World Economy Volume - Chinese Scholars Look at the World (7)

Author: Wang Jisi, Chief Editor
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Compilation and writing are not within the same creative category. At first glance, writing is more difficult than compilation. The Shuowen dictionary explains "compile" as "arranging bamboo slips." The word "arrange" seems easy, but it also has its difficulties. First, deciding what content to arrange and, more specifically, selecting articles based on certain criteria to compile them into a book is a challenging task for the compiler. Especially in the field of world economics in China, research is very active, and excellent works are frequently published. Selecting the best from the best is even harder to define, making the choice of articles a matter of great hesitation. Second, the division of labor in economics is becoming increasingly specialized. As a compiler, it is difficult to have a comprehensive understanding of every detail. Even some details within his own field may fall outside his area of research or concern. This also increases the compiler's difficulties. Third, the communication between the compiler and the reader is very subtle. A good compiler rarely speaks his mind directly. The inclination or information he wants to convey to the readers is mainly achieved through the selected articles and his arrangement of these articles. In this sense, the success or failure of a compiled work depends not only on the compiler but also on the reader's understanding. Of course, this does not mean that the compiler is exempting himself from responsibility, because the compiler's perspective and construction ability are the most decisive factors. With this in mind, when Wang Jisi, the chief editor of the series Chinese Scholars Look at the World, invited me to serve as the chief editor of a volume, I was quite hesitant. Later, I indeed felt that compiling such a series of books would be a good thing for enhancing mutual understanding between China and the world; also, because from the chief editor to the volume editors, everyone is a relatively familiar friend or colleague in academia, and I was also willing to work together with everyone in this team to achieve this great endeavor. In the end, I decided to make an effort and no longer stay on the sidelines. After promising to compile the book, I never underestimated its difficulty, fearing that I might not be able to cope with it. After a period of deliberation, planning, reading, and selection, the book was finally completed. Although I did not experience the feeling of "three years to obtain two lines, two lines with tears flowing," I still want to use this "preface" to share some thoughts on compiling this book. Since it is a compiled work, certain criteria must be set for the selection and editing. My criteria are roughly as follows:
First, the time scale. The articles selected for this book are all from the past ten years, with a focus on the past three years, and were published in Chinese. This is not to say that there are no excellent works outside of ten years, but according to the overall consideration of the series, the volumes should mainly select articles published after the "9/11" event to reflect the new views of Chinese scholars on the world economy. However, during the editing process, I found that the major trends in the world or regional economy had long been emerging before "9/11." Some situations had already been discussed in depth in the articles of Chinese scholars at that time (for example, Gu Shuqing expressed great confidence in the recovery and takeoff of Southeast Asia during the Asian financial crisis). To take everything in a "one-size-fits-all" way would contradict our original intention of comprehensively and appropriately reflecting the views of Chinese scholars on the world economy. Moreover, the past ten years are also a period of continuity and transition across centuries. For this reason, I set the upper limit of the selected works at ten years. The other meaning of the time scale is the "timeliness" of the issues discussed. The main body of the selected articles discusses the international economic trends at the turn of the century. The reason for this is at least that "the present" or "the foreseeable future" is more worthy of attention.
Second, the spatial span. With an open attitude, China is closely linked to major economic regions or economies around the world. Therefore, the economic issues discussed in the selected papers cover North America, Western Europe, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and other regions, hoping to reflect the comprehensive scope of Chinese scholars' thinking and perspective on the world economy, and strive to fully reflect the research breadth of Chinese scholars in recent years in terms of "seeing thousands of miles." For this purpose, I have a separate section titled "Countries and Regions" and included six articles to highlight the spatial span. The other meaning of the spatial span is the richness of the topics discussed in the selected articles. In terms of the world economy, it mainly includes international trade, finance, energy, environment, global governance, and more generally, regional integration and economic globalization. Although not every topic has a dedicated article (for example, Gao Haihong discusses Asian currency cooperation), almost every article touches on these issues to some extent. I am trying to use this cross-cutting of topics to cover as much as possible the main focal points of global economic activities.
