Time to Embrace List ’s Far-sighted Aspirations
List once wrote that，no matter where and when，the welfare of a nation is directly proportional to the intelligence，morality and diligence of the people，with which wealth increases or decreases.He went on to stress that，the industriousness，thriftiness，inventiveness and entrepreneurship of individuals，will never lead to any major achievements if divorced from liberty in the domestic politics，proper public institutions and laws，sound state administration and sensible foreign policies，as well as the special support from the national solidarity and power.These words from List are sufficient reasons to explain why China embarked upon “reform and opening-up” shortly after the end of the Maoist era in the late 1970s.Deng Xiaoping and his associates provided to the Chinese people a liberal market，a basic order，administrative support，and pragmatic diplomacy，thus reversing the previous policy blunders and creating a space for people to tap their intelligence，industriousness and entrepreneurship for individual and national prosperity.
Over the past several decades of transformation，the Chinese people successfully resolved such typical Stalinist problems as short supply of consumer goods，rigidity of the planned economic system，cutoff from the developed economies，lack of autonomy for the enterprises，dearth of infrastructural facilities，suffocation of the social vitality，etc.However，new tensions have now risen related to establishing the rule of law，implementing constitutional rights，expanding political participation，curtailing the rent-seeking by interested groups，liberalizing the monopolized sectors，rebalancing resources between the state and the society，deepening the domestic market，transforming the crude pattern of economic growth，preventing the ballooning of public debts，reducing industrial overcapacity and overdependence on export，modernizing the financial sector，closing the gap in wealth distribution，promoting the efficiency of agriculture，protecting the environment，and so on.How successfully China overcomes these problems will determine how well it can avoid the much feared “middle-income trap”.
There are heated discussions in China regarding the possibility of getting stranded in the “middle-income trap”，as the economic growth is slowing down and impediments have accumulated.It is interesting to see if the theory of List can in any way inspire the Chinese to break the bottleneck in their further development.List ’s emphasis on the development of productive power rather than on the exchange value，his caution regarding excessive financial liberalization，his call for a balanced development of comprehensive sectors of the economy，his warning against an overzealous government in stimulating or regulating the economy，etc.，all seem to be relevant to China today.In particular，the neo-Listian recommendations put forward by Professor Dieter Senghaas for a “far-reaching de-feudalization （or de-oligarchization）”，“a nationally integrated economy”，“a broad domestic market”，a “broad distribution of export receipts”，a “broad-based domestic economic development process”，“a shift towards decentralized administrative structures and increased political participation”，“a decisive institutional innovation”，etc.，[23] are especially pertinent to the current Chinese case if China is to evolve into a developed society instead of a “partial power”.
Clearly，List is by no means fading away on the Chinese stage.In 1997，the Chinese version of The Natural System of Political Economy came out amidst China ’s heightened efforts to join the World Trade Organization.And right at this moment，we are arranging for the translation and publication in Chinese of the List biography by Professor Eugen Wendler，as well as works on List ’s theory by Chinese scholars.Of course，when China at this stage renews its interest in List，it is advisable that a longterm perspective be adopted.As well understood，List had both shortterm and long-term aspirations，which are rightly incarnated by his remark that “freedom is the daughter of industry and wealth”，or simply put，“To Freedom via Prosperity”.It is especially worthwhile for the Chinese today to remember that List stressed that，although some government action was essential to stimulate the economy，an overzealous government might do more harm than good.“It is bad policy to regulate everything and to promote everything by employing social powers，where things might better regulate themselves and can be better promoted by private exertions.” If tariff protection is at the heart of List ’s more short-term pursuit，his pursuit of free trade，international coalition，constitutional governance，individual freedom，the rule of law，etc.constitute his longterm aspirations.It is high time that a rising China embraced the long-term aspirations of this far-sighted German economist and visionary.
【注释】
[1]Quoted from Jian Bozan ed.，An Outline History of China，Vol.3，Beijing: People ’s Publishing House，1979，p.305.
[2]Paul B.Trescott，The History of the Introduction of Western Economic Ideas into China，1850-1950，Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press，2007，pp.12，23.
[3]Paul B.Trescott，The History of the Introduction of Western Economic Ideas into China，1850-1950，Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press，2007，p.34.
[4]Zhu Junduan，Research on Liang Qichao ’s Economic Thoughts，Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press，2004，pp.118，124，211-212，220，307.
[5]Yan Peng，“The Spread of List ’s Economic Theory in China during the Republican Era”，Study and Exploration，No.1，2015，pp.90-91.
[6]Yan Peng，“The Spread of List ’s Economic Theory in China during the Republican Era”，Study and Exploration，No.1，2015，pp.91-92.
[7]Liu Binglin，The Economic Theory and Biography of List，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，1925.
[8]Jia Genliang，et al.，New Listian Economics in China，Beijing: Renmin University Press，2015，pp.87-89.
[9]Wang Kaihua ’s translation of Friedrich List，The National Economics，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，1929，p.1.
[10]Wang Kaihua ’s translation of Friedrich List，The National Economics，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，p.2.
[11]See，for example，Zhu Shaowen，Classic Economics and Modern Economics，Beijing: The Peking University Press，2000.
[12]Liu Binglin，The Economic Theory and Biography of List，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，1925，P.3.
[13]Liu Binglin，The Economic Theory and Biography of List，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，1925，pp.46，121.
[14]Quoted from Li Rongli，Resrach on the Foreign Trade Thoughts in the Period of the Republic of China，Wuhan: Wuhan University Press，2008，p.29.
[15]Ma Yinchu，Selected Speeches and Papers by Ma Yinchu，Beijing: The Peking University Press，2005，p.49.
[16]For example，Ma Yinchu and He Bingxian.See Li Rongli，Resrach on the Foreign Trade Thoughts in the Period of the Republic of China，Wuhan: Wuhan University Press，2008，pp.43，138.
[17]For example，Qi Shufen and Wu Yugan.See Qi Shufen，China under Economic Aggression（Shanghai: Guanghua Press，1925），reprinted by Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore，1954，p.100；and Wu Yugan，An Overview of China ’s International Trade，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，1930，p.520.
[18]For example，Zhu Jin and Pei-Kang Chang.See Pei-Kang Chang，Agriculture and Industrialization: An Inquiry into the Adjustments that Take Place as an Agricultural Country is Industrialized，reprinted by Beijing: China CITIC Press，2012，pp.195-236.
[19]For example，Song Zexing and Hong Yisheng.See Li Rongli，Resrach on the Foreign Trade Thoughts in the Period of the Republic of China，Wuhan: Wuhan University Press，2008，pp.167-185.
[20]For example，Ma Yinchu and Wu Yugan.See Ma Yinchu，Selected Speeches and Papers by Ma Yinchu，Beijing: The Peking University Press，2005，pp.24，49；and Wu Yugan，An Overview of China ’s International Trade，Shanghai: The Commercial Press，1930，p.591.
[21]For example，Mu Ouchu and Chu Baoyi.See Mu Ouchu，Collected Writings of Mu Ouchu，Shanghai: Shanghai Classics Publishing House，2011，pp.213-214；and Chu Baoyi，Industrialization and China ’s International Trade，Chongqing: The Commercial Press，1945，pp.56-65.
[22]Luo Rongqu，A New World Perspective on the Modernizing Process in China，Beijing: The Peking University Press，1993，Pp.327-329.
[23]Dieter Senghaas，The European Experience: A Historical Critique of Development Theory，Leamington Spa: Berg Publishers Ltd.，1985，pp.165，174，163，154，202.