The 2020 Lingnan New Year Forum (Shenzhen) Successfully held

On the afternoon of January 11,the 2020 Lingnan New Year Forum (Shenzhen) held at Room 602 of the Shenzhen Industry-University-Research Building of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). Speakers ofMr. CAI Qingfu, Managing Director of BOC International; Mr. ZHU Haobing, Chairman of Wealedger Network Technologies; and Mr. LIU Yanchu, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Lingnan College of SYSU were invited on the day to share their insightful perspectives regarding the trend of financial market in 2020. The forum was chaired by Mr. LU Jun, Dean of Lingnan (University) College of SYSU. The attendees in auditorium were the current students, alumni, and guests including Mr. CHEN Xianfeng, Secretary of Lingnan College Party Committee; Deputy Secretary HUANG Tao; Mr. James Wong, Chairman of the Board; Mr. QIU Hong, Vice Chairman of the Board; Board Advisors Mr. WU Rongkai and Mr. XU Junhui; Mr. LI Zhiwei, President of the MBA Alumni Association; and Mr. YE Zhiduan, President of the Grown-ups Education Association.

The forum started with the opening speech by Dean Lu Jun, in which he grandly introduced to the audience the three keynote speakers, the Board leaders, College leaders, and relevant alumni. The Dean also expressed his warm welcome to the participating students and alumni. Dean LU Jun remarked that the annual Lingnan New Year Forum was serving as a bridge between Lingnan (University) College and its alumni working in Shenzhen; this event demonstrated that the College had great faith in Shenzhen’s economic development. Significant changes had taken place in the global economy and finance during the recent years, and people were concerned about the momentum of this year for which we hoped to provoke some inspiration at this forum. He expressed his sincere appreciation to Mr. CAI Qingfu – the Managing Director of BOCI International in Hong Kong, for Mr.CAI’s insightful sharing for consecutive years on the forums. It was hoped that all the participants could benefit from the exchange and gain insights. 

Mr. Cai Qingfu, the Managing Director of Bank of China International (Hong Kong), gave a speech on the theme of "Financial Market Outlook, Challenges and Opportunities in 2020", pointing out that 2019 had been a very special year in which the bond and stock markets had both been profitable; but the incoming year would be a year brimming of opportunities as well as challenges. He also provided some advices regarding  how to do asset allocation and investment under such circumstances. Mr. CAI specified the possible challenges and opportunities faced by the global market in 2020, and then discussed the 2020 global financial trend from four perspectives including. financial markets in 2019 versus in 2018, Sino-US relations, global monetary policies, and the home bond market versus overseas bond and stock markets.

Associate Professor LIU Yanchu, Assistant Dean of Lingnan College of Sun Yat-sen University, as the next speaker, discussed aboutwhat blockchain was and how it was applied in multiple scenarios. He first recalled the spirit of XI Jinping's speech at the eighteenth collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC on the development of blockchain technology. Then he popularized the core technical principles of the blockchain with simple terms and examples, thenclarified the application boundaries and technical limitations of the blockchain by specific examples. He particularly emphasized that in real business world, blockchain technology should be combined with Internet of Things (IOT), artificial intelligence (AI) and other frontier technologies. Finally, he illustrated the application and development trend of blockchain technology at government service counters, tax invoices, supply-chain finance and in other fields.

Mr. ZHU Haobing, the Chairman of Wealedger Network Technologies talked  about the tech-value of blockchain, the definition of decentralization, the application scenarios of blockchain, the difficulties in blockchain applications, and the overall global competition momentum from technical perspectives.Meanwhile, he also shared his anticipation of the commercial trend of the next generation of Internet. He believed that blockchain should be the first technology of productive relations in human history, and it would become the “Internet” of next generation. Business partners with consensus are necessary for enterprises to carry out blockchain work so that it is easier to promote the development of blockchain business. The application scenarios of blockchain would include digital finance, people's livelihood, smart cities, government affairs, etc., which could safeguard the money, boost efficiency, facilitate data sharing and controlling, and shorten the process.

The last session was for interaction, where students and alumni actively raised questions about the application of blockchain, how blockchain could help small and medium-sized enterprises to solve credit risk issues, and the rise of financial markets in 2020. The three speakers respectively answered and shared impressive viewpoints, ground-rooted analysis, evaluation of the possible trend, and prospects.

Even though the guest speakers brought audience brilliant enlightenment regarding blockchain industry, the forum had to come to an end. The Lingnan New Year Forum has been held in Shenzhen for seven sessions every January. Well-known scholars and  influential entrepreneurs from both domestic and international business communities are invited to share their views on the opportunities and challenges coming in the next year. Lingnan New Year Forum intends to become a platform where new ideas can be generated and consensus can be formed in the exchange of different viewpoints. We do not only provide our Shenzhen students and alumni with new learning opportunities, but more importantly, strengthening brand impact of Lingnan (University) College of SYSU. We look forward to the meeting next year.