Editor's Note: The discourse on the "China model" has gathered momentum among scholars both within and outside the country. Beijing's Tsinghua University, one of the premier institutions in China, chose the topic for a symposium during its centenary celebrations, where speakers came up with interesting views which could help readers get a clearer understanding of the subject.

The term "China model" was not made in China. Its birth was an outcome of the avid discussion on China's emergence among Western academia and media.

The term "China model" first appeared in a paper by Joshua Cooper Ramo, The Beijing Consensus, in 2004. Ramo, a member of a European think tank, tried to outline an alternative economic development model for developing countries as opposed to the Washington Consensus.