Beast Press: I just realized today that Mr. Yang Xiaokai has passed away for 14 years. I found a commemorative article by Mr. He Yuhuai, shared it, and commemorated it.

Yang Xiaokai (October 6, 1948 - July 7, 2004), formerly known as Yang Xiguang, was an economist. His most prominent contribution is to propose new classical economics and supermarginal analysis methods and theories. His published monographs in both Chinese and English include: Specialization and Economic Organization, Economics: Emerging Classical and Neoclassical Frameworks, Development Economics: Beyond Marginal and Marginal Analysis, which have led him to world-class achievements and Respected by peers.

Originally from Hekou Town, Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, China, he was born in Dunhua, Jilin Province, and grew up in Changsha, Hunan.

From 1962 to 1968, he studied in Changsha No. 1 Middle School. In 1968, he was only 19 years old because of an article titled "Where is China Going?" "The article was named and criticized by Kang Sheng as "the lament of a counter-revolutionary war horse" and was sentenced to ten years in prison. From 1968 to 1978, Yang Xiaokai learned university courses, including English, calculus, etc., from university professors, engineers, etc., who were detained together with him while serving his sentence in prison.

After being released from prison in 1979, he attended the Department of Mathematics of Hunan University for a year. In 1980, Li Rui and his daughter Li Nanyang recommended Yang Xiaokai to Yu Guangyuan. After Yu Guangyuan's exceptional recommendation, Yang Xiaokai was admitted to the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He graduated in 1982 with a master's degree in econometrics. In 1982, he was hired as a teaching assistant and lecturer by Wuhan University.

In 1983, he was recommended by Zou Zhizhuang, a famous economist who visited Wuhan University, to study at Princeton University in the United States. In 1988, he was awarded a doctorate degree. In 1990, he was appointed as a tenured professor by Monash University, Australia; in 1993, he was elected as an academician of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences; in 1998, he became a visiting professor at Harvard University; in January 2000, he became the chief professor of the Department of Economics at Monash University.

In February 2002, Yang Xiaokai was baptized and became a Christian. He has publicly testified twice, discussing the relationship between social science and belief, and narrating his belief process, published in the monthly magazine "CITIC".

At 7:49 a.m. on July 7, 2004, he passed away peacefully at his home in Melbourne, Australia due to a tumor. His wife and three children were by his side at the time of his death. He was 55 years old.

career achievement

After completing his studies at Princeton University, Xiaokai Yang accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship at Yale University. In 1988 he moved to Australia and accepted a lectureship at Monash University. He subsequently published a series of papers and books in English, which quickly gained wide international attention. He became a Senior Lecturer in 1989, a Full Professor (Reader) in 1993, and in 2000 he was awarded the Chair Professor of Economics. In 1993, Yang Xiaokai became a member of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.

Yang Xiaokai's outstanding achievements in economics lie in the "Inframarginal Analysis" he advocates and the new classical economics based on it. Yang Xiaokai re-examined the ideas about division of labor and specialization in classical economics, and explained individual specialization choices through modern mathematical models and looked for their relationship with economic growth [7]. Yang Xiaokai believes that traditional marginal analysis only considers the optimal choice of interior point solutions (existing institutions), and cannot explain institutional changes and the internal dynamics of economic leapfrog development. The supermarginal analysis it advocates adds the optimal choice of diagonal solutions to the original marginal analysis, thereby increasing the explanatory power of transaction costs for deepening the division of labor and economic development.

Yang Xiaokai has collaborated with the world's top economists, including Huang Youguang and Jeffrey Sachs, who commented on Yang: "Yang is one of the most insightful and rigorous economic theorists in the world, and he is also one of the most important economic theorists in the world. One of the most creative people.” In 2002, James M. Buchanan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, said: “I think the most important economic research in the world is now at Monash University, the Yang Xiaokai Institute. made."

[Author's foreword: Professor Yang Xiaokai, an economist from Australia and China, passed away on July 7, 2004 at his home in Melbourne. Suddenly, it has been eighteen years. This article was written one week after Professor Yang's death in July of that year, and was later included in my book "Looking at the Long Sky in the North". The short life of this master-level Chinese economist is a rare legend in the world.

Professor Yang Xiaokai's life-academic trajectory is destined to be of great concern to China's political reforms. He is one of the earliest and most powerful advocates of Chinese constitutionalism. Before Prof. Yang's death, there was a classic debate about "late-mover advantage" and "late-mover disadvantage". His foresight and worries back then were unfortunately true, and it has completely become the reality of today's China. His prophetic warning in those days should especially ring in everyone's ears: "If China does not carry out constitutional reform, when its economy is strong, it will go the way of Germany and Japan before World War II, attack Taiwan, and confront the civilized society of the whole world." 】

At 7:49 in the morning on July 7, 2004, a Chinese person left this world peacefully at his home in Melbourne.

In the Australian Chinese community, probably not many people know that the deceased Chinese used to be named Yang Xiguang. They probably do not know that the Chinese who once lived around was a world-renowned master economist, and they do not understand the short life of this Chinese. It is a rare legend in the world - he shocked the power center in mainland China with an article when he was less than 20 years old; he spent ten years in prison but taught himself in prison; he did not go to university but founded an international School; in today's political context in mainland China, he would probably also be classified as a "dissident", but his economics, political science, and even theological perspectives may not be ignored by Chinese elites in a period of social transformation ...

It is a pity that this Chinese died young and only lived to be fifty-five years old, leaving behind a lot of unfinished business. The abused eulogy, "Heaven is jealous of talents", may not be appropriate for this professor now named Yang Xiaokai, because he was already a Christian during his lifetime, but I am really sorry for his untimely passing. I feel so sad and sad!

1. Where is China going? >: An article shocked China's power center

Xiaokai turned out to be his nickname, and his scientific name was Yang Xiguang. At the beginning of 1968, in those absurd, chaotic and sinister years, this name had been around for a while, and was known to many people in mainland China - from the top to the bottom - although it revealed different meanings to different people. .

At that time, with the turbulent and treacherous unfolding of the "Cultural Revolution", Yang Xiguang, a teenage student of Changsha No. 1 Middle School in Hunan Province, was too precocious to think seriously about China's deep-seated political and social issues, including the essence of the "Cultural Revolution," New understanding of Mao Zedong Thought, the structure of the CCP organization itself, the future and development direction of China, etc. Among the batch of papers he wrote that were surprisingly left-handed but rebellious at the time, the most shocking was the nearly 18,000-word "Where is China Going?" >. The article was completed on January 6, 1968. A few days later, on January 12, the article was mimeographed and published in the name of "The No.

When this article was published, a note was added: "This is a solicitation for opinions. Is it appropriate to publish it now? Does it represent the "Declaration on the Establishment of the "Ultra Left" Commune? How to make further revisions? Please write your opinions in detail after reading In the margin on the right side of each page, please return this manuscript to the publisher twenty days in advance." However, this indeterminate manuscript, which had been printed in eighty copies and only sent out twenty copies, spread like wildfire, and within a few days, in various ways spread all over the country. Yang Xiguang immediately became a popular figure in Hunan and other provinces.

