A credit that is hard to buy with gold

Author: Zhan Xiangyang, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: This series of books was compiled by a group of financial experts and industry professionals over three years, aiming to introduce financial instruments and common knowledge from the perspective of ordinary people, explain financial principles, and analyze the colorful and ever-changing financial phenomena in simple and easy-to-understand language. Commentator Zhao He of China Central Television's Economic Channel said: "Understanding finance is a difficult thing. Simplifying complex things is also difficult. But what if people who understand finance simplify complex finance? Why not take a look at this illustrated financial popularization series? It might just open the door to the treasure trove of finance.
This series consists of nine books: The Mysterious Currency, The Priceless Credit, The Omnipotent Bank, Leveraging the Power of Banks, The Foggy Foreign Exchange, The Bizarre Securities, The Volatile Stock Market, The Insurance for Rainy Days, and The Art of Turning Stones into Gold. Each book contains about 100,000 words. The entire set is exquisitely printed and bound, illustrated, and comes with a gift box. The language is simple, the writing is concise, the content is practical, and the format is lively, making a bold attempt at popularizing financial knowledge in a new way. It is highly informative and engaging. This series is undoubtedly the best tool for those who wish to learn and master financial knowledge and skills, helping them enter the world of finance. It is an excellent choice as a leisure read for non-professionals in various fields, a gift for non-industry clients by large institutions, or promotional materials.
As China's economy moves toward marketization, financial concepts and products such as banks, financial markets, bills, bonds, stocks, and funds, which were once unfamiliar, are increasingly entering households and becoming indispensable parts of daily life. However, due to various reasons, financial science popularization education in China remains a blank. How to introduce financial instruments and common knowledge from the perspective of ordinary people, explain financial principles, and analyze the colorful and ever-changing financial phenomena, so that finance moves out of the professional ivory tower and into the hands of the general public, enabling residents to understand and master financial knowledge and basic skills, is a need driven by China's marketization and has become an important mission for the financial academia and industry in China today. The Jin Zai Jin Rong series, edited by Dr. Zhan Xiangyang, is a popularization series that uses clear and simple language and everyday examples to explain the basics of monetary finance, helping readers understand fundamental knowledge related to money and finance. It fills the gap in China's financial popularization literature.
A market economy is one centered on the masses, with widespread participation. The level of financial knowledge among residents and their familiarity with the interest mechanism and market regulations to some extent determine the maturity and quality of the financial market. The primary nature of China's economy and financial market is not only due to underdevelopment but is also directly related to the lack of financial knowledge among the public. Clearly, with the rapid advancement of marketization, finance has reached a stage where popularization is no longer optional.
By "popularization," we mean targeting non-financial professionals, starting with young people and children, to liberate the mysterious world of finance from obscure professional terminology. Using everyday language and engaging stories, we aim to teach financial common knowledge in an entertaining way, turning the "pearl of the crown of economics" into a basic skill that everyone can master. This is an innovative endeavor, and its difficulty lies in the fact that no one has ever done it before. It is precisely because of this that the series by Dr. Zhan Xiangyang and his collaborators on financial popularization is so rare and valuable.
Internationally, financial popularization has gained widespread attention. For example, financial masters like Friedman often use popular methods such as TV programs to explain their financial views to the public, striving to make "theory grasp the masses." Since reform, China's financial reading market has developed rapidly. However, there are some unsatisfactory phenomena. On one hand, poorly made, sensationalized works on financial hot topics fill the shelves; on the other hand, serious financial works are shelved due to their complexity, leading to a market where "the virtuous are discarded, and the base are celebrated." The Jin Zai Jin Rong series, created by a group of young researchers from the Urban Finance Research Institute of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, connects financial theory to practice and draws on a wide range of sources when introducing financial knowledge. Overall, the book has a fresh and elegant character, combining breadth and specificity, and is both profound and accessible. It covers fundamental financial knowledge from monetary origin, finance, credit, to international money and exchange rates, analyzing them clearly and comprehensively. Yet, it also finds financial insights in everyday examples. The book is both straightforward and profound, making it the first of its kind in China's financial popularization literature and a rare gem in the recent financial reading market.
For ordinary people, especially young people, who wish to learn and master financial knowledge and skills without pursuing a financial profession, this is undoubtedly the best tool to enter the world of finance. As an older professional in the financial field, I am gratified that China finally has financial popularization literature. "What one learns from books is always shallow; true understanding comes from practice." Compared to complex and profound works, making things simple and easy to understand is even more challenging.