Chinese Reformers, Western Economists and the Making of Global China

UC San Diego's 21st Century China Center presents a talk by Julian Gewirtz on the transformation of China's economic thought in the 1980s.

Julian Gewirtz, a Rhodes Scholar and doctorate candidate in history at the University of Oxford, will describe how Chinese officials and intellectuals looked beyond their country’s borders for economic guidance during the transformational decade of the 1980s. From the Bashan Conference of 1985, which brought together leading international economists with top Chinese policymakers for a cruise on the Yangtze River, to tête-à-têtes with Milton Friedman, the Chinese leadership displayed an extraordinary openness to diverse ideas from around the world — with lessons that must not be forgotten today in Xi's China.

This presentation is based on Julian Gewirtz's book “Unlikely Partners,” which The Economist called "a gripping read, highlighting what was little short of a revolution in China's economic thought."

Photo from the UCSD 21st Century China Center