Chen Yunxian, Chief advisor of Guangdong Regional Management Innovation Center, delivered a lecture in Lingnan Seminar
On the morning of September 20th, Prof. Chen Yunxian, Doctor of Economics and Chief Advisor of the Guangdong Regional Management Innovation Center, delivered a lecture in the Lingnan seminar hall. The event was hosted by Prof. Ling Jiang, a Professor of Economics at Lingnan College. Prof. Chen Yunxian’s lecture, titled “Viewing the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau development from an intermediate economic perspective”, was mainly concerned about simulations of contemporary and future scenarios of the Guangdong bay area, using an intermediate economic perspective. In attendance were over 130 students and teachers, including Lu Jun, Executive Dean of Lingnan College, Sun Yet-Sen University, Huang Shan, Party Secretary of Lingnan College and Zhang Yanmei, Associate Dean of Lingnan College.
Prior to the lecture, Lu Jun expressed a warm welcome to Prof. Chen’s presence in the seminar, addressing the audience first with a brief introduction of Prof. Chen. Prof. Chen Yunxian, holds a Doctor’s Degree in Economics from Peking University. In addition to founding Guangfa Security Ltd, he is also honored as an Advanced Lecturer in Economics and enjoys special allowance from the State Council. He was first invited to give guest lectures at Lingnan College in the 1990s, and has since been invited to serve as a guest professor at Harvard, Peking and Sun Yet-Sen University.
At the beginning of the lecture, to answer Prof. Lin’s question “What roles do you think the local government and enterprises are playing in the development of the bay area,” Prof. Chen shared his insights concerning managing a city when he was the executive director of Shunde District, Foshan. He pointed out that, in terms of the economic resources, beyond the productive resources that are allocated by the market and non-productive resources that are allocated by the government, such as public resources, there are other kinds of prospective resources that can and should be allocated by the government. This can be achieved designating them public goods, and allowing the government to take responsibility.
In his opinion, this is a process through which the government’s measures and the shared resources can be combined. He said, “Let the market do what it can achieve and let the government handle the rest. The role for government is to shape the allocation of resources in a deeper level and make sure to take actions that work.”
In terms of the role that government plays in the regional development, Prof. Chen thinks that the government needs innovation to thrive, including innovations in theory, technology, organization and regulation based on concept innovations. Considering the bay area is one of the most important strategic regions in China, we need to work down-to-earth as well as possess a futuristic vision.
Compared to the San Francisco bay area, the bay area in New York City and the Tokyo bay area, the Guangdong bay area is faced with a special situation that can be best described as “One country, Two systems”. In light of this situation, the bay area should be concerned about is how to foster internal potential as well as strengthen its influence both domestically and abroad.
To achieve those goals, we still have to put it in three dimensions of resources allocation, which are 1) industry resources, 2) urban resources and 3) human-related resources. Only when the allocation of resources is achieved can the bay area achieve profound development both internally and externally.
In the lecture that lasted for about an hour, Prof. Chen and Prof. Lin also discussed questions like the development of local governments and enterprises in the bay area and how Guangzhou and Shenzhen could each play a distinctive role throughout the process.
Prof. Chen’s insight represents an exceptional combination forward-thinking government and high scholarship. The lecture was well-received by the audience due to its rich and sophisticated content. After the lecture, Prof. Chen answered a series of questions in terms of the policies and problems of the bay area asked by the audience, who tried to have deeper conversations with Prof. Chen.
Lingnan College started to host the Lingnan seminar in 2011. Over the course of these years, many outstanding scholars, government officials, experts and industry leaders were invited to deliver speeches in the seminar. They generously shared their research, analysis and experiences to help the students broaden their minds and acquire new knowledge. The seminar is divided in three parts, the Lingnan Master Seminar, the Lingnan Financial Seminar and the Lingnan CEO Seminar, all of which are well-received by the students and the teachers of Lingnan. They also attract a considerable amount of attention from outside the college. To date, 32 Lingnan Seminars has been successfully held in Lingnan College.
