Xue Muqiao was born in the waning years of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). In the 1930s, while China was in the grip of civil war, he conducted groundbreaking research into rural poverty. In the '50s he was an economic policy assistant to the country's highest decision-making body and in 1979 he published works widely regarded as the seminal guide to China's market-oriented makeover.

On Thursday, the 101-year-old Xue was named one of the first four winners of the China Economics Prize for his creation of the open-door, trade-with-all policy and for suggesting that farmers be allowed to own the land they till and work unfettered in the cities.

Xue, together with Ma Hong, 85, Liu Guoguang, 82; and Wu Jinglian, 75, were all key figures in helping China launch its market-oriented reforms. Each of the four was given 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) in prize money at Thursday's ceremony.

At the award presentation, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said that China's breathtaking economic transformation of the past 26 years was in part due to the prizewinners' contributions. He singled Xue out for praise as one of the fathers of China's economic research and as a devoted and creative educator.

Ma was cited for his suggestions to restructure China's economy at a stable pace, while Liu was selected for his theories concerning the government's role in the market economy.

Wu was honored for giving substance to state-sector reform by "breaking the iron rice bowl," a system that guaranteed lifelong employment and perks like housing but led to inefficiency. He is also known for encouraging private investment and entrepreneurship.

"I accept the award as recognition of the efforts made by our generation of economists during China's reform process," said Wu, who still works as a researcher with the State Council Development and Research Center.

"We still have a long way to go to perfect the legal system in China's market economy," said Wu. "Only by matching the rule of law with the market economy can we achieve total success."

The China Economics Prize, newly established by the China Macroeconomics Institute and China Society of Economic Reform, encourages and rewards scholars who have made outstanding contributions to economic theory, policy and research.

(China Daily, China.org.cn March 25, 2005)