A great awakening

China | Beijing economist Zhao Xiao believes China can build a market economy on biblical ethics | Les Sillars

Leadership Development International

Zhao Xiao, one of China's top economists, started reading the Bible in 2002 while traveling in the United States and researching a paper on American business culture. He noticed how much Americans talk about the Bible and how cities seem to have churches everywhere.

Zhao, who lives in Beijing with his wife and two daughters, professed Christ in 2004 but remains a member of China's Communist Party. He has headed a think tank that reports directly to China's powerful Central Committee on macroeconomic strategy, and he is still a professor of economics at Beijing Polytechnic University and a commentator on government-run China Central Television.

Despite professing Christ in a communist country known for persecuting believers, Zhao was still able to lead earlier this month a group of Chinese executives on a 10-day trip to the United States to meet with Christian businessmen from companies such as Chick-Fil-A. Zhao says that many in China agree on the need for morality in markets and that even Party leaders are open to Christian ideas.