Nov 2003----Dec 2003-Jan 2004----Feb 2004----Mar 2004----Apr 2004----May 2004----Jun 2004----Jul 2004----Aug 2004----Sep 2004----Oct 2004

People (November 2004)

The person of the month is Xiaokai Yang (original name, Xiguang). He was diagnosed of cancer in 2001 and peacefully passed away at home on July 7, 2004. He led what can only be described as an extraordinary life. In academic area, he was well known in economics theory and development. Had he been granted a longer span of years, he may have been a candidate for Nobel Prize in Economic Science. On the other hand, his personal life was full of pains and toughness in his early age. However, he created a legendary life and it has inspired many of his students and friends.

Xiaokai was born in 1948 to parents who were at once high-ranking members of the Chinese Communist Party and prominent intellectuals. In 1968, at age of 19 he published an essay "Whither China?" which challenged the then Chinese government's ideology. It was widely read and influential, but it landed Xiaokai into prison for the next ten years of his life. The affair had a devastating effect on his family members who had been through extremely tough moments during the Great Leap and Cultural Revolution period. His imprisonment in 1968 was the final trigger for his mother, and she took her own life that same year.

In prison he continued his study with self-education from the classics and other scholars who were also jailed for political reasons. His study led to the publication of his first three books on economics, An Inquiry to Economic Cybernetics (1984), An Introduction to Mathematical Economics (1985) and Economic Application of Control Theory (1986) where exerted great influence over many young scholars and students in China. He was released from prison in 1978. He continued to pursue his study by attending lectures at Hunan University.

His academic career began to take off in 1982. Xiaokai accepted a position at Wuhan University, and the following year he was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship to study for his PhD at Princeton University in the United States. He was awarded the PhD in Economics in 1988. After holding a postdoctoral position at Yale University for a year, Xiaokai was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Economics at Monash University in Australia in 1988. As his colleagues stated, "Xiaokai's 16-year academic career at Monash (from Lecturer to Professor to Personal Chair) as distinguished is to markedly understate the significance and influence of his work-both to date and into the future".

In the last three years of his life, his focus moved to an altogether higher plane. He realized that he was full of hatred towards those who persecuted him in China and too career centered. He started thinking about the meaning and purpose of his life. He was baptized and became a Christian in February 2002. After a lifetime of searching for significance in the world of ideas, he found ultimate significance in the person of Jesus Christ.

In the eulogy delivered by Ian R. Harper, Xiaokai's colleague and friend, he wrote the following passage. "Xiaokai" means "little victory" and "Xiguang" means "rising sun shining brilliantly". Xiaokai's triumph over worldly ambition through his faith in Jesus Christ is no small victory - it has won for him eternal life. In deed, in the words of one of his favorite Bible passages, he is much more than a 'conqueror' - his sun now rises and shines brilliantly in glory as he claims the crown of righteousness promised to all who believe.

The following links contain articles about Xiaokai Yang:
- XIAOKAI YANG: AN ECONOMIST'S TRIBUTE;
- BIOGRAPHY;
- IN MEMORY OF XIAOKAI YANG (IN CHINESE);
- XIAOKAI YANG - CHRISTIAN (IN CHINESE).