‘Summoning the Devil:’ Chinese Economist’s Call for ‘People’s Economy’ Triggers Backlash

Return to a Planned Economy Blasted by Critics at Home and Abroad

A migrant worker passes by The People's Bank of China in Beijing on May 1, 2013. The People’s Bank released the "Financial Stability Law (Draft for Comments)" on April 6, 2022, saying that resolving financial risks is a "constant theme". Mark Ralston/AFP

A Chinese agricultural economist’s claim that China’s economy should be a “people’s economy” has triggered fierce criticism in China and overseas.

Wen Tiejun, a 71-year-old professor at China’s Renmin University, is better known as an expert in China’s agricultural and rural issues. In the 1980s and 1990s, Wen was engaged in rural policy research for the Chinese regime’s central government.