Huang Yiping, a veteran Chinese economist, has attended countless policy forums and high-level summits over his long career. But one event at Peking University a decade ago stands out. Academic debates are often niche, sparsely attended affairs, but that afternoon in November 2016 was different. Seats in the auditorium were snatched up in minutes as people piled in to witness a showdown that had attracted nationwide attention. The public frenzy centred on a rare face-to-face clash between two...