Studies on the construction of “The Belt and Road”, inclusive finance, promotion of financial transformation by financial technology to serve the high-quality development of real economy, innovation and construction of free trade zones, integrated development of internal and external circulation, continuous expansion of opening up, and other major national initiatives and strategies as well as major regional development strategies and policies are highly expected.

I.          Essay Themes

Submitted papers may include the study from multiple perspectives such as economy, finance, trade, investment, law, international politics, culture, etc.

(I)     Themes Recommended: The specific research topic includes but not limited to the following topics:

1.            Policy research related to The Belt and Road Initiative;

2.            Implementation of The Belt and Road Initiative in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic;

3.            Policy research related to China’s commitments on achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060;

4.            Policy research related to green circular development and climate investment & financing;

5.            RMB internationalization in the context of opening up;

6.            construction of free trade zone;

7.            digital currency;

8.            promotion of international and domestic dual circulation in the post-pandemic era;

9.            RCEP-related economic and financial policy research;

10.         application scenarios, risks and supervision of Fintech(financial technology);

11.         Research related to artificial intelligence and modernization of national governance systems, and modernization of governance capability;

12.         Role of financial technology in the construction of The Belt and Road and the development of inclusive finance;

13.         Cultural, Economic, and Governing Featurs of the countries along The Belt and Road;

(II)   Optional Themes: Research on other major national or regional development strategies are welcom:

1.            Major strategies for regional development (Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Economic Zone, ecological protection and high-quality development of Yellow River Basin, urban agglomeration development, etc.);

2.            Legal issues closely related to the major national development strategies;

3.            Other themes related to international politics, economy, finance, law and major national development strategies.

II.        Sponsors

Shanghai Institute of International Finance Center, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

School of Economics, Shandong University

School of Finance, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

International College, Guangxi University

School of Artificial Intelligence Law, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law

School of Urban and Regional Sciences/Institute of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

International Cultural Exchange School, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

School of Economics, Lanzhou University

School of Economics, Xiamen University

School of Finance, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics

School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University

School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University

Faculty of Economics and Management, East China Normal University

School of International Economics, China Foreign Affairs University

School of Economics, Fudan University

School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiaotong University

Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University

Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

School of Economics, Zhejiang University

Academy of Financial Research, Zhejiang University

Business School, East China University of Political Science and Law

School of Economics and Finance, Shanghai International Studies University

School of Economics, Jinan University

Journal of Foreign Economics & Management, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Journal of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

China-ASEAN Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Development Co-constructed by the Province and Ministry

III.      Applicant

Undergraduates and postgraduates (Master and Ph.D.) and international students (undergraduate, master and Ph.D.) studying in colleges and universities in China are eligible to apply. Papers may be either single-authored or co-authored. Papers coauthored with professors or academic tutors are not allowed.

IV.     Deadline

This essay competition integrates with the “Tongde Summer School” event is launched simultaneously(see Article 5 of this notice for details). Students may choose to submit their papers at their own option according to the following deadline requirements:

(I) Tongde Summer School: May 31, 2021 (inclusive).

(II) essay competition only: June 15, 2021 (inclusive).

Students submitting their papers may make revisions to the papers and resubmit them before June 15, 2021, and the final papers received by the competition’s organizing committee before the deadline will be deemed as the final version of the same papers.

V.       Featurs and Agenda

 (I) “Tongde Summer School”

The Authors of outstanding papers will be invited for Tongde Summer School.

1.Eligibility Application for essay competition Tongde Summer School as well .

2.Selection Procedure: Papers through plagiarism check (no higher than 20%) will be sent to the expert team authorized by the event organizer for review. Outstanding papers will be invited for the Summer School.  

3. Deadline for paper submission: May 31, 2021 (inclusive).

4. Summer School duration: mid-to-late July 2021.

5. Summer School host: School of Economics, Shandong University,

(II) Essay review and award ceremony

1. Essay review time: The essay review for the 2021 Essay Competition will be carried out in early July 2021. And the results will be announced after the end of review.

2. Award ceremony: The award ceremony of essay competition will held simultaneously with the Tongde Summer School  (preliminarily mid-to-late July 2021),

VI.     Requirements

(I)           Essay contents

1. Essay title may be determined by the applicant. The specific topic of essay may be determined at student’s discretion by centering on the theme of essay;

2. Various types of study are encouraged, including but not limited to academic paper, research report, plan design and policy research report, etc.. and the length of the paper should be no less than 3,000 words. The paper should be no-less-than-3 000 word long.