In the "Paris Commune craze" that pervaded the land of China at that time, Yang Xiguang also found inspiration from the experience of "Paris Commune". In the article he states:

The basic social contradiction that caused the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was the contradiction between the rule of the new bureaucratic bourgeoisie and the masses of the people. The development and sharpening of this contradiction determined that society needed a more thorough change, which was the way to overthrow the new bureaucratic bourgeoisie. To rule, to completely smash the old state machinery, to realize social revolution, to realize the redistribution of property and power - to establish a new society - "the Chinese people's commune", this is also the fundamental program and ultimate goal of the first cultural revolution.

...

In the new society of the Paris Commune, this class will be overthrown, which has been confirmed by the unpredictable great changes of the January Revolution and the August storm, and it is the overthrow of this class. The cadres with genuine proletarian authority, naturally formed by the revolutionary people in the struggle of the decadent classes, are members of the commune, have no privileges, are treated like the general masses economically, and can be removed and replaced at any time according to the demands of the masses.

The initiator of the "Paris Commune fever" was the "great leader" Mao Zedong. Yang Xiguang was also a proponent of Mao Zedong's personality cult at that time - "Where is China Going?" 〉 ends with the slogan "Long live Maoism!" The main purpose of his masterpiece is to defend "Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line", advocate a complete revolution, overthrow the "rule of the new bureaucratic bourgeoisie", that is, the rule of Premier Zhou Enlai and his men, and establish a Paris Commune-style government. However, Yang Xiguang and their ultra-leftist trend of thought interfered with the "strategic deployment" of the great leader at an inopportune time. Moreover, the "best method of exposing the deception of the masses with revolutionary oaths" used in his great essay and "analyzing the class changes that have taken place and are taking place in these revolutions" (which is also in line with Lenin's thinking), Moreover, the battle slogan of "overthrowing" or something is obviously too dangerous and terrible for the CCP authorities. Is this just a "big poisonous weed"? ! This could also turn into a monstrous flood that could break through the sacred temples!

The crackdown took place on January 24, 1968. From 9:00 pm that night, a large number of central leaders including Zhou Enlai, Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, Jiang Qing, etc., met in the Hunan Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with members of the preparatory team of the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Committee, including Hua Guofeng, and representatives of some rebel organizations in Hunan Province. , on the issue of announcing the suppression of "provincial non-liaison" in Hunan, and made some very serious and serious speeches and instructions. Kang Sheng, who has the crown of "the party's number one theoretician", pointed to Yang Xiguang and "Where is China Going?" several times in his speech. 〉 One article, saying that it was "the 'war horse's lamentation' of the counter-revolutionary". Kang Sheng also asserted: "I have a feeling that his (referring to Yang Xiguang) theories were by no means written by middle school students or even college students. There are counter-revolutionaries behind him!"

So, at the behest of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others launched a nationwide survey on "Where is China Going?" > a large-scale critique of .

In February 1968, Yang Xiguang was arrested as a key criminal and detained in Zuojiatang Detention Center of Changsha City Public Security Bureau. The mother was suspected to be Kang Sheng's so-called "black hand" and "Mr. Chen" (she happened to be surnamed Chen). After being criticized and humiliated, she hanged herself. The father, a high-ranking official, was imprisoned. Relatives and brother were also dismissed from public office and rushed to the countryside. In addition, the Yang case also implicated a large number of unrelated people.

In October 1969, Yang Xiguang was formally arrested after one year and eight months of detention; in November, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for the crime of counter-revolution, and was taken to the Jianxin Laogai Farm in Yueyang to "serve his sentence".

Yang Xiguang was only twenty-one years old at the time.

2. Middle school student Red Guard thinker turned economist: Yang Xiguang became self-taught after ten years of unjust imprisonment

Ten years of unjust imprisonment was naturally the darkest and most miserable time in Yang Xiguang's life. But he was not destroyed by the dark prison life, and he did not give up his exploration of China's destiny and his conscious sense of responsibility. He chooses knowledge, chooses to study, and completes the life plan he made when he was imprisoned with great perseverance. In the past ten years, Yang Xiguang has made fifty or sixty reading notes, and also wrote a film and literary script. As people say, the ways and methods of learning knowledge are roughly the same for ordinary people. However, Yang Xiguang started from a middle school student's cultural starting point, and was burdened with extremely heavy life pressure. In an absurd and sinister era and in a labor reform team that did not have any human rights conditions, he completed philosophy, English, mathematics, and mathematics by self-study step by step. University courses such as mechanics and economics are absolutely rare, or even unique! Of course, Yang Xiguang was fortunate enough to encounter a rare opportunity—the prison was full of all kinds of intellectuals who had learned to be rich but were imprisoned because of political issues. They all became Yang Xiguang's teachers and enlighteners, especially the one in Liu Fengxiang, the editor-in-chief of Hunan Farmer's Daily, was shot in 1970.

Yang Xiguang's skepticism was innate, and he personally experienced such an unusual encounter. Naturally, he did not believe in the political economy that was popular at the time and could only be worshipped. Without training in Western neoclassical economics, he began to think freely in isolation. In prison, he even deduced Gerson's second law, hierarchy theory, Nash bargaining model, and division of labor theory. He later joked to himself: "I thought these were my great discoveries, but when I could read more books, I realized that these ideas have long been developed into mathematical models by Western economists. Fortunately, these are things that I came up with, 'heroes see the same thing', and I am one of the heroes too!"

After Yang Xiguang finished reading Das Kapital, he hoped to become an economist in the future. He had three ideas at that time: first, to clarify the importance of use value in the theory of value; second, to integrate the division of labor into the theory of value; third, to mathematicalize the theory of value.

The prison experience made Yang Xiguang make a huge change. He later said, "I used to be concerned with 'what is good, what is bad, and what should the world be like'. In prison, what I asked was: 'How will the world develop?'" Yang Xiguang has completely lost his mind Idealism before jail. Instead, he believed that the value standards that people judge themselves to pursue will change with history, so how history will develop is far more important than the ideal goal. "The worst may happen in our lifetime, so subjective judgments about right and wrong are meaningless. How to adapt to the environment and survive is what matters." - This is the truth of his prison at that time feel.

...

In April 1978, Yang Xiguang was released after serving his sentence.

At this time, it had been a year and a half since the fall of the Gang of Four, but no unit had dared to hire the author of this famous "reactionary" article. He lived at home for a year.

It was also in this year that he decided to bury "Yang Xiguang" and resumed using the nickname "Yang Xiaokai".

Yang Xiaokai later found a job, but only worked as a proofreader in Hunan Xinhua No. 2 Printing Factory.

In 1979, Yang Xiaokai applied for an intern researcher in economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, but was refused to take the exam. In 1980, he applied for the examination again and finally got the opportunity to take the quantitative economics examination, and was later admitted as an intern researcher.

The institute arranged for Yang Xiaokai to live in a small house in a dormitory, with no place to turn around except for a bed and a small table. But he was at peace. He always said that the conditions here are much better than prison conditions. Yang Xiaokai worked in the Institute of Quantitative Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for two years under the euphemistic name of "working". In fact, no one looked down on him in that place, and no one cared about him. He was forced to live alone. It was here that the lonely Yang Xiaokai began to show his extraordinary talents. He published "Economic Cybernetics Preliminary" and published several articles on the reform of the economic system and other economic issues.

