANG Hui of Tsinghua University, Professor Bin WONG of UCLA, Professor FU Jun of Peking University, Professor Zhu Feng of Peking University, Professor Sheng Hong of Unirule Institute of Economics. gathered in Wellington at this year's Wellington Conference on Contemporary China on 13-14 August, and debated what has been driving the rapid economic development and social change in China. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon Bill English opened the conference, with a keynote speech, addressing primarily the issue of foreign direct investment in New Zealand. The NZ Contemporary China Centre organised this conference with Peking University's School of Government. The theme roundtable at the beginning led panels on the politic economy of modern development, industrial structure, labour and rural-urban development; social transformation and management; culture, society and institutional change; and development, law and the world.

China’s rapid economic growth and profound social transformation in the past decades has presented a significant challenge to theories of modern economic growth and social development. Modern social and economic development has come in different forms and with different dynamics. The Anglo-Saxon capitalism led the early forms, driven by efficiency, market and competitiveness, individual interests and profits. The Soviet model for much of the 20th century ran the opposite: equality, planning and management, and the collective good. At the same time, the Rhine model in continental Europe brought in the state in the shaping of the dynamics of market economy and competitive politics, seeking a balance between the public good and private interests. The East Asian model in the second half of the 20th century has seen a further leaning toward the role of the state and a more closely embedded relationship between state and society, and state and market. Then, there is China.

The debate over the Chinese model did not come until recently for the obvious reasons: most would agree today that China started its experience of modern economic development and social transformation with no clear vision, model or direction. However, more than 30 years of rapid economic growth and profound social change has given scholars sufficient confidence and interest to look into what has been driving the economic and social transformation at such a scale. Is the Chinese experience unique in modern national development? Is China’s experience a better working of competing forces and values in modern society, thus an improvement over earlier/other modern experiences? Or China’s experience shows a fundamental different rationale and/or a different approach to the organization of modern economy and society, something that goes back to its historical and cultural traditions? Or there is not really a model in China’s experience that speaks to social scientists – there is no consistency or coherence as informed by a central defining logic? Or the Chinese experience is really a compromise of competing values, interests and institutions in a developing society, bad or good from a particular ideological perspective?

The conference brought together leading China scholars to address these issues, with five panels, one theme roundtable and 18 invited speakers to examine the fundamental nature of the Chinese experience of modern economic development and social transformation, assess whether there is a Chinese model of modern economic growth and social development, explain what that model might be, and analyse forces, dynamics and arrangements that have shaped China’s experience in a broad context of the experiences of modern development.

Key speakers

• Professor Shaoguang WANG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Professor Jun FU, Peking University
• Professor Hui WANG, Tsinghua University
• Professor Zhiwei TONG, East China University of Political Science and Law
• Professor Bin WONG, University of California Los Angeles
• Professor Feng ZHU, Peking University
• Professor Hong SHENG, Shangdong University

See detailed short bios of these key speakers and other speakers at the conference.

Conference programme

The conference presents a theme roundtable and five panels that address key issues and aspects of the Chinese model of economic development and social transformation.

See full conference programme pdf456KB.

Roundtable: Theory and Debate

Venue: Grand Chancellor 1, 16th Floor

Chair: Xiaoming Huang, Victoria University of Wellington

Panel: Hui WANG, Tsinghua University, Jun FU, Peking University, Bin Wong, UCLA, Shaoguang WANG, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong SHENG, Shangdong University Hong Professor Feng ZHU, Peking University

Panel one: Political Economy of Modern Development

Venue: Grand Chancellor 1, 16th Floor

Chair: Jun FU, Peking University

Bin Wong, University of California, Los Angeles

Paper: Economic Development with Chinese Characteristics: Theories, Models, and Lessons

SHENG Hong, Shandong University

Paper: Chinese Political Institutions in the Market Economy: Short Term Effects and Long Term Efficacy

TONG Zhiwei, China East University of Political Science and Law

Paper: A Constitutional Law Interpretation of the Chinese Model

Reza Hasmath, University of Melbourne

Paper: The Beijing Consensus: An Alternative Model of Policy or Hype

Panel two: Social Transformation and Management

Venue: Grand Chancellor 1, 16th Floor

Chair: Brian Moloughney, University of Otago

WANG Shaoguang, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Paper: Towards a More Secure and Equal Society? The Emergence of Social Policy in China

LIU Chen, Beijing Foreign Studies University; and LIN, Rupeng, Jinan University

Paper: Projecting Social Transformation in China: Nation Branding and Social Management

Venkat Raman, Indian Institute of Management

Paper: Governance and the Challenge of ‘Social Management’ in China

Yiyan WANG, Victoria University Wellington

Paper: The Agrarian Question in the China Model: Jia Pingwa’s Nongmin Stories

Panel three: Cultural Tradition and Change

Venue: Grand Chancellor 1, 16th Floor

Chair: Paul Clark, University of Auckland

James Liu, Victoria University of Wellington

Paper: Are there culturally contingent forms of belief about authority, and to what extent do they provide psychological affordances for different models of ordering societies

Trent BAX, Ewha Womans University

Paper: Internet Addiction’ in China: The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Youth

Xie FANG, Stanford University

Paper: The Making of Mao’s Model Soldier: Nation-Building, Party Legitimacy, and Social Transformation

Panel four: Modern Values and Institutions

Venue: Grand Chancellor 1, 16th Floor

Chair: SHENG Hong, Shandong University

WANG Hui, Tsinghua University

Paper: Rethinking the Dialectics of Autonomy and Opening

ZHU Jianfei, University of Melbourne

Paper: A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains: Scale and Statehood, for a Different Modernity

Romie Frederick Littrell, Auckland University of Technology

Paper: Thick Face, Black Heart--Cultural Values, Utilitarianism and Moral Idealism in Chinese Management and Leadership Beliefs and Behavior

Panel five: Industrial Structure, Labor and Rural-Urban Development

Venue: Grand Chancellor 1, 16th Floor

Chair: Bin Wong, University of California, Los Angeles

Morris Altman, Victoria University of Wellington

Paper: Chinese Economic Development in the Context of Institutional Endogenous Growth Theory: Tight Labour Markets, Labor Rights and Sustainable Growth

Jason Young, Victoria University of Wellington

Paper: Breaking the China Mould: Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation

Yuling CUI, Massimilano Tani, Daehoon Nahm, Macquarie University,

Paper: Self-Employment in China: Are Rural Migrant Workers and Urban Residents Alike?

Siyu TAO, Yunnan Normal University

Paper: Service Industry and Industrial Transformation in China

LI Wanxin, City University of Hong Kong

Paper: Environmental information transparency and implications for green growth in China