(Yicai Global) Oct. 19 -- Almost 200 scholars and experts from 42 countries and international organizations have gathered at the 9th World Forum on China Studies to discuss the Asian superpower's modernization and global economic recovery.

The two-day forum, which opened in Shanghai yesterday, consists of a plenary session and five panels with themes including "China’s Modernization Path,""Chinese Practices and Global Governance," and "China’s Economic Development Plan 2021-2025 and World Economic Recovery."

Over the past 40 years, China has given new connotations to the term "modernization," and is offering a role model to the world that has been stuck for a long time in a trap where the traditional Western meaning of modernization does not respond to contemporary challenges anymore, former Serbian President Boris Tadic said during a video speech at the forum yesterday.

China is not only practicing modernization, but also embarking on its own path of innovation by overcoming the mistakes and abuses of Western-style modernization, said Tadic. Even though the theory, vision, and practice of modernization originate from the West, change has arrived, he suggested.

A major misunderstanding between China and the West is that the West believes that China should adjust its communication to meet the standards of Western-style modernization, which is fallacious since a misunderstanding of the "Chinese experience" will harm the West, not China, said the ex-president.

The Western modernization process has been uneven, which has caused barriers and conflicts, said Tadic. Another drawback is the disruption of global economic order caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. China is striving to avoid these problems while developing at a rapid pace, he added.

The forum delivered awards. The sixth Award for Distinguished Contribution to China Studies went to two sinologists. Those included Michael Arthur Nathan Loewe, emeritus professor at the University of Cambridge, and Joseph W. Esherick, emeritus professor at the University of California.

Chia-ying Yeh, director of a research institute on Chinese classical culture at Nankai University, won the 3rd Award for Overseas Chinese Contribution to China Studies.

The first World Forum on China Studies was held by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in 2004. Since then, a new event is held every two years. The forum works with institutions and academic networks with the goal of becoming a sustainable and internationally influential platform for exchanges regarding Chinese studies.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine