Yu Keping, Director, Center for Chinese Government Innovations, Peking University
About the Seminar
Yu Keping will illustrate briefly the whole process of governance reform since the Reform in 1978 in China, including achievements, breakthrough reforms, map line, dynamics, and reform focus in the near future. He will also frankly discuss and analyze the biggest challenges faced by the Chinese government today – or, put another way, the most unsatisfactory issues that concern the public about their government. Such dissatisfaction lies not in economic growth, but in social problems such as social inequality, the growing gap between the rich and poor, serious corruption among public officials, social instability, high crime rates, environmental degradation, and ignorance of citizens’ human rights. To solve these problems, it is far from enough to merely rely on economic development: it is imperative to enhance democratic governance. This is the basic reason why Chinese President Hu Jintao stresses the importance of “scientific development.” The essence of “scientific development” lies in the coordinated, comprehensive, and sustainable development policies and practices among the political, economic, cultural, societal, and environmental arenas. This is also the reason that Premier Wen Jiabao continually underscores that democracy and rule of law, as well as equality and justice, are the primary values of true Socialism.... Read more about China's Road Towards Democratic Governance