The third standard is inclusiveness. Here, inclusiveness mainly refers to the composition of the authors and the sources of the articles. In addition to ensuring the diversity of research subjects, this volume also makes a special effort to have authors with as "complex" backgrounds as possible, incorporating various perspectives. Most of the more than twenty articles in this volume are by famous scholars in China, of whom about half are from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the other half are professors of economics in universities, experts from financial institutions, researchers from government research institutions, and a few scholar-officials. I believe that such a composition of authors can better represent a wider range of views, and their perspectives and positions can largely reflect the overall description and judgment of Chinese scholars on the world economy. The main reason for selecting ten articles from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is that it holds a unique position in the field of international studies. In addition to having a number of important scholars, its research institutes are also the most comprehensive in China. The research fields of its eight institutes of international studies almost cover all issues related to the world economy. Obviously, the age level of the authors is also a factor. The authors of this book range in age from their thirties (such as Yu Wanli discussing the international political economy of transnational corporations) to nearly seventy. It must be admitted that the width of the age span is closely related to inclusiveness. From the perspective of sources, the articles selected for this volume are mainly from three journals: International Economic Review, Journal of World Economics, and Journal of World Economics and Politics. The main reason for focusing on these journals is that they are relatively representative.
Fourth, the narrative or research methods. Overall, the world economy is a branch of economics, primarily using economic analytical tools. Modern economics has developed rapidly, and theories such as game theory, econometrics, information economics, new growth theory, and neoclassical political economy have become widely accepted theoretical foundations and analytical tools for economists. Especially today, economic analysis often involves relatively sophisticated mathematical language, with strong theoretical and technical characteristics that are far beyond the reach of ordinary readers with a little effort. Considering that the readers of this book may not be familiar with them, and also to ensure that the narrative style of this volume is coordinated with the other seven volumes of the series, I had to reluctantly reject some works that were very profound but also had very beautiful mathematical or econometric analysis. While maintaining professionalism, I tried to avoid complex mathematical derivations and econometric analysis as much as possible, so that each article would have strong readability. This was an important goal I pursued during the selection and editing process.
The fifth standard is faithfulness to the original. Overall, in addition to adjusting the format according to the requirements of the series and making minor corrections to obvious errors in the articles, I have almost completely preserved the original form of each article without any additions or deletions. This is partly out of respect for the authors, and also to allow the text of this volume to genuinely reflect the thought process of Chinese scholars in understanding the world economy over the past ten years, thereby giving the book a stronger sense of history. From today's perspective, some of the views in the original articles may not be entirely correct, and some of the inferences and predictions made at that time have been refuted by subsequent developments. To present the "errors" and "mistakes" in the book exactly as they were, in my opinion, does no harm to the reputation of the authors. This is not only because no one is perfect, but also because of the spirit of pragmatism, and more importantly, because the history of science, in a sense, is simply the history of the mistakes made by the capable.
Regardless of whether they are correct or incorrect, this book strives to show the world that there are sincere scholars who have seriously thought about and written about the world economy on Chinese soil. This may be the true meaning.
The last standard is the focus on China. Although the theme of this volume is Chinese scholars looking at the world, they are looking at the world through the lens of China, in other words, when they look at the world, they can only think about and must think about China. In a certain sense, for Chinese people, the world only has meaning when it is connected with China. Consciously collecting international studies articles involving China naturally brings some editorial difficulties, such as, what kind of logic should be used to arrange the chapters. To highlight the focus on China, I have a separate section titled "China and the World." However, there are too many articles involving China to be included in this section. Facing this dilemma, I had to make some technical adjustments, placing articles related to globalization (such as Zhu Min's discussion of global imbalances and their impact on China) in the "Global Perspective" section, and placing those that focus on development paths and have stronger theoretical discussions (such as He Bingmeng and others discussing the issue of neoliberalism) in the "Ideas and Trends" section. Although I am fully aware that this may cause some damage to the logic of the entire book, it is unavoidable.
Looking back at the entire compilation process, the selection of content and the design of the author composition were the aspects I paid the most attention to. The achievements of Chinese scholars in the field of world economics are vast, and my work is likely to be incomplete, and it is inevitable that I will miss some excellent works. It is a good deed to write for others, and it can be laughed off if one suffers for others, but if my editing is inappropriate and misleads a broad readership or "affects" the authors themselves, that is something I am unwilling to see from the bottom of my heart. Here, I cannot help but recall the standard used by Confucius to evaluate the Shao music: "It is perfectly good, and it is also perfectly beautiful" (Ba Yi). This standard is truly beyond my reach. If my colleagues and readers can generally accept this book, as an editor, I will be satisfied.