Personal Statement

“We are engaged in a game whose rules we only partially understand,

yet we seem to be playing the game fairly well, at least on the

surface.” As the apparently prosperous financial industry of China

integrates into the international framework, China seems still much out

of tune with international practices. Even the most flagrant violations

of financial principles are being committed. During my auditing

internship, I found one company preparing four different versions of

its annual financial report, only one of which was true.

To reduce such irregularities and disparities, it is imperative to have

a new generation of economists and financial professionals with

standard training in western scholarly work. I was most enlightened by

Prof. XX from Department of Economics of XX University whose lecture “

XX” at our university sensitized me to how theories of mainstream

western economics can be effectively applied to Chinese economy. The

methodology of western scholarship simply fascinated me. Prof. XX , a

leading economist with Ph.D. education background at XX University, has

contributed appreciably to China’s on-going financial reform with his

insightful perspectives. It is my wish to follow the footsteps of my

paragons and contribute to the healthy development of my country’s

financial industry.

My passion for a Ph.D. program in Finance at the esteemed XX is based

on the rewarding education I have received at the Finance Department,

College of Economics, University of XX. One thing special about my

undergraduate program is that, as our university is situated in that

part of XX with the highest density of top universities in China (like

XX University, XX University, XX University of China), I have had ample

opportunities to listen to a wide diversity of lectures on economics

and finance by leading domestic and international scholars. This has

allowed me to assimilate essence from different schools of thought and

to broaden my horizon of knowledge.

Meanwhile, as our university is in the immediate vicinity of China

National Library, the largest of its kind in Asia, I have kept myself

abreast with the latest developments in the academia by reading the

most recent literature in the library. Even as a freshman, I pored over

The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets by Frederic S.

Mishkin which fascinated me with its way of explication. In explaining

the origin, development and transformation of the banking industry, it

chooses “moral risks” as a point of entry and constructed a rigorous

theoretical framework by expounding on a series of important issues

through seeming simple concepts.

There are two concentrations for my specialty in finance—financial

economics, which is a branch of macroeconomics, and finance. Those two

concentrations have made it possible for me to be systematically

education in economic theories and in fundamental knowledge in finance.

I am particularly interested in the latter. When learning the course

Corporate Finance, I came to know the vital importance of such

knowledge for the present-day China. As the conventional planned

economy is supplanted by market economy, capital operations like

restructuring and merging have substantially increased, and the role of

capital as a leverage will be increasingly exploited. Meanwhile, the

design of the incentive mechanism in state-owned enterprises hinges

heavily on innovations in corporate finance. In view of the

particularity of China’s capital market, mechanically borrowing the

systems and tools from advanced western countries is bound to create

maladaptations. How to work out those problems deserves serious study.

Based on fruitful coursework in Financial Market, I attempted to solve

practical problems through research. In my term paper XX. I set to

address many flaws inherent in the pricing mechanism of the shares as a

result of the  government control over the stock market. With a due

discussion of the applicability of various mainstream pricing theories

under different market conditions, I offered a comparative study of the

pattern of share issuing and pricing between China and the West. I also

proposed three hypotheses to account for China’s IPO price inhibition.

With necessary empirical verification, I came up with a pricing model

for issuing new shares and specific policy suggestions as to how to

improve the efficiency of China’s share-issuing market.

My undergraduate program has been a process of constant progress, from

passive reception of knowledge to development of independent

perspectives and research aptitudes. My strong interest in finance has

led me to achieve a high major GPA of 87/100, ranking top 4 among 50

students. Apart from consecutive scholarships from college and

university, I have also won the third prize in the “Challenge-Cup” XX

Competition by applying my in-depth finance knowledge.

Finance is an applied discipline and since my sophomore year I have

been applying my knowledge to practice. During summer internships, I

worked part-time as financial assistant at XX Company and as president

’s secretary at XX Company. Since my junior year, I have been working

as assistant consultant at XX Capital Ltd where I participated in

formulating of XX(China’s leading wine manufacturer) in 2005-2010.

Apart from conducting financial estimates of the group for 2005-2010, I

was responsible for completing the chapter “XX” in the final report,

based on the financial analysis of the listed companies in the

industry. In addition to this project, I independently finished the

“Viamed Project”— a joint program between XX and U.N. XX Commission.

With the virtual completion of my undergraduate program, I find finance

to be a discipline in which I can seek an academic career. The Finance

Ph.D. program at XX lays emphasis on research, with the goal to produce

high-quality scholars and to prepare them for successful academic

career. The opportunity to work with and learn from a well-known

faculty in a stimulating intellectual environment makes me immediately

attracted to it. In my proposed study, I wish to comprehensively learn

theories of capital market, acquiring in-depth knowledge about

financial framework, asset pricing, risk management, and corporate

finance. Then I will narrow down on corporate finance and financial

intermediation. With systematic academic training and broad exposure to

the latest scholarship, I will research on American financial market,

with its advanced financial tools and well-developed mechanism for

innovation, which can serve a frame of reference for China’s financial

market.

According to the Confucian philosophy, a person should employ his/her

talents in the service of the larger community. I see myself as exactly

the kind of person called for by the rapid growth of China’s capital

market. Your program can give me the necessary condition to perfectly

fuse my personal development with my commitment to contribute to the

larger society.