On 9th January, 2019, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission announced the list of selected proposals for the ‘Exceptional Young Scientists’ project of universities in Beijing. After a formal review, preliminary evaluation and group evaluation, 39 proposals from exceptional young scientists have been selected.

Professor Yu Miaojie of the National School of Development at Peking University is on the list. He is the only scholar in the field of economics and business from Peking University selected for the project.

A total of 8 faculty members from Peking University were selected for the project this time. The other 31 selected candidates are from 20 other universities in Beijing including Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China.

Brief Introduction of the Exceptional Young Scientists Project

The Exceptional Young Scientists project is an advanced project in Beijing that forms an important component of the ecosystem of Beijing universities in advanced innovation, along with the Advanced Innovation Center. The implementation of the Exceptional Young Scientists project looks towards deepening systemic reforms for scientific and technological innovation, building up a group of entities for scientific and technological innovation, establishing a platform for young talents in scientific research to grow and establish themselves, unleashing the vitality of innovation and improving capabilities for scientific and technological innovation, as well as focusing on cultivating a group of young scientists with potential for development.

The Exceptional Young Scientists project is managed based on the classification into disciplines of humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, and innovative applications. The period of implementation for each project is five years. The project encourages and supports the recruitment of exceptional talents from within the country and abroad to enhance international competitiveness. 50% of the awarded funding can be used to hire highly skilled talents from China and abroad.

Brief Introduction of Professor Yu Miaojie

Head of CCP and Vice Dean of National School of Development, Boya Chair Professor of Peking University, Ministry of Education Changjiang (Yangtze River) Scholar, winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Secretary General of the International Consortium of Chinese Studies, Sino Group/Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation Scholar, Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, Davis, and among the global top 1% for most highly cited economists in economic management. He has been invited as a consultant by the United Nations, Asian Development Bank, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce and Counselors’ Office of the State Council, as well as several local governments.

His main research areas include international trade and economic development of China. He has published hundreds of academic papers in top journals including the Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Economic Research Journal, Management World and China Economic Quarterly. He has also published economic monographs, teaching material and commentaries. His monograph has been named as Best Paper of the Year by the Royal Economic Society of the UK and was awarded the Royal Economic Society Prize. He was the first Chinese economist to receive the award.

He has won the 7th Wu Yuzhang Award for Humanities and Social Sciences, the Zhang Peigang Development Economics Prize (the highest award for development economics research of China), the 14th Beijing Philosophy and Social Science Exceptional Achievement Award, and has won 5 times the highest award for international trade research of China --- the An Zijie International Trade Research Award. His publication “Processing Trade and Enterprise Productivity” won the Liu Shibai Economics Award, the Hu Sheng Youth Academic Award and the National Trade Development Research Award. His work in teaching has won high praise from students and he was the recipient of the Peking University Teaching Excellence Award, the Peking University Award for Excellence in Teaching Material, and the Peking University Cao Fengqi Award for Teaching Excellence in Finance. His commentaries “Yu Miaojie talks Sino–US trade” and “Current Situation of Trade” have been rated bestselling publications on foreign trade on Dangdang and Amazon China. He was appointed executive editor of International Trade, the official journal of the Ministry of Commerce. During the 120th anniversary celebrations of Peking University, he was received cordially by President Xi Jinping as a representative of the exceptional young teachers of Peking University.