August 25, 2026

Was China’s economic rise the result of homegrown reform and or learning from the West —or was it, in large part, deeply shaped by exchanges with its Asian neighbours—Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong? While many accounts emphasise China’s shift toward market liberalisation in the 1980s and 1990s, Assistant Professor Yanjie Huang’s (NUS Chinese Studies) project, ‘Developmental Lessons: Inter-Asian Exchanges and China’s Economic Reform, 1972-2002’, invites us to rethink the story from an Asian perspective.

Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship from 2026 to 2031, this project spotlights how China’s reform era was shaped not only by Western models but also through sustained learning from Asian neighbours. To uncover this history, Huang and his research team draw on a wide array of multilingual archival materials—from policy documents and conference proceedings to unpublished reports and personal papers housed in China, Japan, Singapore, and beyond. These are complemented by oral history interviews with retired Chinese, Japanese, and Singaporean officials who participated in study tours or advised on reform policies. Using digital tools such as GIS mapping, the team will also visualise patterns of exchange—tracking the movement of people, ideas, and policies across Asia.

This layered methodology allows Huang to lead a significant project—the first comprehensive study to frame China’s economic transformation as an inter-Asian process. By pinpointing how specific developmental practices were transmitted, negotiated, and adapted, the project reveals how China systematically retooled its planning institutions through close exchanges with Asian neighbours—well before its global turn. At the same time, the research carries strong relevance for Singapore, highlighting its pivotal role in these regional exchanges—from the Suzhou Industrial Park to broader influences on China’s planning culture. Through conferences, digital collections, and international collaborations, the project will also deepen Singapore’s position as a hub for contemporary China research and inter-Asian scholarship.

By uncovering this overlooked Asian dimension, ‘Developmental Lessons’ promises not just a new history of China’s reform, but a fresh lens on globalisation and regional development—one that places Asia at the centre of economic change in the late twentieth century.