On December 23, 2010, renowned scholar Huang Peihua, director of Center for Chinese Studies gave a speech entitled “Public Finance and Public Service Management in China Today: Opportunities and Risks” at College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University. The speech was presided over by Professor Yu Jianxing, vice president of College of Public Administration.

Professor Huang’s speech begins with a comprehensive analysis of the present situation, including the social background, opportunities, and risks of establishing “service-oriented government”. Through comparison of Chinese economic growth in China, government size, and government spending on social security with other countries, Professor Huang said that the supply of public services in China today is at a low level in the world. He then analyzed the reasons underlie this, including the mismatch between transfer payment system and administrative system, the mismatch between central government and local government, relatively low input of government at all levels, and lack of a progressive nature of the Chinese tax system, etc.

After the speech, there were heated discussions on “progressive tax reform”, “China's government size”, and “how to reform our financial system and its feasibility”.