The «Dialogues about the East» project held an open lecture by Professor Zhang Wei-wei (PRC)
June 19, the Centre for Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library hosted a lecture by Professor Zhang Wei-wei on the future of China and the world system as a whole
Professor Zhang Wei-wei, a well-known Chinese political scientist and journalist, Director of the Institute of China and Professor of International Relations at Fudan University (Shanghai, China), the author of «The China Wave: The Rise of a Civilisation» gave a lecture about The China Model and its Possible Global Implications.
More than a hundred listeners registered for the meeting. Together with the lecturer, they managed to analyse China's position in the modern world and to highlight some national features that caused China's rise, as well as to compare it with European countries.
The project team has prepared a brief synopsis of the meeting and offers to read the main ideas of Zhang Wei-wei:
There is a difference between the traditional questions of Westerners and Chinese: «To be, or not to be» - for Europeans, and «To be, or not to be. But most important is To do» - China does not just question, but acts.
The most important achievement of the PRC is overcoming inequality with the Western powers: China's middle class has become twice the size of the US population in a decade; Successful social policies; China has become a world leader in renewable energy (China became the largest energy producer in 2010); China is now at the forefront of the 4-th industrial revolution.
China is a civilisational state, so it can only have its own way of development, peculiar only to it. Attempts by other countries to replicate the Chinese model are doomed to failure.
Zhang Wei-wei also quoted Deng Xiaoping during his speech, talked about economic indicators, which can not always be believed, but a great emphasis was placed on the comparison of China and the rest of the world.
The features of the «China Model» are the thoughts that the people are the basis of everything and the state must maintain a balance between society, capital and its power. Therefore, a mixed economy and constant experimentation (for example, the emergence of new FEZs) is the best way forward for China.
The «Dialogues about the East» project team thanks all participants of the meeting and invites to the events in the next academic year!
Our partners and co-organisers of the event:
Institute of Oriental Studies Russian Academy of Sciences
The Centre of Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library