On September 9, 2022, Dr. Kui Zhao from Huazhong University of Science and Technology was invited to be the guest of the first session of the Taxation Forum and gave a lecture entitled lnland as the New Harbor? China-Europe Express Railway and Export Manufacturing Reallocation in China to the teachers and students. The forum was hosted by Associate Professor Tao Dongjie, the head of the Department of Finance and Taxation, and teachers and some students from the Department of Finance and Taxation participated in the forum.

  Dr. Kui Zhao is a lecturer at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and has a PhD in economics from Peking University. His main research areas are public economics, development economics and political economy. He has published many papers in authoritative journals in China, such as Economic Research Journal, and has chaired many projects such as The National Natural Science Foundation of China .

  The topic of the report is whether the opening of the CHINA RAILWAY Express will make inland cities become new ports. Dr. Zhao takes the rising labor cost as the starting point of the study, analyzes the background of the opening of the CR Express, and finds that the opening of the CR Express has a significant positive impact on the capital, labor, export and sustainability of the economic development of the inland region through extensive data compilation and empirical analysis. The empirical findings corroborate that the opening of CR Express trains has significantly reduced the trade costs of the central and western regions, enabling them to attract labor and capital continuously, thus achieving the portization of the inland regions. During the report, Dr. Zhao used credible empirical research methods and presented multi-dimensional empirical results, fully demonstrating the validity and credibility of the study.

  Finally, the participating teachers and students had an in-depth exchange on the importance of research and the richness of empirical studies.