The book builds an overview of Chinese financial development in the past 70 years since the founding of the PRC. China's finance has experienced a complex evolution process, which could be roughly divided into two major stages. In the 30 years before the reform and opening-up, China built a new financial system through integrating finance in the old and new liberated areas, based on the development of the financial industry during the revolutionary war, and then quickly established a financial system with the simple purpose of “managing funds” to meet the needs of the centralized socialist economic system. In more than 40 years after the reform and opening up, the role of China's financial system has gradually shifted from “managing funds” to “guiding the market”. A multi-level financial system was formed and centered on the People's Bank of China, with complete functions, diverse forms, collaborative division, and mutual complement. The transformation of China’s finance functions has greatly promoted the rapid growth of China's economy for 35 years. In the current economic restructuring, the "Internet +" model, led by Internet finance, has undoubtedly triggered the "squid effect" on China's economic development and financial sector innovation. Many areas, such as third-party payment and online lending, have begun to lead globally. Furthermore, the establishment of an inclusive financial system has brought financial functions closer to their essential role of serving the real economy.
Rixu Lan is a professor and doctoral advisor at the School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics. He serves as the Director of the Department of Economic History and the Center for Comparative Economic Studies between China and Foreign Countries. He also holds positions such as executive director of the Chinese Economic History Society, director of the National History Society, and vice president of the Chinese Business History Society. Professor Lan is dedicated to the study of financial theory and modern financial history, Sino-foreign economic relations, and business history.
He has published eight monographs, including The Path to China's Financial Modernization, Research on the Changes and Performance of China's Modern Banking System, The Road to Economic Power: A History of China's Changing Economic Status, Transformation of China’s Modern Banking System from the Late Qing Era to the 1930s (Vols.1 and 2), The Evolution of Sino-Foreign Financial Organizations: A Perspective Based on Market-Technology-Organization and Research on the Development of China's Financial Industry (1949-2019). Professor Lan has also edited six books and contributed to six textbooks, three of which were selected for the National Social Science Fund of China's Foreign Translation Project. He has published over 100 papers, led four projects funded by The National Social Science Fund of China, one project funded by the Ministry of Education's Philosophy and Social Science Research Fund of China, and eleven other projects, and has received four provincial and ministerial-level awards.
