1. History of Economics at Tsinghua University

Economics at Tsinghua University has a history of nearly 100 years. Founded in 1926, the Economics Department was among the first 17 departments in the university. From 1928, Professor Chen Daisun, “the father of modern economics education of China,” served as the head of the Department of Economics from 1928 till 1952. During this period, preeminent Chinese economists such as Xiao Yun, Dai Shiguang, Xu Yujian, Liu Dazhong, and Wang Yanan taught in the department and cultivated a group of outstanding economists and experts in economic management, including Wu Baosan, Yang Liansheng, Chen Shunli, and Liu Guoguang。

The School of Economics and Management was established in 1984, with Zhu Rongji as its founding dean. Since then, the economics discipline of Tsinghua University has made many achievements: its Quantitative Economics program was authorized to confer doctoral degrees in 1998, and it became a national key discipline in 2001. Political Economy, Theoretical Economics and Applied Economics successively obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees. In 2014, the China Journal of Economics began publication at Tsinghua University. In 2016, Accounting and Finance, Economics and Econometrics were listed in the national "Double First Class" disciplines. Tsinghua Economics has been ranked among the very top of all Asian Universities in world university rankings.

2. Mission of the Tsinghua Xuetang Economics Program

Tsinghua University originated from the Tsinghua Xuetang established in 1911. From that origin, Tsinghua University has cultivated a number of outstanding scholars. In 2009, Tsinghua introduced the "Tsinghua Xuetang Talents Program." In 2022, the economics program joined the "Tsinghua Xuetang Talents Program" and was selected as one of the "Pilot Program for the Cultivation of Top-notch Students in Basic Disciplines" under the support of the Ministry of Education.

The mission of the Tsinghua Xuetang Economics Program is to nurture a new generation of leading Chinese economists. The program is committed to training talented students in rigorous and creative ways through stimulating classroom environments, insights from recent research advances, and personalized advice from leading scholars in economics. Students in this program are expected to continue their graduate studies and develop a distinguished career in academia.

3. Chair Professor of the Tsinghua Xuetang Economics Program

Qian Yingyi

Chair Professor of the Tsinghua Xuetang Economics Program

Distinguished Professor of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University

Professor, Department of Economics, Tsinghua University

Professor Qian graduated from Tsinghua University in Mathematics. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University after earning an M.Phil. in Management Science/Operations Research from Yale University and an M.A. in Statistics from Columbia University. Professor Qian was on the economics faculties at Stanford University, the University of Maryland, and the University of California, Berkeley. He was Dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University from 2006-2018.

Professor Qian was elected as a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2012, and was the inaugural Distinguished Professor of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University in 2018. He was

awarded the Sun Yefang Prize in Economic Sciences in 2009 and 2021, and was the winner of the inaugural China Economics Prize in 2016.

Professor Qian has written many books, including How Reform Worked in China: The Transition from Plan to Market (The MIT Press), Modern Economics and China's Reform, Modern Economics and China's Economy, Reform of Universities, etc. He has published articles in international journals such as The American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and The Review of Economic Studies. He is currently the chief editor of China Journal of Economics.