China's Think Tank Boosts Urban Development and Soft Power Enhancement-Hu Jian |

China's Think Tank Boosts Urban Development and Soft Power Enhancement-Hu Jian |

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The study of the development types of different cities can find that small and medium-sized cities mainly rely on the rolling effect of industry to achieve sustainable development, and of course, also rely on their own history and culture as an auxiliary role, while the development of international metropolises such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is first supported by hard power, especially economic strength, but only economic development without the planning and guidance support of think tank organizations, will also lack international competitiveness, and economic development will encounter quality and quality bottlenecks. Therefore, every round of development of an international metropolis often needs to be realized with the intellectual support of the city's think tank.

On the mainland, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are home to the most intellectual, influential, widespread, and largest-scale urban think tanks. Shenzhen represents the development type of the first four special economic zones, and its uniqueness is manifested in the following: at first, it mainly relied on national policy innovation to generate huge policy dividends, but after a certain degree of development, the development of such cities has also shifted to the pursuit of urban resilience and urban connotative construction, that is, there is an increasing need for scientific development and innovative development.

Mapping and Researching Chinese Think Tanks: A Dialogue with Chinese Think Tanks, National Think Tanks, and National (China) Think Tanks. For this reason, the importance of think tank consultation is becoming more and more prominent. In 2011, the "Outline of Shenzhen's Medium and Long-term Talent Development Plan" formulated by Shenzhen proposed to implement nine key talent projects. Among them, the active implementation of the "Think Tank Program" of visiting experts has clarified the way for Shenzhen to expand its international influence and enhance its soft power.

Nowadays, Shenzhen has introduced important think tanks from universities at home and abroad, and has formed a huge think tank alliance integrating research institutions and universities to provide strong intellectual support for the development of Shenzhen. After Shanghai proposed to comprehensively improve the construction of urban soft power, various types of cities are paying more and more attention to the role of think tanks in urban development. In other words, cities have realized that think tanks should be regarded as an important starting point to enhance their soft power, and play an important role as city think tanks.

Think tanks arise from national strategic needs

The city think tank mainly provides decision-making consultation and intellectual support for the social and economic development of the city. The type and development process of think tanks in mainland cities are consistent with the process of national economic development.

Various official research institutions established at the beginning of the founding of New China, such as the Counsellor's Office of the State Council, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese People's Foreign Affairs Association, are mainly devoted to the study and propaganda of Marxism-Leninism, and the study of economic, scientific and technological, diplomatic and military strategies, theories and policies are all studies involving issues at the national strategic level. At that time, as the number of people dealing with the outside world increased, research institutes were established one after another.

In 1956, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the approval of Premier Zhou Enlai, the Institute of International Relations of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established directly under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on the investigation and study of the economy and politics of the capitalist world. This is one of the earliest international research institutions established by the People's Republic of China. In 1960, the Shanghai Institute of International Studies was established, and research groups (offices) were set up in the institute according to regions and countries. In 1964, the political science departments of Peking University, Chinese Renmin University and Fudan University were all changed to the Department of International Politics.

Peking University studies the Asian and African regions (Institute of Asian and African Studies), the Chinese University of China (USSR Institute of East European Studies), Fudan University focused on Western Europe, North America and Latin America, and established the Institute of Economic Research of Capitalist Countries.

In 1977, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was established, followed by a series of regional and country studies, which became a landmark development of area studies in China. It can be seen from the results of the research that these institutions at that time mainly focused on introducing the experience of the Soviet Union in building socialism, studying the history and current situation of the international communist movement, studying the situation of the proletarian revolutionary struggle in some countries, and how to actively carry out propaganda and liaison work with the outside world in a targeted manner. These were also studies that served the national strategic needs of the time.

From government departments to specialized research institutes

After the reform and opening up, a number of decision-making research departments have been established from the central to the local governments, especially after the adoption of the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on the Reform of the Economic System" in 1984, the decision-making research departments have shifted from the study of national strategies in the past to the study of issues in the economic field. In 1986, the central authorities proposed that policy decisions be democratized, scientific, and institutionalized in order to speed up the mainland's modernization drive.

As a result, the importance of think tanks has become more prominent, and the academic community has begun to study how to give full play to the function of think tanks in philosophy and social sciences. In view of the problems of different objectives, scattered forces, and lack of information channels in the think tanks of government departments, some people have suggested that the policy research offices or research offices set up in government departments should be changed from "administrative" to "specialized" and turned into generalist institutions with expertise and expertise, or that special think tanks independent of government agencies should be set up to provide professional and scientific policy advice for government policymaking.

In this situation, various specialized research institutions have been established one after another, including many non-governmental research institutions, such as the China Institute of Political and Administrative Sciences, which was established in 1986, and the Shenzhen Comprehensive Development Research Institute, which was established in 1989. These think tanks focus on the study of economic issues and provide policy recommendations for solving national and local economic development problems.

