Mingde Lecture (1): Professor Wu Xiaoqiu

On November 15, 2025, the Mingde Forum 2025, hosted by the RUC North America Alumni Association, was successfully held in New York. Professor Wang Yi, Vice President of Renmin University of China, attended the event on behalf of the university to extend his congratulations, while Yu Yougen, Education Counselor of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, attended and delivered remarks.

For the first time, the Forum introduced the Mingde Lecture Hall, which was established as a major sub-brand of Mingde Forum. Professor Wu Xiaoqiu, renowned economist, former Vice President of Renmin University of China, Dean of the National Academy of Financial Research at Renmin University of China, and Dean of the China Capital Market Research Institute, joined the event in person and delivered a keynote address titled “A New Landscape for the 15th Five-Year Plan: Opportunities and Challenges for China’s Economy, Finance, and Capital Markets in the Age of AI.”

Professor Wu’s keynote offered a sweeping yet accessible analysis of the structural turning points facing the Chinese economy and the underlying drivers of future growth. With a combination of wit and insight, he translated complex economic theories into vivid observations of economic realities, drawing repeated applause and laughter from the audience and bringing the Forum’s atmosphere of intellectual inquiry to a high point.

Key Takeaways

The Outlook for the Future

China’s economy will continue to have significant potential for growth, but its growth model urgently needs to be reshaped. Technology × Finance × Talent will form the three key pillars shaping the next decade, and China needs to build a new economic system suited to the intelligent age.

AI Is Reshaping Global Productivity

Artificial intelligence is evolving from a tool-oriented technology into a “factor of production.” Large-scale intelligent models are beginning to participate in cognitive work, scientific research, and design. In the future, industries will increasingly move toward unmanned and highly automated production, making innovation capacity a core component of national competitiveness.

China’s Economy Is Moving from “Scarcity” to “Surplus”

More than 220 industries in China are experiencing excess production capacity, indicating a fundamental shift toward an economy of surplus. The logic of economic management therefore needs to shift from expanding production to expanding demand. The quality of future growth will increasingly depend on consumption, technological progress, and institutional reform.

Three Key Variables for Growth Over the Next Decade

1. Original technological innovation — breaking through critical technologies and overcoming key technological bottlenecks;

2. Institutional innovation — particularly reform of the financial system and capital markets;

3. Upgrading the consumption structure and adjusting household balance sheets.

The Direction of Capital Market Reform

Future reforms must put investor protection at the center and establish a genuinely multi-tiered capital market. Technology-driven companies need long-term capital rather than short-term speculation.

The Key to Expanding Consumption

The key lies in reducing unnecessary burdens on households. High housing costs and high education expenses have significantly constrained household consumption capacity. China needs to promote greater financialization and securitization of household assets, making household wealth more flexible and accessible.

About the Mingde Lecture

“The way of the Great Learning lies in manifesting luminous virtue, renewing the people, and resting in the highest excellence.”

Guided by the principles of Mingde and embracing a broad and open outlook, Mingde Forum was established by the RUC North America Alumni Association as a platform that balances openness and internationalism with academic rigor and practical relevance. It was launched in New York in October 2015 and officially named Mingde Forum in November 2016. In 2023, the Mingde Culture Forum was established in Montreal, Canada. In 2025, Mingde Forum was officially registered as a trademark in the United States.

Mingde Lecture is a sub-brand of Mingde Forum, dedicated to bringing together distinguished figures from government, business, and academia around the world for high-level lectures and discussions on major issues in international relations, economics and finance, technological innovation, public governance, and the humanities and social sciences.

Together, the three components form an integrated series of Mingde Forum programs: Mingde Forum focuses on the annual flagship summit; Mingde Culture Forum focuses on international cultural exchange held on a biennial basis; and Mingde Lecture focuses on ongoing, high-level sharing of ideas and insights.

Through debate, dialogue, discussion, and analysis, we seek to pursue knowledge and understanding. By learning from one another and drawing on each other’s strengths, we strive to cultivate ourselves and contribute to our communities. By offering ideas and recommendations with the greater good in mind, we aspire to contribute to the well-being of society and the world.