Prof. Mao Yushi delivered the opening remarks. Mr. Bao Yujun, Mr. Chen Zhishi, Prof. Dang Guoying, Prof. Deng Zhenglai, Prof. Feng Xingyuan, Mr. Guan Weili, Mr. Hui Xuan, Prof. Hu Xingdou, Prof. Kang Xiaoguang, Mr. Lu Yuegang, Prof. Mao Shoulong, Prof. Sheng Hong, Prof. Wu Zuolai, Associate Professor Wang Jianxun, Prof. Wang Xuetai, Dr. Wang Jun, Prof. Xu Zhangrun, Mr. Xin Wang, Dr. Yang Junfeng, Prof. Zhang Weiying and Prof. Zhao Nong attended the forum. Prof. Zhang Shuguang, Mr. Qiu Feng, Prof. Zhang Qianfan, Prof. He Huaihong, Prof. Liang Zhiping, Prof. Wei Seng and Prof. Fan Gang also sent their written speeches to the forum.
Experts attending the forum pointed out that stagnation and even partial reverse have occurred to some extent in reforms of economy and society in China with frequent occurrence of major scandals and nasty accidents and the continuous accumulation of social tension and confrontation. They perceived that the reluctantly maintained social framework might collapse all of a sudden some day. The present situation forced people to urge the authorities not to miss the opportunity of reform again. Experts summarized the pressing issues in current Chinese society as follows: the administrative departments abused public power for their own benefits without constitutional restraints; state-owned enterprises obtained monopoly position and preferential policies through public power; macro administrative departments did not handle their responsibilities of formulation and implementation of policies well and simply shirked their own responsibilities to other organizations or individuals; local governments seize land from rural collectives in low prices or even without any payment by making use of forceful public power, resulting a large number of land-expropriated farmers; the insufficient restraint on public violence cause certain officials to abuse public violence to cope with farmers unwilling to lose their land, reporters criticizing these local governments and even lawyers whose job is to defend people’s legal rights; basic values and standards in China’s constitutional reform and treatment of international affairs, etc. They hoped that Chinese society could be able to get rid of these institutional flaws which might lead to social collapse in peaceful and gradual progress in the New Year.
