Wei Xinghua

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisWei.

Wei Xinghua
Simplified Chinese	Vệ hưng hoa
Traditional Chinese	Vệ hưng hoa
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wèi Xìnghuá IPA [wêɪ ɕîŋ.xwǎ]

Wei Xinghua(Chinese:Vệ hưng hoa;October 1925 – 6 December 2019) was a Chinese economist and educator. He specialized in the study of capital and contributed to the "sinicization" of Marxistpolitical economy.He served as professor and chair of the Department of Economics ofRenmin University of Chinaand was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Educator" in 2019.

Biography

Wei was born October 1925 into a peasant family inWutai County,Shanxi,Republic of China,and grew up during theSecond Sino-Japanese War.He joined the underground Communist movement in 1946 and became a member of theChinese Communist Partya year later.He and two colleagues were once arrested by theKuomintanggovernment, but were released due to lack of evidence. He subsequently fled toBeijing,whereas his two colleagues were later rearrested and executed.

Wei studied at North China University (later renamed asRenmin University of China). Upon graduating from Renmin University's graduate program in economics in 1952, he stayed at the university as a faculty member.He later became professor and chair of Renmin University's economics department.He specialized in the study of capital and was credited for his contributions to the "sinicization of Marxistpolitical economy".In 1986, he advocated giving enterprises more freedom to determine their own objectives, which won the support of many other economists.

Wei published more than 40 books and over 1000 research papers and other articles.He was the chief editor of the textbookPrinciples of Political Economy( môn kinh tế chính trị nguyên lý ), one of the most widely used textbooks in China. He proposed influential theories regarding the commodity economy and multiple elements ofproductivity.He was twice awarded theSun YefangEconomics Prize for Outstanding Research Papers.Although Chinese media often described him as an "authority" or "master" in economics, he rejected such accolades and proclaimed that China did not have any world-class "authority" or "master" in economics.

During the celebrations for the70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China,PresidentXi Jinpingawarded Wei theNational Honorary Titleof "People's Educator" on 29 September 2019,although Wei was unable to attend the award ceremony due to poor health.

Wei died on 6 December 2019 in Beijing, aged 94.