Hu Peizhao

Hu Peizhao (; 1937 – 26 April 2019) was a Chinese economist and a professor at Xiamen University. He served as Director of the Institute of Economic Research and Dean of the College of Economics at the university, and as an economic advisor to the national government of China. In 1985, he was among the first economists to win the Sun Yefang Prize, China's highest honour in economics.

Education and career Hu was born in 1937 in Yongkang, Zhejiang, Republic of China. In 1956, he entered Xiamen University, where he studied economics under Wang Yanan , one of China's most prominent economists and president of the university.

After graduating with top grades in 1960, Hu was exempted from the entrance examination and accepted by the graduate school of Fudan University. However, Fudan soon reduced the size of its graduate school and Hu became a teaching assistant without finishing his studies. He was later assigned to teach at a high school in Jinhua near his hometown. He argued that investors receiving economic returns from their capital investment was reasonable allocation of production gains and could not be considered exploitation. His articles attracted sharp criticism from Marxists, who accused him of justifying capitalist exploitation of labour. He engaged in multiple debates with his opponents, and his view eventually prevailed and was widely accepted.

Hu served as Director of the Institute of Economic Research and Dean of the College of Economics of Xiamen University. In 1997, he was appointed an economic advisor to the State Council, together with Li Yining and others.

Hu wrote more than ten books and over 400 articles, many of which were published on influential national newspapers such as People's Daily, Guangming Daily, and Qiushi. He supervised more than 30 doctoral students, including Professor Weng Junyi of Xiamen University, who would also become a Sun Yefang Prize laureate.

Personal life Hu met his wife Huang Fuxian , a fellow teacher, while he was a high school teacher in Jinhua. They had a daughter, Hu Xiaolei , and a son, Hu Qiwei .

Hu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017. He died on 26 April 2019, at the age of 82.