July 30, 2018. Shanghai – CEIBS Professor Sheng Songcheng was among a group of newly-appointed counsellors of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government who today received letters of appointments from Deputy Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Committee and the Mayor of Shanghai Ying Yong. To date, there are 30 counsellors, both accomplished scholars and seasoned experts in their fields, serving as the brain trust of the Government.

Other newly-appointed or reappointed counsellors include: -

Jiang Ping, Director of the Counsellors’ Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government;

Shi Liangping, Former Director of the Institute of Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; Decision-making Consultant of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government; Director of China Statistical Society;

Chen Hongmin, Director of the Research Centre of Industrial Organisation & Technological Innovation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University;

Ji Ping, Former Secretary of the CPC group of Shanghai Taiwan Compatriots Friendship Association;

Jia Weiping, President of Shanghai 6th People's Hospital and Director of the Shanghai Clinical Medical Centre for Diabetes;

Xu Yihua, Professor and Director of Department of International Politics, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University;

Tang Zilai, Professor of College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University; and

Wang Xiao’an, Chief Architect of East China Architectural Design and Research Institute.

Dr. Sheng Songcheng is Adjunct Professor of Economics and Finance at CEIBS. He has been granted Special Government Allowances of the State Council since 1999 and was deputy to the 11^th National People’s Congress. He is among the first scholars to introduce western monetary financial theory into China. He is the main author of Modern Monetary Economics, the very first book from China that systematically described western monetary economic theory, and a prescribed textbook for many years. He was also the main creator of The Aggregate Finance to the Real Economy (AFRE), which has become one of the key indicators of China’s financial macro-regulation. For more than three decades, he has continuously engaged in teaching or research, and has taught more than 100 PhD and Masters candidates, cultivating a multitude of excellent financial talent. Dr. Sheng Songcheng was granted the Scientific Research Award for young scholars by the Henry Fok Educational Foundation, and has published more than 100 papers in leading journals in his field including Social Sciences in China, Economic Research Journal, Academic Monthly, Journal of Financial Research, Finance & Trade Economics, China Finance, etc. He is also the author of several books that have had commercial success. In addition, he is the chief editor of The Theory and Practice of the Aggregate Financing of the Real Economy, which the China Financial Education Development Foundation awarded first prize for excellent research. His newly-published book Central Bank and the Money Supplyis one of the most authoritative in China’s monetary financial field. It has received high praise and has been well received.

During his service at the Central Bank over the past 20+ years, Prof. Sheng has successively held seven positions in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Northeast China and Beijing. He is the former Director General of the Financial Survey and Statistics Department at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and President of PBoC Shenyang Branch. He has several times acted as spokesman of the State Council Information Office and during press conferences on financial statistics and financial operations held by the PBoC, interpreting financial operational trends for the general public, promoting the Central Bank’s monetary policies, and enhancing the transparency of monetary policies. His work has generated positive social impact. His past roles also include counsellor of the PBoC. Based on constant and in-depth research, he compiled and published a series of policy research reports and academic papers. He has also delivered public speeches and was interviewed by both domestic and foreign media. He provided policy advice to the leadership for decision-making and facilitated policy communication between the Central Bank and the market, actions that have had relatively significant influence on society. His policy research reports were recognised by the Party Central Committee and major leaders of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government

At today’s appointment ceremony, Dr. Sheng delivered remarks on behalf of all newly-appointed counsellors. In his speech, he made a number of suggestions on further pushing forward with establishing Shanghai as an international financial centre. His first point was that, compared to the leading international financial centres, Shanghai still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of its business environment and innovation cities Index. Recently, the Central Government gave approval for Shanghai to establish China’s first and only financial court. Dr. Sheng noted that this court deserves to be promoted and predicted that it will make improvements to the financial legal environment. He stressed that the construction of both the international financial centre and the global centre of innovation in science and technology could be integrated, a move that would reinforce the support of finance to the real economy and drive co-development of both the city’s state-owned and the private economies. Second, he said, China’s new round of opening-up, especially opening-up in the financial service industry, represents a huge opportunity for the advancement of efforts to transform Shanghai into an international financial centre. He noted that the city possesses quite an advantage in the establishment of the financial market, financial infrastructure and human resources. These factors, he added, means Shanghai can be a pioneer and a model location in the new round of financial opening-up, providing lessons for the rest of the country and worthy of further support from the Central Government. His third point was that Shanghai should make good use of its own strengths and develop its own signature style in constructing an international financial centre. He added that, during recent years, the integrated development of finance and technology has created a new trend and has excellent prospects in application. Many countries and regions including Britain, Singapore and Hong Kong have been actively pushing forward with innovations in fintech. Noting that Shanghai has gathered a great number of talented individuals in the field, he said this is an advantage it should rely on in seizing opportunities in fintech competitions in both the domestic and global markets. Maintaining this edge, he said, would require more investment and strengthening the prospective studies in this area, he added.