In 1982, with the full help of Liu Daoyu, the then president of Wuhan University, Yang Xiaokai was hired as a teaching assistant by Wuhan University, and a year later, he was promoted to lecturer. During this period, Yang Xiaokai published two books, "Basics of Mathematical Economics" and "Economic Control Theory". At this time, he encountered another opportunity in life. Some of his estimated econometric models failed to resonate in China, but they were appreciated by Professor Zou Zhizhuang of Princeton University who visited Wuhan University at that time. So began another new journey in his life.

Yang Xiaokai's trajectory in the last 20 years of his life records his new struggles and new achievements:

In 1983, he was admitted to Princeton University as a PhD candidate in economics;

In 1987, he passed the defense of the dissertation, and then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale University Center for Economic Growth for one year;

In 1989, he was a senior lecturer at Monash University, Australia; he served as an anonymous reviewer for several leading economics journals in the United States and Australia;

In 1992, he became a full professor at Monash University; published the monograph "Specialization and Economic Organization";

In 1993, he was elected as an academician by the Australian Academy of Social Sciences;

In 1994, he served as a professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Louisville, USA, and a visiting researcher at the Center for International Development at Harvard University;

In 1995, he became a visiting professor at National Taiwan University;

In 1996, he was a visiting researcher at the "Academia Sinica" in Taiwan;

In 1997, he served as the editor of "Review of Development Economics" in the United States; published the book "Contemporary Economics and Chinese Economy" in China;

In 1998, he served as a visiting professor at Harvard University; published the book "Principles of Economics", which attracted the attention of the international economic community;

In 2000, he was promoted to Chair Professor of Monash University...

In this way, this middle school student Red Guard thinker, a young man who spent ten years in a dark prison, has now become one of the pioneering "third generation" in the international economics field with his achievements. represent.

3. "Supermarginal Economics": The International School was founded without going to university

According to an insider in the international economics circle, if Yang Xiaokai hadn't died young, he would most likely have become the first scholar to win the Nobel Prize in Economics for Australia. His academic achievements cannot be overstated. He will have an important place in the entire history of economics, and its influence is so deep and far-reaching that it cannot be fully estimated today.

When "Principles of Economics" was published, it was regarded by the international economics community as the representative work of the third generation of economics textbooks since Marshall and Samuelson. An anonymous reviewer of the book commented:

The research is exciting and breathtaking. Yang is one of the few people in the world who can think about such problems, and he is one of the few people in the world who can solve such problems. This work is original and novel. He is rapidly building his international reputation as one of the leading theoretical economists.

The 1986 Nobel Prize winner, the representative of public choice theory, James. James Buchanan admires Yang Xiaokai the most, especially the research called "infra-marginal analysis" that Yang and his colleague Professor Huang Youguang have done in recent years. Two years ago, when Buchanan visited Monash University, he said in front of the president that this is the most important and interesting study of economics in the world today. He thinks Yang is one of the best economists in the world right now.

Indeed, according to the opinions of many people in the international economics community, trans-marginal analysis is Yang Xiaokai's most important, unfortunately and final contribution in his life. Yang Xiaokai proudly calls his new framework "extramarginal economics" (as distinct from extramarginal analysis). As described in Huang Youguang's words, this new framework is like his own child, the only child born to his wife in adversity.

The causal relationship between the market and the division of labor, as well as the crucial role of the development of the division of labor on production efficiency and economic growth, the representative of classical economics, Adam. Smith has already pointed out. However, the division of labor theory is difficult to mathematicalize, so it is difficult to integrate it into the general equilibrium theory or growth theory of neoclassical economics. Therefore, in the hands of modern economists, except in limited fields such as international trade, the division of labor and its significance for efficiency and growth are generally de-emphasized. When discussing the sources of growth, the focus is on factors that are relatively easy to mathematicize, such as labor, capital, technological progress, or human capital. And Yang Xiaokai, as a representative of the new classical school of economics, traces economics back to Adam. Smith's division of labor and transaction theory and carry forward it. He uses the new supermarginal analysis and the latest development of mathematical methods, within the new framework, to uniformly deduce and explain the so-called microeconomics, macroeconomics, trade, development, property rights and other branches of economics.

An insider commented that ultramarginal analysis is the key to understanding Yang Xiaokai's academic thinking. It is higher than marginal analysis and contains marginal analysis. It first studies the level of division of labor and the direction of the system, and then involves the balance of resource allocation under a certain institutional framework. Reflected in mathematics, marginal analysis only considers the optimal decision value of interior point solutions (involving only quantitative fluctuations), while ultramarginal analysis also compares the optimal decision value of corner solutions (involving different institutional directions). It can also be said that marginal analysis describes the economic equilibrium, while supermarginal analysis describes the jump in the economic equilibrium.

It can be seen that the explanatory power and application range of supermarginal analysis are far superior to marginal analysis. But because mathematical tools for dealing with corner solutions were not developed until the 1950s, the limitations of traditional economics have not been broken through. Perhaps out of chance, diligence, and genius, Yang Xiaokai first found a way to find the optimal corner solution, so he was able to use transmarginal analysis to explain all branches of economics under a unified theoretical framework.

In Yang Xiaokai's view, the main function of the free market is not to find the optimal allocation of resources, but to find the most efficient level of division of labor, which determines the size of the market network, people's purchasing power, productivity, commercialization, and trade. Dependency. The two conditions for the market to play this function are freedom of choice of occupation and freedom of price.

Yang Xiaokai also pointed out that with the development of the division of labor, people have to exchange more and more commodities, so transaction costs will also increase. Therefore, he believes that the improvement of transaction efficiency is very important, otherwise it will limit the deepening of the division of labor. Furthermore, on this issue, Yang Xiaokai involved property rights theory, enterprise theory, information transparency, reduction of endogenous transaction costs, avoidance of moral hazard, urbanization, technological progress, and insurance development, until the establishment of constitutional government. There is a clear logic here - a good political-economic system can greatly improve transaction efficiency, thus greatly promoting the development and deepening of the division of labor, and bringing long-term economic prosperity and long-term social stability.

Obviously, Yang Xiaokai's economic thought is extremely rich, or it crosses the scope of general economics. Of course, some of Yang Xiaokai's ideas need to be more rigorously proved; not all economists agree with all of his views. For example, Zhang Wuchang was not convinced by Yang Xiaokai's ultramarginal analysis. But the professor, who seldom admires others, also said that Yang Xiaokai was the most prescient Chinese student he had ever met, who knew what important ideas were. It is the wise who are easy to find, and the one who has a hunch and knows what is important is hard to find. He said with deep feeling that only God knows, if Yang Xiaokai hadn't been imprisoned for ten years and had had the opportunity to study like Zhang Wuchang's long ago, what would have happened to Yang's achievements in economics? ! It won't be difficult to win a Nobel Prize.

Fourth, "late-mover advantage" and "late-mover disadvantage"; a debate with classic significance

It is said that as far as the global Chinese economists are concerned, those who have personal experience and insight into China's political changes and economic reforms are very few; those who can make theoretical breakthroughs in modern economics or challenge the existing theoretical system are very few. Very few; and those who have both of these conditions are even rarer. Yang Xiaokai, the legendary Chinese economist, was fortunate enough to be one of them.

As they point out, Yang Xiaokai's economic thought has a strong sense of situation - the history and reality of China is the real background of his theory.

In the early years of this century, the debate between Yang Xiaokai and Justin Yifu about "late-mover advantage" and "late-mover disadvantage" arose in mainland China, which greatly broadened the horizons and ideas of economists across the country. This debate can be described as a classic.

