【World Economic and Political Biweekly Forum】

Senior Fellow Zhang Bin, Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics

——China's economic portrait of the times-from manufacturing industry to service industry

　　The eleventh "World Economic and Political Bi-weekly Forum" was held on May 13, 2021. Zhang Bin, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the IWEP, gave a lecture on “China's economic portrait of the times-From manufacturing industry to service industry”. The lecture was chaired by Xu Qiyuan, Senior Fellow and Director of the International Development Research Division. Xu Jianguo, Associate?professor from the National School of Development of Peking University commented on the lecture, and other researchers of the IWEP and teachers and students of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences attended the lecture.

　　Zhang Bin explains that it is not accidental that China’s economic growth rate, production structure, expenditure structure, economic cycle and other major macro indicators have shifted since 2012, which is consistent with the experience of high-income countries at the same stage of development. China is currently also facing a transition from manufacturing to service industry. From the experience of developed countries, neither the low share of the manufacturing industry, not the premature de-industrialization have become the constraints of China’s development.

       China’s current real shortcomings include the facts that nearly 300 million peasant-workers cannot become real citizens because of the low level of public services; new urban problems such as high housing prices, difficulty in having medical care and receiving education; the lack of priorities of basic scientific research and protection of intellectual property rights. All these disadvantages have reflected the shortcomings of the service industry. China should promote the development of the service industry by introducing fair market competition and improving public services. Finally, Senior Fellow Zhang Bin talked about his views on some prevailing prejudices in the current macroeconomic studies and had a lively discussion with the on-site audience.