In 2004, the Central Committee issued the "Opinions on Further Prosperity and Development of Philosophy and Social Sciences", which clearly stated that "the philosophical and social science circles should become 'think tanks' and 'think tanks' for the work of the Party and the government". In this context, some philosophical and social science workers began to explore the specific path of establishing "think tanks" and "think tanks" and specific methods to break the ideological bottleneck at that time, and social science research institutions across the country have explored readjusting their positioning and developing in the direction of think tanks. After years of development, the function of think tanks in philosophical and social science research institutions in various places has become increasingly significant.

It is particularly noteworthy that Chinese think tanks are committed to providing policy advice to the Chinese party and government at all levels, and on the other hand, they have also begun to provide consulting services to local governments, urban development, and enterprises. Think tank research began to shift from national strategic issues to local and urban economic development issues.

More importantly, the think tank's recommendations have strongly promoted the research of Chinese scholars to move beyond the study and embark on the path of conducting research from social practice and providing consulting services for government decision-making. At that time, a group of scholars made special contributions in these aspects, including suggestions and suggestions for the Beijing Olympic Games, the Shanghai World Expo, and the development and opening up of Pudong.

Further focus on urban development

After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, with the rapid development of China's modernization, it is especially necessary to accelerate the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. In 2013, the goal of building a "new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics" was put forward for the first time. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform, which was deliberated and adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, clearly stated that the construction of new think tanks with Chinese characteristics should be "strengthened".

In 2014, the sixth meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform deliberated and adopted the Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of New Think Tanks with Chinese Characteristics, which was issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council in January 2015. Subsequently, the first batch of 25 national high-end think tanks were established, and other types of think tanks also played different important roles in policy consulting services.

The "Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of New Think Tanks with Chinese Characteristics" clearly points out: "The development process of a large country is not only a process of improving hard power such as the economy, but also a process of improving soft power such as ideology and culture. Think tanks are an important carrier of national soft power, increasingly an important factor in international competitiveness, and play an irreplaceable role in foreign exchanges.

To establish a good image of socialist China, promote Chinese culture and contemporary Chinese values to the world, and make China's voice heard on the international stage, it is urgent to give full play to the important role of new think tanks with Chinese characteristics in public diplomacy and cultural mutual learning, and continuously enhance the mainland's international influence and international discourse. In the same way, city think tanks are naturally an important carrier of the soft power of the cities in which they are settled.

There are various types of urban think tanks. The first category refers to the policy research institutes of the party and government departments of the city, which directly serve the social and economic development of the city and the region. The second category is philosophical and social science research institutions, some of which are national high-end think tanks, mainly serving national strategies, but because they are located in specific cities, they are also bound to provide policy consulting services for the city.

There are a large number of such think tanks, and cities rely heavily on them to provide intellectual support for urban development. The third type is university think tanks, which have a large number of think tanks and practitioners, so they rise quickly and have great influence. Whichever city the university think tank is located in is located in the first place, it directly serves the city. The fourth category is non-governmental think tanks, which have sprung up in recent years, and their research is closer to concrete reality and can more effectively serve the development of the city in which they are located.

Urban think tanks are an important part of a city's soft power, not only because of the services it provides, but also because it is a producer of knowledge, an idea, and a disseminator of urban stories. In addition to its economic achievements, the attention of a city lies in the fact that the knowledge and ideas produced by the city's think tanks are transformed into the driving force of the city's development, and these knowledge and ideas are disseminated internationally through exchanges and discussions with their counterparts in the international community.

When studying the soft power of cities, it can be noted that in addition to the achievements of economic development, there is another important factor in the international metropolises, that is, most of them have a large number of world-renowned think tanks of various types. The more active the city's think tank, the easier it is for the city's stories and culture to spread far and wide, and the more this aspect is disseminated, the higher the city's international influence.

The "Opinions of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China on Cultivating the Spirit of the City, Highlighting the Character of the City, and Comprehensively Improving the Soft Power of Shanghai" pointed out that it refines and summarizes the spirit and character of Shanghai, and makes a series of important expositions on the enhancement of soft power, which points out the direction for Shanghai to accelerate the construction of urban soft power that matches the socialist modern international metropolis with world influence.

Although the city's soft power is rooted in the city's history and culture, its important carrier is the various think tanks located in the city, which contribute ideas and wisdom to the city's social and economic development. From the perspective of the history of the development of cities in the world, only cities nourished by wisdom and ideas have character and lasting development momentum.

(Hu Jian, the author is a researcher at the Soft Power Research Center of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)@ State Information Center, China Economic Information Service, China Economic and Information Research Center, National Research Political Information and Economic Information Think Tank, National Research Political Information Strategy (Shandong) Economic Information Co., Ltd. News China, China News Gathering and Editing!

China's Think Tank Boosts Urban Development and Soft Power Enhancement-Hu Jian |