Justin Yifu Lin is also a great legend - he went from a defected Taiwanese army company commander to a think tank who can influence Beijing's economic policy today. The think tank's core point is: as a developing country, China has a late-mover advantage. This late-mover advantage stems from the technological gap between China and developed countries. China can imitate advanced Western technology at a lower cost, thus avoiding paying a high price for technological innovation. Justin Yifu Lin further believes that a constitutional democratic system based on private ownership and with freedom and democracy as its essence is neither a sufficient nor even a necessary condition for economic development, nor is it in line with China's current national conditions.

The late-mover advantage of backward countries is being talked about by many economists in mainland China. It is precisely in response to this situation that Yang Xiaokai took advantage of the opportunity to speak at the Shanghai Economic Globalization Seminar and the Beijing Tianze Economic Research Institute in the past few years to remind people that they should also pay attention to the disadvantage of latecomers, although this point of view is not suitable for many people. taste.

It is understood that there are not many people studying the latecomer disadvantage theory in the West. This concept was proposed by Olson, a late professor of economics at the University of Maryland, who had made great achievements in the fields of political economy and fiscal federalism.

The English word Watson uses is "curse to the late comer", which is "the curse to the late comer". What he means is that because the development of backward countries is relatively late, there are many things that can imitate developed countries. Since there is a lot of room for imitation, they can simply imitate the technology and management models of developed countries without a good system. The achievements that developed countries must achieve under certain systems can even achieve rapid development in a period of time. Why do you say "curse"? Yang Xiaokai pointed out: "It is easier for backward countries to imitate technology, but it is more difficult to imitate systems, because reforming the system will violate some vested interests, so backward countries will tend to imitate technology. Although backward countries can achieve very good development in the short term by doing so, but It will leave many hidden dangers for long-term development, and even long-term development may fail."

At this time, Yang Xiaokai was not only an economist, but also a historian, a socio-political scientist, and a religious culturist.

He showed people the lessons of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union achieved industrialization in the 1930s by imitating the successful industrialization models and technologies of capitalism, using autocracy, state-owned enterprises, and central planning. It can be seen today that this short-term success has also made Russia's constitutional and legal system infrastructure not firmly established so far. For more than half a century, the Russian people have paid a very high price for this.

There is also a comparison of the development of North and South America. South America is rich in resources, but it has always been in the status of a developing country. North America is poor in resources, but it is the most developed region in the world. What is the reason? North American countries implement a federal system; South American countries implement a unitary system. The North American countries have great local power; while the South American countries only regard the localities as tax sources, and the local autonomy is very weak, so it is difficult to develop. In addition, North America is a Protestant culture, and South America is a Catholic culture, and cultural differences also lead to different economic development. This also involves the distinction between "good capitalism" and "bad capitalism." In addition to collusion between officials and businessmen and political monopoly, one of the most obvious features of bad capitalism is the unfair distribution of income. Then the disadvantage of late has a lot to do with bad capitalism.

China also has many examples. The Westernization Movement of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for more than 30 years, wanted to achieve industrialization by imitating technology by using state-owned system (government-run), joint ventures (government-business co-run), and contract system (government-supervised business-run) without changing the political system. In China in the 1980s and 1990s, many township enterprises were also equivalent to the government-business cooperation and government-supervised business-running in the Westernization Movement. Yang Xiaokai said with emotion that this extremely backward system is today called "institutional innovation" by many people. It can be seen from the lessons of the Soviet Union that this short-term success may eventually turn into a "curse for latecomers".

Specific examples of China's latecomer disadvantage also include the home appliance industry, e-commerce, stock and futures markets, and so on. Yang Xiaokai recalled that in the 1950s, China also believed that it had a late-mover advantage in the electronics industry. As a result, the rhetoric of surpassing Britain and catching up with the United States became a historical joke. At that time, Japan, which was similar to China in terms of the electronics industry, became an industrial power through honest study. The comparison between Japan and China shows that in order to gain a late-mover advantage, one must first be a good student who learns the success system.

The slogans of "rejuvenating the country through science and education" and "rejuvenating the country through education" are everywhere in China, which are praised and recognized by many Chinese people. However, what Yang Xiaokai saw was the performance of the latecomer disadvantage. He believes that to truly take advantage of the latecomers, we should advocate "rejuvenating the country through institutions" and "rejuvenating the country with democratic and constitutional government".

Obviously, in Yang Xiaokai's view, "late movers" can certainly have an advantage. The question is whether you know where the advantage is; if you give up the most fundamental advantage, you will inevitably be "cursed" and become a late mover disadvantage.

system! This is a sensitive word here and now. What is a system? Institutions are the rules of the game for a country, a society, and a group, but they often reflect the habitual behavior of those with vested interests. There is irrationalism in the system. This is the reason for the "curse" to happen.

Yang Xiaokai made progress despite the difficulties, even though it was a thankless effort.

V. A "Dissident": Professor Yang Xiaokai's Concept of Constitutionalism

The Lin-Yang dispute seems to be an economic issue that is essentially a political issue, but there is a grand historical narrative behind it, and it is related to the future direction of China's development.

Some scholars believe that the various debates and issues in mainland China from the 1990s to the present, such as Sinology and New Sinology, Asian modernization (or "Asian values" or "New Confucianism"), humanistic spirit, modernity, globalization, postmodernity and Postcolonialism, liberalism, and the New Left, etc., all have to do with some level of "national identification" perceived or pursued by intellectuals. The same is true of the Lin Yang dispute. Justin Yifu Lin is a descendant of the spirit of the Westernization School. Yang Xiaokai's view of the inferiority of the latecomer is also a manifestation of the sense of crisis, which is close to Kangliang and requires reform.

Scholars also believe that the Lin-Yang dispute, regardless of whether the conclusion is a latecomer advantage or a latecomer disadvantage, the final foothold lies in how the constitutional transition of mainland China is carried out.

Today, the idea of constitutionalism has become a hot topic among Chinese at home and abroad. Yang Xiaokai was one of the earliest and most powerful advocates of constitutionalism. As early as the 1980s, he praised the British Glorious Revolution, emphasizing the separation and checks and balances of power, and the huge political function of the private property system. He proposed amending the constitution, creating a habeas corpus, abolishing the crime of counter-revolution, prohibiting political persecution, and so on.

After Yang Xiaokai became famous, he used the opportunity of being interviewed and returning to the mainland to give lectures to express his serious political views. For example, the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China allowed bosses to join the CCP, and some liberal intellectuals also thought it was a good thing. But Yang Xiaokai pointed out that this is precisely the bad turning point: the collusion between officials and businessmen is institutionalized, using power to make money, and then using money to manipulate politics - "this is typical bad capitalism."

The deputies to the National People's Congress are almost all part-timers (or they only participate in politics as deputy positions), while in the United States and even in Taiwan, part-time jobs are strictly prohibited for similar positions. Yang Xiaokai suggested that deputies to the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference "must have enough on-the-job income and no part-time jobs, so that they can professionalize their political participation and deliberation, and improve their level." He said that China's system reform may have to start from here. Yang Xiaokai also pointed out that the CCP’s top priority now is to learn how to conduct elections, starting from the grassroots level and then moving up. The earlier such direct elections, the better. He said the communist parties in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union lost power because they did not learn to vote. Direct elections will happen sooner or later in China. Learning to elect is a path that must be taken by all ruling parties to maintain the chance of continuing to govern in the new era of constitutional democracy.

