The role of private enterprise in transforming China’s economy
The case of Shenzhen
Realising the ‘Chinese dream’ was at the heart of this unique event which brought the University of Cambridge to Beijing to host a forum on the role of private enterprise in transforming China’s economy on 25 March 2014.
The Forum was chaired by media entrepreneur and talk show hostess Yang Lan. Around 150 people attended with hundreds more participating through live streaming. Forum organiser and Director of the Cambridge MBA and Executive MBA, Simon Learmount, said:
“We were delighted to hold our first Cambridge-Beijing Forum among so many friends this week and we are determined to make this the start of a long and fruitful partnership. Cambridge and Shenzhen, in particular, are so similar and have so much to learn from each other that it will benefit both cities to work together for the good of both the Chinese and UK economies. Wang Shi said that ‘understanding China via a Chinese perspective is the distinguishing characteristic of Cambridge Judge’ and we intend to make this the guiding principle of our relationship.”
Mr Wang Shi and Dr Simon Learmount
Mr Wang Shi, one of China’s most renowned business leaders, and Chairman and Founder of China Vanke Co. Ltd, China’s largest residential developer, has come to Cambridge to write a book with EMBA Programme Director Dr Simon Learmount, about business ethics in China.
Chinese innovation: the Cambridge connection
For well over a century, the University of Cambridge has been enriched by its links with China. It was in 1888 that it established Britain’s first professorship of Chinese, kindling a spirit of intellectual cooperation that has grown ever brighter. All the while, the University’s profile within China has risen – thanks in part to eminent alumni such as Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien, novelist Louis Cha and Olympic table-tennis champion Deng Yaping.
The “Leaving Cambridge” stone at the Backs of King’s College, Cambridge © Cmglee