The famous economist Xiao Zhuoji died: he pushed for the abolition of agricultural taxes

Shaw

Cover news reporter Dai Rui

On November 15, the official website of the School of Economics of Peking University turned black and white, and in this way the school expressed its condolences for the death of the famous economist Xiao Zhuoji.

In the obituary of the School of Economics of Peking University, Xiao Zhuoji has more than 10 titles, including famous economist, member of the Standing Committee of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, special adviser of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and professor of the School of Economics of Peking University. In addition, he was one of the earliest experts in China to study and advocate the commodity economy and market economy, and for the first time proposed and systematically demonstrated the reform of the "separation of two rights" of the ownership and use rights (management rights) of state-owned enterprises.

Since stepping down as a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 2008, the prominent economist has not appeared in public in the past decade, and Sun Qixiang, a student of Xiao Zhuoji and dean of Peking University's School of Economics, revealed in a reminiscence that Mr. Xiao had been seriously ill and hospitalized at least five years earlier and had almost lost his ability to speak.

Even when his most famous disciple, Li Keqiang, visited Peking University on April 15 last year, Mr. Xiao was not seen in public reports that day.

On that day, Li Keqiang, who returned to Yanyuan, returned to the School of Economics where he studied during his master's and doctoral degrees. At the School of Economics, the prime minister received a special gift , Professor Xiao Zhuoji's personal photo album , in the news report of Peking University, Li Keqiang specially expressed affectionate greetings to the old gentlemen of the college.

28 years ago, Li Keqiang, who was a graduate student in Peking University's School of Economics, received a master's degree in economics with an article titled "Rural Industrialization: Choices in Structural Transformation", and the instructor was Xiao Zhuoji.

In this paper, Li Keqiang repeatedly mentioned the concept of "urbanization". When analyzing the significance of "urbanization", he believed that one of the most fundamental problems in achieving structural transformation lies in the modernization of rural residents, who account for 80% of China's population.

The rural and peasant issues are also one of the most concerned issues for Xiao Zhuoji, who once proposed the abolition of agricultural taxes and advocated the "return of interests", believing that the contributions and losses suffered by peasants to reform and opening up through various means should be compensated accordingly. In an article, Xiao Zhuoji once mentioned, "Since the reform and opening up, farmers have made great contributions to industrialization, urbanization, marketization and internationalization, but they have not been compensated accordingly. ”

At the first session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee in 2003, Xiao Zhuoji made a speech entitled "Intensifying Financial Support for Agriculture and Raising the Level of Peasants' Incomes," proposing to drastically reduce or reduce agricultural taxes and provide free textbooks, exercise books, and other cultural and sports supplies for rural junior high school and primary school students. Three years later, agricultural taxes, which had lasted for a thousand years in China, were abolished.

After stepping down as a member of the CPPCC Standing Committee in 2008, Xiao Zhuoji rarely expressed his views on the current situation in public, but Sun Qixiang said in his reminiscence article that during his illness, Xiao Zhuoji also wrote letters to Wen Jiabao, former premier of the State Council, Jia Qinglin, former chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and others to talk about his views and suggestions on the country's financial security and financial system reform.

In addition to Li Keqiang, Xiao Zhuoji's well-known disciples include Chen Yunxian, a member of the Guangdong provincial government party group. In 1988, Chen Yunxian was admitted to Peking University as a doctoral student majoring in economics, where he studied under Xiao Zhuoji. Elder Xiao once commented on his students: "Dr. Chen Yunxian, who graduated in 1991, took the lead in proposing the law of the interrelationship between the risk and return of securities investment in the domestic economics community. He not only studies investment banking theory, but also engages in investment banking practice. In just a few years, the securities companies he managed have grown rapidly and achieved remarkable benefits. ”

In Sun Qixiang's view, his mentor Xiao Zhuoji was a particularly enlightened teacher, who encouraged his students to think independently and dare to propose new theories and perspectives. He always adhered to the principle that "I can disagree with you, but I will defend your right to speak to the death".