Regarding "rule of law", Yang Xiaokai pointed out that this is different from "rule of law". The so-called "rule of law" refers to an independent judicial system, which can deny legislation that violates the constitution. The disadvantage of "governing the country by law" is that the government can make laws without restriction. Looking back on the May 4th Movement, the Chinese should have a spirit of self-reflection. May 4th talks about democracy and science, but in Yang Xiaokai's view, freedom and constitutionalism should be the most important.

Yang Xiaokai, an economist, is very concerned about China's political reform, and has become one of the earliest and most powerful advocates of China's constitutionalism. It should be said that this was destined by his life-academic trajectory, and it was his due meaning. China wants to reform and open up, but if it only carries out economic reform without political reform at the same time, it will inevitably accept bad capitalism. As an insider who knows capitalism very well, Yang Xiaokai is naturally anxious to warn. As a past person who has lived in the CCP's autocratic dictatorship and was brutally persecuted, Yang Xiaokai has a deeper understanding that this autocratic system is based on constant political persecution, and only the implementation of constitutional government can end the political persecution. In a dialogue titled "Focus Issues Facing China's Reform", Yang Xiaokai pointed out: "The Chinese government always wants to form an alliance with the United States, but it can't be formed. Why? Because you are an autocratic system that engages in political persecution and religious persecution. ' he warned:

"If China does not carry out constitutional reform, after its economy is strong, it will go the way of Germany and Japan before World War II, attack Taiwan, and confront the civilized society of the whole world."

Regarding constitutional government, Yang Xiaokai also pointed out that this is actually the true self-protection path for the CCP in power. Yang Xiaokai reviews the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He believed that the biggest mistake made by the Communist Party was that it wiped out the Kuomintang. If the Kuomintang is not eliminated and competes on an equal footing with the Communist Party, it will be the greatest protection for Liu Shaoqi and Peng Dehuai. With the Kuomintang, how could Mao Zedong be so lawless, his behavior is relatively regular, Peng Dehuai, Liu Shaoqi, including Lin Biao, would not have died so tragically.

"Two devils are worth a saint." Yang Xiaokai was inspired by this British adage. He analyzed that the structure of controlling "controllers" in a democracy is based on the following: Since people have inherent weaknesses and cannot find a perfect controller, let a few "half angels, half beasts" compete on an equal footing Bar. However, this is not easy to implement, because people have the instinct to conquer and want to overthrow each other. How can we ensure their peaceful coexistence and equal competition? The only way is to rely on history to provide a balance between the factions and a situation where no one can eat the other. He earnestly hoped that China would jump out of the logic of changing the dynasty that "revolution produces tyrants, and tyrants produce revolutions".

However, the "revolution" is very complicated. Yang Xiaokai later felt that the theory of revolution also had its own rationality. Revolution is always a threat to the ruler, without which the government's commitment to serve the people cannot be trusted; where there is a threat, its behavior cannot be too outrageous. The U.S. Constitution clearly states that the rights of the people are innate, and the rights of the government are given by the people. So Americans generally think: If you want to rule us, you must get our consent. If you don't do well, the people can kill you. For example, the impeachment system in the United States is a way for the people to express their revolutionary rights.

Looking back at Yang Xiaokai's "Where is China Going?" written during the Cultural Revolution ”, recalling his simple and radical advocacy of ultra-leftist ideology and revolutionary methods back then, but now he praises the Glorious Revolution in Britain, emphasizing the separation of powers and checks and balances. He advocated freedom, proposed the establishment of a habeas corpus, abolished the crime of counter-revolution, and prohibited any political persecution of religious persecution. He advocated constitutionalism, demanded that the constitution be amended, the separation of church and state be realized, and the status of Marxism-Leninism and ideology as the state religion should be abolished. He gave repeated, serious, and profound reflections on many complex issues - what a huge leap of thought!

In the last years of his life, Yang Xiaokai's ideal of constitutional government has developed into a Christian constitutional government. In his book "Why Do People Must Have Faith? In his autobiography, he reviewed the psychological process of his belief in Christianity in three stages. First, from the perspective of economics and social science, he felt that the role of Christianity in economic history should not be taken lightly; then, he began to overcome the superstition of the rationality of social science, but he had not yet been able to believe in eternal life and God; Social science investigates the root of Christianity's success, which is "faith".

At this time, Yang Xiaokai felt that it was superficial to think that only relying on institutional transformation can cure all diseases, separated from the soil of culture and belief. Faith is the first cause of the system. In the "Readme", when talking about the institutional foundations of Britain, the United States, Australia, and Canada, Yang Xiaokai said that Christianity, especially Protestantism, supports "the ever-expanding social order and justice." Yang Xiaokai pointed out that the most difficult thing to achieve constitutional governance is not only that those who have the power to influence the rules of the political game can think about the losers in political competition, but also that the losers can voluntarily admit defeat. Political competition is often a zero-sum strategy. The loser of the election voluntarily admits defeat, which is not the optimal decision from a rational point of view. The constitutional failure of Russia and many other countries in 1917 was because the losers of the election did not admit defeat, and a revolution occurred. The Christian faith, on the other hand, can play a key role in giving up the best personal decision for the losers of the election, sacrificing personal interests for the society, and admitting defeat if they lose.

Yang Xiaokai finally converted to Christ and completed a difficult "self-revolution". In his "self-report", Yang Xiaokai asked and answered inspiringly:

Why are Christian countries so long and peaceful? Why is there such a difference? If you don't think on the basis of spirit, you must think on the basis of materialism, you will never be able to explain this thing. Because the difference is related to belief.

Reviewing the history of world development, constitutionalism was undoubtedly rooted in the belief system of Western Christianity at first. But does the formation of liberal constitutional regimes presuppose the widespread spread of Christianity? There are certainly many opinions on this question. For example, constitutional scholar Liu Junning clearly does not hold "Christian salvation theory". Two years before his death, in July 2002, Yang Xiaokai gave a speech titled "Capitalism Does Not Equal Economic Success" in Shanghai, expounding on his belief that "every successful capitalist region has Christianity as its spiritual pillar". View. Those who agree say the speech is in a sense comparable to President Bush's speech at Tsinghua University. However, whether it is Yang Xiaokai's speech or Bush's speech, the Western ideas they expounded seem to have little response in the land of Chinese culture, at least this is the case at the moment, although it is said that there are tens of millions of Chinese Christians now, And there are many intellectuals (DW quoted Vatican radio "IDEA" as saying that in China, the world's most populous country, the number of Christians has exceeded the huge number of more than 70 million members of the Chinese Communist Party. This Figures include what China generally calls Protestants and Catholics, mostly members of underground churches that are not officially registered).

China's constitutional construction has a history of more than 100 years. Why hasn't it been successful yet? What is the answer? ? ?

In any case, Yang Xiaokai came to his answer based on the ultimate experience of his life.

6. Outstanding value of death: comprehend the fate and thoughts of Professor Yang Xiaokai

In any sense, Yang Xiaokai's death is too early, which is too regrettable.

