Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 2, 2024

An Exploration of the Conceptual System of Traditional Chinese Economic Thought

(Abstract)

Cheng Lin, Duan Bo and Liu Ningshuang

As an essential vehicle for expressing and carrying on ancient economic ideas, the conceptual system of traditional Chinese economic thought serves as a gene bank for constructing an independent knowledge system for economics in China. In terms of breadth, the conceptual system of traditional Chinese economic thought ranges over at least seventeen economic categories; in terms of depth, it touches on the core elements of modern economic theory; and it forms a semantic network with inherent logical relationships. Based on the three generative mechanisms of Chinese word formation, temporal and spatial transformation, and pluralistic orientation, this conceptual system is characterized by uniqueness, contemporaneity and hierarchy. At present, the promotion in adherence to the “two integrations” of the modern transformation of the concepts of traditional Chinese economic thought will provide important insights for the advancement of the Chinese path to modernization, the construction of China’s independent knowledge system of economics, and the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.