Afternoon of March 16^th, Unirule Salon for Young Scholars (VIII) was held at Unirule office in Beijing.

    The theme of this session was “The Spirit of Capitalism and the Anti-Capitalist Mentality in China and the World”. This session was proud to present Professor Jonathan Haidt and Professor MAO Yushi, two of the Prospect’s “World Thinkers”.

    Professor MAO Yushi spoke on “The Essence of Success in Capitalism: Morality”. He introduced that the economics was built upon the assumption of economic man, where everyone was for themselves, otherwise the market would fail. However, the success of capitalist society was also dependent on responsibility. Milton Friedman disagreed with the notion of welfare state and thought everyone should pay for what they enjoyed. For poor people, what the government provided was a negative income tax. Professor MAO then illustrated why the morality standards were relatively higher in capitalist countries by introducing the consumption and production matrices. He believed that the lack of responsibility as the binding force hindered the development of developing countries and foreign direct investment as responsibility was yet to be established in such countries.

    Professor Jonathan Haidt spoke on “Why Capitalist Is So Morally Divisive in America and in China”. By examining the real world and the past studies, Professor Jonathan Haidt proposed three major questions, that were, why China worked so hard to suppress capitalism; why capitalism was still not revered concept in China; and why it was so hard to persuade people the benefits of economic freedom. He examined the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and other anti-capitalism movements around the world, and proposed that people’s reasoning served their passions, therefore, what they believe drove what they perceive. And the belief of people might cloud their perception of the real world. He further developed that there was a correlation between the different stages of the development of the society from survival to emancipatory society and the different sets of rationality from traditional to secular. He pointed out the possibility of China developing from materialist values as it transitioned from agricultural to industrial society to post-materialist values as it transitioned from industrial to service economy.

    There were about 30 people from universities, embassies, and the media present at the salon. They joined the two speakers in the Q&A session. Also present at the salon were Professor SHENG Hong, Director of Unirule; Professor GAO Yan, Deputy Director of Unirule. Unirule Salon for Young Scholars was planned and organized by Mr. MA Junjie, Project Researcher of Unirule; and moderated by Mr. ZHANG Lin, Project Researcher of Unirule.

    “Unirule Saloon for Young Scholars from the East and the West” is an open and free platform for academic discussion; it encompasses a wide range of social, economic, political and cultural topics; held once a month, the working language of the saloon is English. We believe that discussion will bring about the light of thoughts, and we hope in free discussion, young scholars from both China and the west will harvest inspiration, thoughts, and wisdom. We look forward to having young scholars from home and abroad join us. Please check our website for the upcoming events.