In the last days of his life, Yang Xiaokai also described in detail to his friends various ambitious plans in the future, including continuing to write books, going to conferences around the world, giving lectures, leading students, and sharing his economic discoveries in China. Preach to the world…. His exuberant vitality, boundless love for life, and full confidence in his economic achievements deeply moved his friends. Hearing such a talented, active-minded person who is terminally ill speak so eloquently, his friend was secretly sad and could only repeatedly ask him to do what he could.

What an infinitely sad and tragic untimely death! Yang Xiaokai left a lot of unfinished business in this way.

However, Yang Xiaokai must also feel quite relieved that there is a spirit in the sky.

On the day of Yang Xiaokai's death, the bad news was immediately uploaded to the motherland where his dreams haunted him, and the next day, on July 8, at 9:30 in the morning, the China Economic Research Center of Peking University held a mourning event for the first time. . "Why did Xiguang suddenly die in the beginning of the arduous search for the grand plan?! When will the crane return without fulfilling the ambition of Shenzhou?!" ——Professors and scholars cherish the memory of this legendary figure with deep respect and regret. deeds.

"To commemorate Yang Xiaokai, the first mainland Chinese economist to impact mainstream Western economics," Chen Ping, deputy director of Peking University's China Economic Research Center, said in his eulogy.

Fan Gang, secretary general of the China Economic System Reform Foundation and director of the National Economic Research Institute, said: "Yang Xiaokai... has a rough life, but he has struggled endlessly. He has devoted himself to studying for many years, and is broad and profound. He is one of the few who have made contributions to the basic theory of economics. He is a Chinese-born contemporary economist, and a patriot who pays attention to China's destiny all his life and is fearless for the well-being of the Chinese people. He is the pride and role model of our generation of Chinese economists."

Hai Wen, deputy director of Peking University's China Economic Research Center, mourns the poem: "I cherish my teachers and friends in my life, and my ambitions become stronger as time goes by. If the soul is inspired to know each other, the wisdom will be remembered for the future."

Professor Li Daokui from Tsinghua University expressed his condolences to Yang Xiaokai: "The unyielding soul, the spirit of seeking, a role model for a generation, will forever remain in my heart."

…………

The memorial symposium was chaired by Professor Justin Yifu Lin, an academic opponent of Yang Xiaokai and director of the China Economic Research Center of Peking University. Lin Yifu's eulogy said: Yang Xiaokai has lived a legendary life in fifty-five years. In terms of time, his life is not long, and in terms of achievements, his life is very rich. With a sincere heart, he persistently pursued his own academic and ideals all his life. The road is bumpy, but never compromise, never give up. His achievements have been shining in the international economics community, and he is the pride of Chinese economists.

It has been nearly 20 years since Lin Yang knew when he founded the Economic Association for Studying in the United States. In recent years, their academic views, especially the so-called latecomer advantage or latecomer disadvantage, have sometimes conflicted as mentioned above. However, "the promises of many scholars are not as good as the words of one scholar", Justin Yifu Lin fully realized the value of constantly tempering and discussing different viewpoints.

The value of Yang Xiaokai seems to be especially precious due to the sudden appearance in front of the Chinese public by his unfortunate death. During that time, important newspapers and magazines in mainland China carried out prominent reports on Yang Xiaokai's death and life achievements. Many people, especially the younger generation, knew his name for the first time and became intrigued by his legendary life and thoughts. They felt that behind Yang Xiaokai's academic achievements was his persistent pursuit of personality independence and freedom of thought, which formed a strong contrast with some well-known scholars in mainland China.

Indeed, the Chinese public should fully understand the value of Yang Xiaokai.

We should comprehend Yang Xiaokai's fate and thoughts in the great changes in China over the past two hundred years, and see from it the personal history of Chinese intellectuals in an era of great change and transformation, as well as the fate of an ancient national spiritual belief.

In the mid-1990s, Yang Xiaokai published an extraordinary book about his fellow victims, titled "Records of Bull Ghosts, Snakes and Gods". The last page of the book recalls how he felt when he was released from prison in April 1978. He told himself:

No matter what happens in the future, I must not let the all kinds of touching stories that happened in this land disappear into the darkness, I will tell the world a dark history that I have seen with my own eyes, because my soul will always be imprisoned with these elves together.

In the past 26 years, Yang Xiaokai has wandered from China to the United States, and from the United States to Australia, but he has always cared about China and the imprisoned elves.

He looked up at the starry sky and kept thinking. With the wisdom of a prophet, he has always been exploring how his motherland has established itself in the forest of the world, and has always been exploring the possibility of the revival of Chinese culture.

The earth-shattering question - "Where is China going?" has been haunting every corner of his soul for decades, and the direction of "where to go" has also occurred in his thinking. Earth-shaking changes.

Some people associate Yang Xiaokai with Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang. After all, these three landmark reform leaders also left their mark on Yang Xiaokai's life path (applying for graduate studies, rehabilitating wrongful prisoners, and studying abroad). Perhaps Yang Xiaokai's question of "where is China going" has persisted in the minds of these three CCP leaders all his life? Maybe they all share similar obsessions, some kind of idealism? Maybe Yang Xiaokai has a more lasting experience at the bottom of this society, and has his advantages in education, so this "a commoner" has more unfettered and more breakthroughs in thinking about China's destiny? Maybe Yang Xiaokai and them are too different in terms of position, viewpoint, thinking method, background and status, and there is not much comparability with each other?

Where is China going? The answer naturally requires the unremitting exploration and personal practice of thousands of people with lofty ideals. But as far as Yang Xiaokai is concerned, it can be expected that once this master of economics and a Chinese child enters history, he will form his immortal status as a saint; It will be sublimated into rich ideological resources and strong practical motivation, which will contribute to the healthy development of his motherland. This is what each of us fervently desires.

In today's harsh situation in China, in the face of Xi Jinping's new totalitarian rule of exquisite high-tech and foreign expansion, Yang Xiaokai's prophetic warning 20 years ago is not only related to the Chinese people but also affects the fate of all mankind, especially There should be a ringing in everyone's ears:

"If China does not carry out constitutional reform, after its economy is strong, it will go the way of Germany and Japan before World War II, attack Taiwan, and confront the civilized society of the whole world."

I hope that Professor Yang Xiaokai can be comforted in the spirit of heaven.

(This article was written one week after Professor Yang Xiaokai's death in July 2004, and was included in my book "Looking to the North to the Sky". The discussion in the article refers to the opinions of the international economics community. June 22, 2022 Slightly revised and a foreword added.)

Li Nanyang: A Little Thing About Mr. Yu Guangyuan

I only met Mr. Yu Guangyuan a few times when I went with my father to their "old buddies" party. Although I sometimes sat next to him and took pictures together, I never had any deep contact and conversation with him. The most memorable time was when he told me that he had read my article "I Have Such a Mother" in a magazine called "Southern Opinion and North Diao" published in Henan. I told him I didn't know there was such a magazine, and I didn't know they reprinted my article. He immediately said, "I'll bring you a copy." After a few days, my father handed me a copy of "Southern Dialogue" and said, "Guangyuan brought it to you." This moved me very much. This feeling is very similar to another incident related to Mr. Yu Guangyuan that I experienced twenty-six years ago.

It was a matter of Yang Xiaokai's fate. I have kept a letter written by Mr. Yu Guangyuan on June 30, 1980, addressed to my father Li Rui and me. Young-year-old Yang Xiaokai died in 2004 as a well-known economist. In 1980, he was still a proofreader trapped in the Second Printing Factory of Shaoyang, Hunan Province.

