Adam Smith’s teaching in Chinese intellectual landscape

The paper examines the evolution in the perception of Adam Smith’s ideas in China since the second half of the 19th century till the celebration of the scholar’s tercentenary in 2023 in the context of key problems of the country’s development. Under the Qing dynasty, Chinese reformers revered Smith as a sage whose advice ensured the prosperity and power of the West. “The Wealth of Nations” was first translated by the influential thinker Yan Fu. Adam Smith’s book was published in 1902 under the title “The Origins of Wealth”. In the first half of the twentieth century professional economists studied Smith as a representative of the liberal strand of thought and as a predecessor of Marx’s teaching. In 1931, Wang Yanan and Guo Dali prepared a new translation of “The Wealth of Nations” to create favorable preconditions for the spread of Marxism in China. Disappointment with a liberal model in China has led to an increased interest in protectionism and government control of the economy. Chinese interpretations of Smith in the 1950s were determined by the normative status of Marxist political economy and Soviet intellectual influence. With the beginning of reforms and openness, a revived interest in liberalism and market theory grew into a desire to use Smith’s moral teaching to smooth out the negative consequences of reforms. At present, China is trying to learn the lessons from Smith’s judgments concerning the reasons for the decline of the Qing dynasty. The interpretation of his teachings is related to the discussion of the concept of Chinese-style modernization and the tasks of building a modern system of market economy. The perception of Smith’s legacy is becoming more balanced and all-embracing.

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