Event overview
The opening session of the World Young Economists'Forum featured a wide-ranging keynote by Professor Li Jinliang, Professor at School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, offering a structured and data-driven overview of China’s economic transformation in both historical and global context.
Beginning with long-term growth patterns, Professor Li examined China’s trajectory since reform and opening-up, situating four decades of rapid GDP expansion within broader dynamics of industrialization, urbanization, and integration into the world economy. He emphasized the interaction between supply-side expansion through industrial development and demand growth driven by large-scale rural-to-urban migration, presenting this dual mechanism as a central engine of China’s modernization
The lecture moved beyond headline growth figures to address deeper structural foundations. Professor Li traced China’s post-1978 performance to institutional and social investments made earlier, including mass education, cooperative organization, and the formation of a nationally integrated industrial base. Rather than portraying growth as an unexplained anomaly, he framed China’s rise as a return to global productivity norms after prolonged historical constraints, grounded in long-term preparation and policy continuity
A substantial portion of the session was dedicated to present-day challenges and future direction. Topics included productivity and energy efficiency, demographic transition, financial stability, technological self-reliance, and China’s shift from high-speed growth toward innovation-driven, consumption-oriented, and service-led development. Professor Li also addressed environmental constraints and carbon neutrality, situating China’s policy choices within an increasingly complex global economic environment marked by fragmentation and trade frictions
The keynote concluded with a forward-looking discussion of reform, openness, and resilience, emphasizing innovation and institutional adaptability as key determinants of sustained development. An extended Q&A allowed participants to engage with issues ranging from macroeconomic structure to long-term societal transformation, setting an ambitious intellectual tone for the Forum’s future sessions.
