Background
Lang was born in 1956 in Taoyuan County, Taiwan (now Taoyuan City), and his ancestors are from Weifang, Shandong.
咸平 郎
Lang was born in 1956 in Taoyuan County, Taiwan (now Taoyuan City), and his ancestors are from Weifang, Shandong.
Lang received his bachelor's degree from Tunghai University in 1978, and his master's degree from National Taiwan University in 1980. He then studied at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a master's degree and a PhD in Finance. Lang was a lecturer at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, New York University Stern School of Business and The University of Chicago. Lang was also Chair Professor of Finance, the Faculty of Business Administration, at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
According to Lang, the fact that his adopted first name was the same as that of Larry King, the famous CNN talk show host, was just a coincidence. After receiving his doctorate, he taught for some years at universities in the United States and published a number of articles on topics related to economics and finance in well-established journals. In 1994, he left the United States for a teaching position in Hong Kong. However, it was Lang’s involvement in mainland China that enabled him to realize his dream of making a name for himself. In the early 2000s, he became well known in China for condemning the economic ills accompanying the country’s move to market economy and privatization. In his diatribes against such major companies as Greencool, Haier, and TCL for deceiving small shareholders, he gained the title of ‘Supervisor Lang.’ His arguments about protecting the interests of smaller investors gained him their support.
In 2004, Lang began to host his weekly late night program. The show, launched on cable TV in Shanghai and with no studio guests, became an instant hit. In his show, Lang demonstrated great zeal in attacking the corruption surrounding the privatization of state-owned enterprises and urged a slower transition to a market economy. He minced no words in criticizing the practice of buying out state-owned assets by managers of listed firms, a process known as management buyout (MBO). He argued strongly against MBO, claiming that it hurt the public interest because managers were able to buy out state-owned enterprises at bargain prices. In Lang’s view, the practice was nothing short of plundering state property. He believed that the government should slow down or halt the process until a legal system capable of monitoring such acquisitions was established. He asserted that state-owned enterprises should still be kept in public ownership and that they should hire professional and well-paid managers to help turn them into profit-making entities.
Lang’s sharply-worded criticisms of the cheap sell-off of state enterprises generated controversy and led to heated debate among China’s leading economists. His talks on the so-called ‘iron triangle’ involving seamy collaborations between corrupt government officials, business people, and scholars also caught the attention of a general public concerned about the widespread corruption incurred in the process of the quick accumulation of wealth by a tiny minority. Interestingly, Lang’s views were more representative of the so-called ‘neo-leftists’ and failed to endear him to the more mainstream, pro-market or ‘neo-liberal’ economists. The latter characterized Lang’s views as contradicting the ethos of the era of economic reform. In their rebuttals, they argued that despite certain drains on assets experienced in the privatization process, the state-owned enterprises had been eroding private capital due to their monopolistic position. The cost and burden on the state would be enormous if these inefficient enterprises remained state-owned. For them, the privatization of state assets was essential to both the state and the private sector; therefore, steps toward ending the excessive state control of the economy should be quickened instead of being slowed down.
Lang’s talk show ended in early 2006, allegedly because his Mandarin Chinese failed to meet the official standard. Ever since the termination of his talk show, Lang has remained in the spotlight, making public speeches and delivering talks both in and out of China on issues related to China’s economic reforms. His frank and often sensational statements strike a chord in a country caught in the whirlpool of decades of economic reform and where Marxist ideology has been replaced with unrestrained capitalism.