Yang Xiaokai's eldest sister, Yang Hui, wrote in an article commemorating the first anniversary of his brother's death: "When he was in the No. 2 Xinyin Factory, his brother still did not give up and continued to study and study the economic theory he began to study in prison. I was preparing to take the postgraduate examination of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Who knew that the admission ticket was still not issued. At this time, with the help of Li Rui, a close friend of my father and a veteran cadre, Yu Guangyuan, a famous reformist scholar, was invited to ask about Xiaokai's situation. In 1980 When Yu Guangyuan was preparing to establish the "Technical Economic Research Association", Xiao Kai was seconded to Beijing, and took part in the intern researcher examination of the Institute of Quantitative Economics, and was admitted with good professional results. "This statement is not very accurate. Yang Xiaokai applied for the postgraduate examination of the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Social Sciences, but was not admitted. Yang Xiaokai came to my house to talk and said that his professional examination paper was given zero marks. The examiner's comment was: " can't read. After he left, my father asked me: " How do you feel about Yang Xiaokai?" How is this person? "I said, I don't know him very well. The paper he gave me on "Mathematical Economics", I couldn't understand at all. But a person who can teach himself university courses in prison and have such advanced research results must be very An amazing person. To give zero points for "can't understand" is too domineering anyway. Father said: "You write a letter to Yu Guangyuan, explaining the situation, and I will help you forward it to Guangyuan. . "I said: "I write? it's OK? Yu Guangyuan knows who I am? "The father said: "You can write it, and I will attach a few words to you. "So, I, a young technician who works for work, honestly wrote a letter to the big man Yu Guangyuan, telling the truth about Yang Xiaokai's "Waterloo" and asking him for help. Yu Guangyuan responded quickly and earnestly. The letter reads as follows:

"Comrade Li Rui and Li Nanyang: I am going to let Yang Xiaokai work in the Technology and Economic Research Association or the Management Modernization Research Association that I founded. When the graduate student is recruited next year, I will recommend him to be a graduate student of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences based on his one-year work. But there are two points that need your help to solve: First, we can send a letter to Yang's unit for secondment in the name of the National Association for Science and Technology, but we may not be able to do anything about it. Second, it is difficult to solve the accommodation problem after he came to Beijing. Can I borrow someone's house for a year?

The article he wrote in 1967 has been lost. Can he tell us the main point of this article? This is not important, but it is better if we understand it.

How? Immediately.

Yu Guangyuan

30th June”

Obviously, Yang Xiaokai's "anti-premier problem", his imprisonment, and his "zero score" exam papers that I talked about in my letter are not problems at all with Mr. Guangyuan. The "reactionary" "Where is China Going", which Kang Sheng personally named, was "unimportant" in his opinion, and only needed to be "understood". He quickly decided how to help Yang Xiaokai, and asked my father to recover. Such a shoulder to bear, such an eclectic recruitment of talents, such a neat and tidy way of doing things, not to mention that in 1980, when the catastrophe had just passed and the autumn wind was still rustling, that is, today, after 20 years of reform and opening up, who would be a big man? What about opening the door to a "political prisoner" and a "zero score" candidate?

It is gold that always shines. Without the help of Mr. Yu Guangyuan, Yang Xiaokai's road may be tortuous, but he will succeed in the end. It's just that there are no assumptions in the world. What happened was that Mr. Yu Guangyuan pulled Yang Xiaokai up when he was lying on the rock wall and had nowhere to step on. This powerful hand from the "upper" big man helped Yang Xiaokai to get rid of the imprisonment of Hunan, where the "anti-premier" crime that stubbornly entangled him, and the "left wind" prevailed, to Beijing and Quanzhou, which were the first to develop the trend. Under the unruly Yu Guangyuan's command, he got an opportunity to step into a smooth life.

There are few such stories of cherishing and pity for talent nowadays. More and more big people are more willing to use their power in exchange for money and women. A letter from a small person without a check or cash may be thrown into the wastebasket without even being lucky enough to be opened. "Money" has almost become the only stepping stone to open the door to "enterprise", officialdom, academia, performing arts... This is the case with Gamo. This small incident of Mr. Yu Guangyuan has more moving and richer spiritual value. I would like to leave this short article as a memory on the next page.

2006.5.31.

Yu Jie: Yang Xiaokai's Chinese Love and Dream of Freedom——Read "Standing on the High Slope of Economics: Yang Xiaokai's Memorial Collection"

Yang Xiaokai, who died young, was known as "the Chinese closest to the Nobel Prize in Economics", and he was also a godly brother in Christ. In the last three years of his life, while fighting against cancer, he was bathed in the Lord's grace and love. From the way of life to academic thinking, due to the illumination of the truth of the Bible, he has undergone essential changes and sublimation.

"Xiao Kai" was the name he later changed for himself, meaning "little victory"; while his original name was "Xiguang", which means the first light of the morning sun and the rays of light. On July 14, 2004, Yang Xiaokai's friend, Professor In Harpa from the School of Economics of the University of Melbourne, said at Yang Xiaokai's memorial service: "Xiaokai's reliance on a firm belief in the Lord transcends worldly utilitarian ideas, meaning Bigger than 'Xiao Kai' (little victory) - he has won eternal life. To borrow a passage from his favorite Bible, our friend Yang Xiguang has surpassed Yang Xiaokai as a 'conqueror' - he The Spirit of God has ascended into heaven, shining brightly, to swim in the splendor that the Lord Jesus has generously bestowed upon every faithful one."

Why did he believe in Jesus?

Is Christianity the last "life-saving straw" for the terminally ill Yang Xiaokai? Some doubters said that he probably went to the hospital for a sudden illness, right? Some people even retorted that God didn't heal him, doesn't that mean that the God he believes in doesn't exist at all? So, why did Yang Xiaokai believe in Jesus? Although he has written two testimonies, one focusing on how to approach Christianity rationally and the other more directly describing how to open your life to Jesus Christ, many of his old friends and readers are still puzzled . This is also a normal situation. The Chinese have always advocated pragmatic rationality and lacked a sense of religion. As the Taiwanese writer Zhang Xiaofeng said: "This nation has not yet developed a belief that can be called religion, and it has not yet begun to touch the great mysterious unknown. The Chinese people's spiritual wilderness needs a handful of living seeds to sow and grow."

Yang Xiaokai's friend and philosopher Deng Xiaomang wrote in a memoir: "For an atheist like me, Xiaokai's testimony seems so incredible, I can't imagine that a man like him who advocates science. How can rational people, like ordinary people, believe in the fulfillment of God’s power in themselves. . . In the words, we see the pride of the Chinese intellectual who sticks to the traditional personality model, and this pride may not even be realized by him. Many cultural people like Deng Xiaomang do not know that the amount of knowledge and the level of culture are not the reasons for the inequality of souls. Before God, everyone's soul is equal. Philosophers and writers need God's redemption just like ordinary people.

