Tan Chongtai

Tan Chongtai

Born in June 1920 in Chengdu City of Sichuan Province;

Graduated from the Economics Department of Wuhan University;

Obtained the Master’s Degree in Economics from Harvard University in 1947;

Became a teacher in Wuhan University in 1948.

Tan Chong Long, a famous economist, haslong devoted himself to the work related to western economics, especially to the teaching and research work on developmenteconomics. He is thought to be the first person who hasintroduced the western development economics into China, a figure that has been committed to the building of a new type of development economicstheory by using the Marxist theory as a guide while taking into consideration real situations in China,which has exerted great influence on the development of China’s economics theories. Tan served as the Deputy Secretary ofWHU Council, theDirector of WHU PresidentOffice, the Dean of WHUSchool of Economics and Management, the Honorary Dean of WHU School of Economics and Management and the Honorary Director of WHUEconomic Development Research Center -- a Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences designated by the Ministry of Education. He was also once the DeputyEditor of Journal of Wuhan University, Deputy Chief Editor of Wuhan University Press, a member on the Chinese Board of Sino-US EconomicsExchange Committee,the Vice President and Honorary President of Chinese Association of Foreign Economics, a member in the leading group of National Institute of Socialist Economy Theory and Practice in HEIs as well as the President of and an adviser to Hubei Association of Foreign Economics. His monograph The History of Economic Thoughts of Western Countries won the 3^rd National Book Award and secured the 2^nd Prize in the 1^st Excellent Achievement Award for National Social Science Fund Projects. Development Economics, the book under his general editorship won the 1^st Prize in the National Excellent Textbook in HEIs Award, and was labeled as “a standard textbook” by the famous American economist D.Pekins, who is also the director of Harvard Institute for International Development. The book New Development of the Development Economics edited by Tan won the 2^ndPrize in the “National Humanities and Social Sciences Research Achievement in HEIs Award”