前言
        I now have the very pleasant task of welcoming you to this Conference on China’s Economic Transformation. When Steven Chueng wrote in 1982 his pamphlet for the Institute of Economic Affairs in London on the question “Will China go capitalist?” a question that he answered in the affirmative ,I was one of the few people who agreed with him .But I thought in terms of 100 or 200 years ,not 25 or 30 years .What happened in China was a complete surprise to me ,its scale,its character and speed——which means that I did not understand what was going on. I therefore determined to hold a conference that would uncover the facts about this extraordinary series of events. We sought out those best able to inform us ,academics ,businessmen ,government officials about what happened. I think we succeeded. We have a series of fine papers that greatly enlighten us about us what has happened in the years since 1978. As we intent to publish an edited version of these papers (and of the discussions) in a book ,they will inform a much wider audience . Of course ,although we will learn a great deal about what happened ,it is not to be expected,although some things will be made clear,that there will be complete agreement in the views expressed——nor is it desirable that there should be . A subject in which everyone says the same thing is a dead subject and one which will not progress .Competition in the market for ideas is as valuable as in the market for goods . The truth is found as a result of the clash of ideas .And it will be so at this conference.
        Our first paper by Steven Chueng will be delivered by him on DVD . It is long (about 2 hours ) and I decided to divide it into twq parts ,each about an hour in length with an interval with refreshments in between. Unfortunately ,one of our important discussants ,Professor Mundell,will not be able to attend on the first day but will give his views on Tuesday morning .I should explain here that while I speak as though I organized this conference ,in fact all I did was to have the idea that such a conference would be a good thing . The actual organization of the conference was carried out by Ning Wang ,assisted more recently by Lennon Choy and Marjorie Holme. I have been largely a spectator and admirer of their work .I should also say that ,approaching 98 years of age later this year ,I get extremely tired and almost certainly will not be able to attend all the sessions.But those who present papers at sessions I do not attend should realize that my absence is in no sense of judgement on the worth of their papers .
        I now turn to Steven Chueng ‘s talk .I came to know Steven when he came to Chicago from UCLA in 1967 on a fellowship and was later in 1968 appointed an assistant professor . I don’t remember how we met . But when we did ,we formed an immediate bond and we had the most enjoyable and productive talks together .Unfortunately for Chicago ,he decided to leave Chicago and go to the University of Washionton where he had as colleagues Douglass North and Yoram Barzel .However ,our friendship did not end and Steven wrote a series if splendid articles published in the Journal of Law and Economics of which I was editor .Then ,in1981,Steven received an offer from University of Hong Kong . I urged him to accept .I thought it would be a fine place to observe what was happening in China .Just how valuable it would be I did not realize.But you will learn from his talk what he has gained from his close observation of events in China over the years .I wouldn’t hold up this really important talk longer.So here we have Steven Cheuang speaking on China’s Economic Transformation.


后语
        Although I knew that I would have to say something at the end of the conference ,I am nonetheless taken by surprise when I had to do it and
I am not sure I know what I am going to say .which puts me in the same position you are in ,you don’t know what I am going to say .
        This conference has clearly been a great success. I wanted this conference to take place because what happened in China was a great surprise to me . If you are surprise at what happens ,it means you don’t understand it,and I don’t understand it . And I thought we should have a conference in which the participants in the events in China could speak as against having people who don’t take part in the events and whose opinions weren’t always very reliable.So we tried to get businessmen ,government officials,academics who had been involved in the transformation to speak to us .
        I must say I had belief in China’s future for a long time .As a young boy I read Marco Polo ,and just as he was amazed at what he found ,so was I ,and I felt here is a country with great potential but somehow didn’t achieve it . And it was a puzzel to me as to why didn’t achieve it and I was very surprised when ,in the period after 1978 it seemed it was going to achieve its potential ,And what I heard in this conference has confirmed this view . I now have a feeling that the events which were set in motion in 1978 will be a great success.
However,human beings have a great capacity for messing things up .You will understand that ,when I describe what happened in my life. When I was born in 1910 ,the industrial revolution has been absorbed in Europe . The social system seemed stable .And what happened when I was four the Great War opened. It was a stupid war .It achieved nothing worthwhile ,in fact it did harm ,and millions of men were killed. People lost faith in the social system and then communism came in .It was absolute disaster and it destroyed changes in attitude in people and resulted in a world a good deal worse than it was when I was born .
        Now if you think of the present situation,that is ,we have a situation in which everything seems be going along well,that is what I had learnt from this conference . When I wrote the foreword
to Steven Chueng’s book of English articles ,I said that the struggle for China is the struggle for the world ,that
I truly believe . Well ,will we actually achieve this desirable result? Well
of course I will never know although you will . All I can do is to say that our discussions carried out will make it possible as we knew it is not enough .The political regime has to carry out its actions.Whether it will or not ,I don’t know . All I can do is to hope it will and to wish you well in the next hundred years . And I can now thank you …thank you.
        What you are going to do ,as I am sure you are ,is to bring about desirable results .And I would think of you now ,because it would be difficult to do much thinking in that long sleep which I am going to have .But it makes me happy to think that you will ,as is shown by what you said in this conference,make the efforts .That makes me happy and thank you.

后语译文，
    虽然我知道在这会议终结时我要说一些话，事到临头我却惊讶于自己一定要说，而又不能肯定要说些什么。这就把我放在你们的位置上：你们不知道我将会说些什么。
    这个研讨会议取得巨大的成功是清楚的。我要这个会议出现，因为中国发生了的事给我很大的惊奇。如果你对发生的事感到惊奇，是说你不明白。我不明白。于是想，我们应该有一个会议，让参与过中国发展的人说话，这会比那些没有参与过的人的见解来得可靠。我们于是尝试找那些参与过中国经济改革的商人、干部与学者来对我们说。
    必须说的是我相信中国的前途很久的时日了。做孩子时我读马可 波罗，正如他吃惊于所遇，我也是，而我当时觉得那是个潜力庞大的国家，不知道为什么没有发挥出来。对我来说，不能发挥这潜力是个谜，而使我震惊的，是一九七八之后的迹象显示，这潜力仿佛开始体现了。这个会议我听到的，证实了这个观点。现在我有这样的感受：一九七八启动了发展，将会是个伟大成就。
然而，人类有很大的可以把事情搞得一团糟的能耐。告诉你我一生遇到的，你会明白。一九一零我诞生的时候，欧洲正在神往于工业革命，社会的制度看来是稳定的。但四岁时，世界大战爆发了。那是一场愚蠢的战争，争取到的毫无价值，事实上造成伤害，百万计的人死了。人们对社会的制度失去信心，共产的制度来临，绝对是个大灾难，这个制度毁了人们的态度转变，效果是世界变得比我出生时坏很多。
    现在你们想想目前的情况，那将是我们面对的请况，看来进展得好，而这是我在这次会议中学得的。我为张五常的英语论文写前言时，我说中国的奋斗史世界的奋斗。这一点我是深信不疑的。但是我们真的会争取到良好合意的效果吗？这问题的答案我永远不知道，但是你们会知道的。我能做的只是说，我们的研讨增加了这合意效果的可能。然而，我们知道增加这可能不足够，政治系统要以行动来实践。是成是败我不知道。我只能希望这系统会履行，也希望今后百年你们万事如意。现在我可以感谢你们。感谢你们。