Background
Ma Hong was born in 1920 in Dingxiang, Shanxi, China.
洪 马
Ma Hong was born in 1920 in Dingxiang, Shanxi, China.
Ma Hong was educated locally.
Ma’s career has been intertwined with China’s economic reform and restructuring especially since December 1978 when China’s open door policy was officially adopted during the 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Ma was one of the earliest advocates of replacing the traditional economy and its dominant state-owned enterprises with a socialist commodity and market economy. Besides being then-premier Zhao Ziyang’s personal adviser, Ma also held many significant academic, administrative and advisory positions related to China’s economic development and reform.
The more significant positions held since late 1978 include: vice president, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences (CASS), 1979–82; vice president, Enterprise Management Association, 1981; permanent secretary, Development Research Center for the State Council (DRC), 1981; adviser, Federation of Economic Societies, 1982; adviser, State Planning Commission, 1982; president, CASS, 1982–85; director general, DRC, 1985; adviser, China-Japan Personnel Exchange Committee, 1985; delegate, 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 1987; vice chairman, Finance and Economics Committee, 7th National People’s Congress, 1988; director general (reappointment), DRC, 1990. Honorary appointments and titles include: director general, DRC, 1993; faculty of Qinghua, Shanghai Jiaotong, Beijing, People’s and Fudan universities; research fellow, CASS.
Ma Hong joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1937. According to Ma, political and economic reforms go hand in hand. Political and economic structures are co-dependent. Both reforms should be carried out under socialist leadership. As the ultimate goal is to improve economic performance within a socialist political structure, a socialist market economy was written into the resolution of the 3rd Plenum of the 12th Central Committee of the CCP in 1984. In 1993, then-president Jiang Zemin appointed Ma to work on a publication to explain the basic principles of a socialist market economy to the general populace.