Deng Xiaomang also said: "I still can't believe in his God. Maybe after the Cultural Revolution, I have despaired of that kind of blind and unreflected belief, especially the religious worship ceremony." It can be seen that the kind of "pseudo-god worship" that the Cultural Revolution caused to the Chinese people's hearts was traumatized, and they sincerely worshipped that "pseudo-god" and were even willing to sacrifice their lives for it. But when they discovered the boundless darkness and evil behind the light of "false gods", they thought that there was no true god in this world. Despite this, Deng Xiaomang also admitted: "Christianity helped Xiao Kai overcome the painful mentality of the Confucian scholar-official's 'frightened like a lost dog', to be able to deal with his own destiny peacefully, and to firmly support his independent personality. "In this sense, Yang Xiaokai used his life to make a beautiful testimony to the Lord, and his life has also become a blessing to those who do not believe in the Lord.

His life is bright as a morning star

After becoming a Christian, Yang Xiaokai's life has undergone tremendous changes, and his relatives, colleagues, friends and students have deeply felt this change. Yang Xiaokai reflected on his previous life as follows: "I was too focused on my career, and everything was focused on my career. I spent too little time on my children. I am full of hatred for those who persecuted me in China... For worldly fame. Diligently trying to make me physically and mentally exhausted." At the baptism ceremony, he said frankly: "I am very peaceful in my heart and no longer fear death." Why? Professor Harpa recalled: "A few days before Kay's death, I sat by his bedside and saw firsthand that his inner peace grew and he no longer feared death. He said softly: 'I want to go to heaven now. "Yes, for the vast universe, human strength and wisdom are too small. Humans cannot understand death. God must have a reason for a person to leave this world. And this reason, our human wisdom still has Incomprehensible, we can only obey and accept.

What touched me the most was the details revealed by Yang Xiaokai's wife Wu Xiaojuan in "The Days Xiaokai and I were with". After Yang Xiaokai accepted Jesus, "he repented to God and to me, hoping God would forgive him. He began to read the Bible every day, and in February 2002, both of us were baptized at the same time. During the three years of Xiaokai's serious illness God has always sent Christians to pray for him and speak the Bible.” God even sent Yang Xiaokai’s unbelieving sister to take care of him and read the Bible for him. Yang Xiaokai's belief is not the kind of cultural Christian belief, not the kind of Christian belief that has been transformed into a Chinese folk religion. He has a church and a fellowship life, and he prays in everything and gives thanks in everything. A false Christian cannot deceive his wife, who is with him day and night; on the contrary, if he is a devout Christian in the eyes of his wife, then his beliefs are most likely true. In the eyes of his wife Wu Xiaojuan: "Xiao Kai's life has really changed during the three years he has believed in the Lord. After Xiao Kai believed in the Lord, he became more and more devout to his beliefs. He was humble and self-examination beforehand, and tried his best to stand in the position of others for others. Think. When faced with major difficulties, when I am unable to make a decision or judgment, I will always pray earnestly, asking the Lord to forgive me and give me wisdom and strength.”

Yang Xiaokai often tells his wife about a dream that showed the presence of the Holy Spirit with him. This dream is also a great comfort to all Christians in tribulation and suffering. In this dream, Yang Xiaokai found that there were two lines of footprints on the beach, one for himself and the other for Heavenly Father, but whenever he was the most painful and uncomfortable, there were always only one pair of footprints on the beach. He asked God in confusion, "Father! You said that as long as I am determined to follow, you will always be with me. But why are there only one pair of footprints left on the beach whenever I am in the most pain and suffering? "God replied: "My precious son! I love you, and I will never leave you. When you were the most painful and sad, the reason why there were only one pair of footprints left on the beach was because in that When I was hugging you."

His faith illuminates his scholarship and thought

After many intellectuals believed in the Lord, his belief was still separated from his academic research, and he called it "separation of state and religion" and "academic neutrality". Actually, it's because they don't have faith in the Bible, they don't have faith in the truth, they don't have faith in the Word of God. For a true Christian, after accepting Jesus Christ as the Savior, the changes in his life will be comprehensive, which will inevitably affect his way of thinking and academic stance.

Yang Xiaokai is like that. He was born in a family of high-ranking CCP officials. In his youth, he wrote "Where is China Going?" ” and was jailed for ten years. His whole life has been in pursuit of truth and freedom, and only in Jesus Christ can he discover the inexhaustible truth and freedom. When he was young, Yang Xiaokai was radical in his thinking, advocating the French Revolution and the Russian October Revolution, and studying Marx's works hard; but when he turned to Christianity, he became a persistent "counter-revolutionary", extolling the relatively conservative British Glorious Revolution. Criticism of the French and Russian Revolutions, which traded violence for violence.

I am a layman in economics, and my knowledge structure is not enough to understand and evaluate Yang Xiaokai's contributions and achievements in economics. However, Yang Xiaokai's criticism of China's reality and his discussion of China's constitutional issues made me feel deeply attached. Yang Xiaokai looks at the status quo and future of today's China from the way of mild reforms in Britain in the past, showing profound insights. He put forward the controversial "later disadvantage theory", arguing that if we only imitate technology, but not the system, there will be a lack of constitutional order and the rule of law, and may lead to institutionalized state opportunism, leading to false public welfare and corrupt elements in the ruling class. of "going forward". What is especially terrifying is that in China, rule makers, arbitrators, executors and participants are often arranged by the same organization, which will inevitably lead to the institutionalization of state opportunism. It is precisely because of his deep love for China that he will be held accountable.

Scholar Hong Chaohui summarized Yang Xiaokai's three major ideas of "Lateral Inferiority Theory" in his article "Yang Xiaokai's Realm of "Learning Taoism": First, economic reform is only an integral part of constitutional democracy and institutional reform, and the two are not equal and parallel. , but a master-slave relationship with clear priorities. The Industrial Revolution in England in the eighteenth century was only a continuation and supplement of the constitutional revolution at the end of the seventeenth century. Second, the ideal model of the modernization process is to promote British-style constitutional democracy first, and then implement the British-style industrial revolution, rather than the Chinese and East Asian-style pre-technical imitation and post-institutional imitation. The British Industrial Revolution was just the historical logic and natural continuation of the Glorious Revolution. With constitutional democracy, the Industrial Revolution will happen naturally, sooner or later. The third is the Chinese-style economic reform model, which is not getting closer to political democracy and system imitation, but farther and farther away, because this "bad capitalism" that combines power and capital will only increase China's realization of constitutional democracy. Moreover, the success of technological imitation often makes the rulers elated, and the common people are complacent, which will inevitably lead to the top and bottom standing still and refusing to imitate the system, which will become a "disaster" for China in the future. The status quo of China in recent years has been misunderstood by Yang Xiaokai. From those in power to civil society, everyone is excited about the "rise of China". So many imperial literati and unscrupulous booksellers have concocted cultural garbage such as "China Is Not Happy" and "China Stands Up", and the "puffy" China is entering a dangerous "pre-fascist" psychological magnetic field. middle.

Yang Xiaokai named his last speech collection "Chinese Love and Dream of Freedom". He was involved in Chinese love and dream of freedom throughout his life, and in the end, in Jesus Christ, the two were perfectly unified and integrated, just as because of ? Professor Harpa said: "Xiao Kai asked me to tell everyone that the knowledge of Jesus Christ is the most important experience in his life. The gospel of Christ is the greatest truth in this world. He has devoted his life to discovering the subtle and righteousness in the conceptual world. Little Kay has finally discovered the ultimate truth in Jesus - here he discovered the 'Pearl of Beauty and Priceless'. He wants you to understand this and, as he did, to discover it for yourself."

March 24, 2010 at home in Beijing

Article source: RFA