The following is a summary of Yang Yuzhen's comments during a rountable discussion at the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics held at Tsinghua University, Beijing, on May 23, 2026. Yang Yuzhen is Vice President of Henan Normal University.
On May 27, 2026, the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics, co-hosted by the Society for the Analysis of Government and Economics (SAGE) along with Tsinghua University's School of Social Sciences and the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT), was broadcasted online. Vice President of Henan Normal University, Yang Yuzhen, participated in a lively roundtable discussion where she referred to the example of a popular supermarket chain as representative of one potential avenue for transforming the relationship between government and the market.
Yang discussed her insights on government and economics from the perspectives of macroeconomic governance and previous experiences in regional development. She pointed out that economic governance is the key issue for Chinese-style modernization, with the relationship between government and the market being the main question of concern when it comes to this subject. Yang explained that for a large economic system like China's, the relationship between government and the market in different regions is not simply reflected as a strong government and a weak market, but rather involves varying combinations, such as a stronger government and a stronger market or a weaker government and a weaker market, with research on the nature of relations between local governments and the market therefore being of considerable value.
For instance, she referred to "the popular Pang Donglai supermarkets that have appeared in Henan, which have since become something of a sensation." Yang recounted the unique business and distribution models adopted by this retail corporation: "most notably in 2025 and 2026, 50% of its profits were distributed to shareholders, with 50% of its profits and equity stakes given to the supermarket's employees, each employee being directly given equity rights, representing at least 200,000 yuan in equity."
Yang explained that Pang Donglai has adhered to a prudent development approach for many years, expanding cautiously only in Xinxiang and Xuchang, while staying true to its original intention and not engaging in capital operations, forging a development path different from most other companies in the industry.
In her opinion, there are many research topics that are worth exploring in view of this Pang Donglai phenomenon: "there are many issue areas related to culture that arise in the relations between private enterprises and the government, including corporate culture and the culture of a particular geographical region. So the question is what role can the government play in this process?" Here there are a great number of different areas that one can focus their research on. She further mentioned that "as a micro-level market participant, the company has insisting on providing exceptional service and generous employee benefits, exchanging genuine products for genuine care in respect to others, in addition to even promoting overall urban civilization while enhancing people's sense of moral awareness and the city's level of civility."