State and market in local development: the cases of Wenzhou and Guyuan
Dr Zhang Jin (Vice President, Center for International Knowledge on Development, Development Research Center of the State Council, PRC), Dr Chen Xiao (Associate Research Fellow, Center for International Knowledge on Development, Development Research Center of the State Council, PRC) and Dr Liang Xiaomin (Associate Research Fellow, Center for International Knowledge on Development, Development Research Center of the State Council, PRC) will deliver lectures on state and market in local development: the cases of Wenzhou and Guyuan. The lectures will be followed by a question and answer session.
During the past 40 years, the number of people in China with incomes below US$1.90 per day—the World Bank’s absolute poverty line—has fallen by close to 800 million, accounting for almost three-quarters of the global reduction in extreme poverty. In 2022, the World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council of China published the report Four Decades of Poverty Reduction in China: Drivers, Insights for the World, and the Way Ahead. This seminar will introduce China’s poverty alleviation approach and the intellectual thinking behind it. It will discuss the dynamic relationship between the state, market and social networks in addressing the challenges for getting out of poverty and the implications of China’s experience for global poverty reduction efforts.
The introduction will be followed by the presentation of the cases of Wenzhou and Guyuan.
Wenzhou is located in the southeastern coast of China with a long history of commerce and trade. From the early 1980s, Wenzhou has transformed itself from an agriculture-based poor area into a flourishing urban area marked by rapid industrial development. The Wenzhou case will discuss the role of the state, market, and social networks in the growth of the garment button and electrical equipment industries, illustrating the enterprising spirit of the local people, the benefit from connecting to markets, and the local government’s facilitating role in the formation of industrial clusters and the pursuit for industrial upgrading.
Guyuan, located in the northwestern region of China, was one of the poorest counties in the country. For decades, Guyuan people strived to lift themselves out of poverty and finally succeeded in 2021. The Guyuan case will discuss the poverty alleviation approaches of inter-provincial cooperation and poverty alleviation factory, illustrating the dynamic interactions among the state, market and social networks in different stages of the journey towards getting out of poverty.
Dr Zhang Jin is a Senior Research Fellow of the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, Vice President of the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD). She taught and researched in the University of Cambridge for many years. She was formerly Associate Professor at Cambridge Judge Business School, Deputy Director of China Centre Jesus College and Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge. Her research includes topics on development in China and the world; mutual understanding of the Chinese and Western civilizations; globalization, big business and China; the political economy of state-owned enterprises. Her publications include Catch-up and Competitiveness in China (Routledge 2004 and 2016), The Global Business Revolution and the Cascade Effect (Palgrave, 2007), China and the World Economy: Transition and Challenges (Routledge, 2018). She is executive editor of the Routledge series China in the World.
Dr Chen Xiao is an Associate Research Fellow and Deputy Director of Research Organization Division at the Center for International Knowledge on Development. Her research interests include industrial policy, globalization and firm competition, and Chinese political economy. She has published a series of books, papers and articles include Chinese Private Manufacturing Firms, The Story of Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone, Automation versus Relocation in the Global Clothing Industry, China’s Industrialization and Poverty Reduction, China’s Urbanization Experience and Its Implications to Africa, and Development Accelerator. She has rich experience of joint research with international development agencies, such as the World Bank, German Institute of Development and Sustainability, and the Department for International Development, UK. She holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Dr Liang Xiaomin is an Associate Research Fellow at the China Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD). She joined CIKD in 2018 after completing her PhD in Management at Renmin University of China. Her research interest is in development economics and specifically on poverty alleviation, income distribution and rural development in China. She was the project coordinator for CIKD’s joint research with the World Bank on China’s poverty alleviation in the last four decades. She participated as a key member in multiple poverty reduction policy evaluations for the Chinese government, visited dozens of poor counties to interview local officials and residents. Her policy research on self-reliance and poverty reduction won acknowledgement from the State Council. Recently, she has been working on the international lessons on income distribution and the implications for common prosperity in China.
This is one of the events in the on-going China Forum Seminar series, hosted by the China Forum, Jesus College. The seminars, given by eminent speakers, cover a broad range of topics and disciplines.
Booking
This is a virtual seminar. Attendance is free. Advance booking is required by emailing: china-forum@jesus.cam.ac.uk. Priority will be given to members of Jesus College and the University of Cambridge.