3. The essay submitted can be written in either Chinese or English. Chinese essay shall include English abstract, and English essay shall include Chinese abstract. However, working language for all events during the Summer School time is Chinese, and no interpretation service.

 (II) Requirements for submission of essay

NOTICE: Paper submitted should meet the following requirements.

1. The essay shall be original paper written by the author (or authors) and unpublished. Paper co-authored with professor or academic tutor is not acceptable. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited;

2. All submitted works shall be indicated with university, college, name, education level (undergraduate + undergraduate grade / master + master grade / doctoral + doctoral grade), name of country or region, author’s telephone number and email account on the cover thereof;

3. Paper in Chinese shall include English title, abstract and keywords;

4. Paper shall be centered on the theme recommended or optional conform to the paper specifications (no less than 10 references sufficient data analysis). In case of plagiarism or identical papers, the relevant author will be disqualified from participating in the selection of awards;

5. Ifrecommend by a professor, recommendation letter with referee’s information and signature is requested to sumbit separately as a scanned attachment;

6. Your paper must be original and not been published. If publication notice has been received, the paper is not allowed for the essay competition. If your paper has already been submitted to a journal and the revision suggestion has been received, an explanation thereof shall be provided upon your submission for our event. when the paper is submitted, otherwise it will be deemed as a behavior of bad faith once discovered;

7. You may submit no more than 2 papers in total. In the case of you as the first author, you are allowed to submit one paper only. Once you sumbit more than 2 papers, the organization committee will randomly pick up 2 papers for competition.

8. The number of authors for each paper is generally no more than 4. The research report can have persons with authorship according to the actual number of persons participating in the research, but the author and the core members who have written the research report shall be indicated.

VII.    Submission

Please send the electronic paper (including the Word and PDF versions) and the submission information form to : siifc163@163.com. The email subject and paper shall be indicated in form of “author name - university and college - (undergraduate + undergraduate grade / master + master grade / doctoral + doctoral grade) - name of country or region - paper title- whether to apply for the ‘Tongde Summer School’”.

VIII.  Essay Review and Awards Setting

 (I) Review process

1. Specification screening: All submitted papers will first be subject to paper specification screening. And paperswith violation of specificaitons (see the requirements of Article 8 in Part II “Requirements for submission of essay” of the “VI. Essay Requirements” above, especially the requirements related to paper standardization set out in Article 5) will be removed for applicaiton;

2. Plagiarism check: papers not through plagiarism test(repetition rate no more than 20%) are not allowed for paper review.all submitted papers that pass the paper standardization screening shall to subject to repetition rate test, and the repetition rate standard is lower than 20% (inclusive). The submitted essays that fail the repetition rate test will not enter the stage of formal review of essays;

3. Essay review: The submitted papers that have passed the repetition rate test will be subject to the review for two rounds carried out by an expert review team set up by the co-sponsors of the essay competition. The first round will be communication review and the second round will be onsite review.

 (II) Announcement of results and awards ceremony

The essay competition will be divided into the undergraduate group and the postgraduate group for review and determine the award-winning essays based on the education background of the authors at the time of essay submission.

1. Awards setting (tentatively, the specific number of award-winning papers will be subject to adjustments as appropriate based on the number of submitted papers)

Awards Setting and Award Standards for Undergraduate Group

Awards Setting and Award Standards for Postgraduate Group

2. Announcement of essay award-winning results

The award-winning results of essay competition will be announced on the official website of co-sponsoring colleges and universities and on the WeChat public account, and the announcement duration is 3 days.

IX.     Event Costs

The travel expenses incurred by students selected for the “Tongde Summer School” to the summer camp site (including the expenses of round-trip second-class high-speed rail tickets or train hard seat tickets, bus fare and local transportation expenses from bus station to accommodation site designated by the organizer of summer camp, but excluding expenses of air ticket, first-class seat ticket, soft-sleeper ticket and hard-sleeper ticket) and the accommodation fees during the summer camp period (from the day of registration to the ending day of the summer camp) will be jointly paid by the Shanghai Institute of International Finance Center, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the School of Economics, Shandong University, which is the co-organizer of this “Tongde Summer School”.

X.       Publication of Award-winning Essays

This essay competition has reached a cooperation mechanism with the Department of Academic Journals, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. the award-winning papers that meet the Journals’ theme and selection requirements will be given priority in getting the opportunity to publish in the special issue of the Journals. It shall be ensured that the submitted papers are free of intellectual property disputes and written in strict accordance with the format requirements.

“The Belt and Road” Tongde Higher Education Alliance

January 28, 2021