The Peking University Shenzhen Forum 2023 was held on April 1 themed “China’s Economy: New Trend, New Development." More than 1200 people attended the event, including experts, scholars and policymakers, and an audience from all walks of life.

2023 Forum 
 

 Opening Remarks

Hai Wen, vice chairman (former vice president) of the Peking University Council and founding dean of Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) presided over the forum. He stressed that in the era of unprecedented changes, this year’s forum had invited renowned experts and scholars to analyze domestic and global economic trends, new challenges, and new opportunities, providing insights into hotspot issues and cutting-edge fields.



Zheng Hongbo, a member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and a member of the Municipal Government Party Group, spoke highly of the exchanges and cooperation between Peking University and Shenzhen in terms of higher education, scientific and technological innovation, talent training, and industry-university research cooperation. He emphasized that the high-level forum could play a vital role in accelerating the construction of Shenzhen as a globally influential economic hub and as a modern international metropolis.
 
Keynote Speeches

Huang Qifan, a researcher and former Mayor of Chongqing, shared the five new characteristics of China since the 18th National Congress of China and the China Report in a speech entitled "New Stage with New Features and New Tasks in China."


The Former Minister of Commerce Chen Deming pointed out in his speech, "Economic Globalization Trends and Strategic Strategies to Nations," that the theory of an economic global ceiling lacks the analysis of the cause of economic globalization and the law of human social development. By reviewing the history of globalization, he noted that today’s globalization has entered a period of consolidation and reconstruction and that China still needed to maintain a strong development momentum, continue to support the international multilateral system, and facilitate trade and investment.


Liu Wei, the former president of the Renmin University of China, noted in his speech, "The Effective Enhancement of China's Economic Quality and Reasonable Growth," that this year’s 5% economic growth target was in line with future goals such as the long-term development strategy up to 2035 and the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" and coordinate with other macroeconomic goals such as employment. He then analyzed the opportunities and challenges faced by the 5% growth target, pointing out that the Chinese economy needs high-quality development to realize effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity and to achieve modernization goals step by step.

Zhu Min

 
Zhu Min, former vice president of the China International Economic Exchange Center and former vice president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), gave a speech entitled "Cross ChatGPT: A Strategy for Developing Big AI Models- The Perspective of an Economist." He maintained that with the advent of ChatGPT, the acceleration of big models promoted entering the intelligent era of "data first" from the information age of "application first." Facing the "long tide" of the big model development, he said that China should coordinate the development of academic institutions and enterprises and support AI-driven scientific research to give full play to the large-scale market, accelerate data assetization, and further promote high-level openness and international cooperation.
 

Justin Yifu Lin, a member of the Standing Committee and deputy director of the Economic Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and dean of the New Structural Economics Research Institute of Peking University, delivered a speech entitled “China’s Future Development Prospects under Chinese-style Modernization." He analyzed the five characteristics of Chinese-style modernization and stressed that China’s economy should develop in accordance with the comparative advantages determined by the Chinese material foundation. He believed that in the current period up to 2035, China could continue to achieve the expected economic growth and the nation’s great rejuvenation would provide an alternative development model for other countries.