Hu Angang

Hu Angang (simplified Chinese: 胡鞍钢; traditional Chinese: 胡鞍鋼; pinyin: Hú Āngāng) is an economics professor at Tsinghua University.

Hu Angang
胡鞍钢
Born (1953-04-27) 27 April 1953
NationalityChinese
Alma materTangshan Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Organization(s)School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
MovementChinese nationalism, Chinese New Left

Hu Angang was born on 27 April 1953. He is a professor in the School of Public Policy & Management at Tsinghua University as well as Director of the Center for China Study at Tsinghua-CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences).[1]

Hu Angang received his master's degree at Beijing University of Science and Technology in 1984. He received his PhD in Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1988.[2][3]

Political and economic positions

Hu claims that the Chinese socialist system is superior to other systems. In a July 2011 article for the People's Forum, Hu wrote that: "The CPC has always adhered to the mass line, rooting itself among the people in order to make democratic decisions. This is manifested in the superiority of the socialist policy-making system with Chinese characteristics. This policy-making system is based on the mass line of the Party, that is from the masses, to the masses and putting into practice what has been learned from practice."[4]

Hu is also a proponent of China's state-owned enterprises, claiming that they are the backbone of national growth in China. In an op-ed for the People's Daily Hu wrote: "The Western corporate culture emphasizes individualism, while the State-owned enterprise culture focuses more on harmony and collectivism. A good business model not only creates material wealth, but also creates spiritual wealth. Chinese corporate culture reflects this spiritual wealth, which in turn is a form of internal and external soft power. China, being a huge economy, needs large, internationally competitive State-owned enterprises. This is the only way that China can ensure that its enterprises enjoy a strong position amid fierce international competition."[5] This puts him at odds with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang who publicly favors reducing State intervention in the economy and has said that the Government should reduce its role in the economy even if doing so feels "like cutting one’s wrist."[6] His advocate of China's SOE has led him to be described as a Chinese New Left.[7]

In 2012 Hu co-wrote a paper calling for the forcible assimilation of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang in an effort to create a standardized Chinese "state-race."[8] Although this hard line policy was initially criticized within China it later gained popularity as a policy proposal.[8]

Hu is known in China for his strong support of socialism and the Chinese Communist Party. In July 2013 he wrote an op-ed for the People's Daily stating: "Compared with the civil society in the West, the people's society is superior... it is a great made-in-China innovation in theory and practice." He went on to say that "[t]he people's society is a socialist society under the leadership of the Communist Party."[9] This drew strong criticism within China from social media sites and Chinese academics such as Yu Jianrong.

In August 2018 he was criticised in an open letter written by Tsinghua University alumni calling for the university to fire Hu. The letter accused him of using “self-serving criteria” in his research so as to exaggerate claims of China’s greatness. The letter states that Hu espoused an exaggerated sense of national superiority and overt nationalism that, according to the letter, harms China’s foreign relations whilst also misleading the public.[10]

See also

References
  1. "IAS Full-Time Faculty: HU Angang", Organization for Asian Studies, Waseda University website, accessed October 2008.
  2. "Angang Hu." The Complete Marquis Who's Who. 23rd ed. 2007. LexisNexis Academic.
  3. "Biography" (PDF). UNjobs Association of Geneva. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  4. "China's Rise Is Rooted in the Superiorities of Its System _ Qiushi Journal". english.qstheory.cn. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012.
  5. "Backbone for further development|Op-Ed Contributors|chinadaily.com.cn". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  6. "China's new premier Li Keqiang 'to cut state control over economy'".
  7. Mierzejewski, Dominik (31 March 2009). "'Not to Oppose but to Rethink' The New Left Discourse on the Chinese Reforms". Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia. 8 (1): 15–29. doi:10.17477/jcea.2009.8.1.015. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  8. "Fear and oppression in Xinjiang: China's war on Uighur culture". Financial Times. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  9. "Leading leftist academic mocked over 'Maoist' op-ed". 20 July 2013.
  10. Huang, Cary (4 August 2018). "Academic Hu Angang under fire for claiming China has overtaken US as world power". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  • Hu Angang Biography
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