Dali L. Yang

Dali L. Yang is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is the founding Faculty Director of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing, a university-wide initiative to promote collaboration and exchange between UChicago scholars and students and their Chinese counterparts. He also directs the University of Chicago Confucius Institute, which is designed to enhance research on China’s development and support Chinese language instruction on the UChicago Hyde Park campus.Professor Yang has previously served in a number of other academic leadership roles. He was Chairman of the Political Science Department, Director of The Center for East Asian Studies, and Director of the Committee on International Relations, all at the University of Chicago. He also previously served as Director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.

An engineering graduate from Beijing Science and Technology University, Yang received his Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University, specializing in international relations and comparative politics. He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1992.

Professor Yang’s research interests are political institutions, political economy and political behavior, with special reference to China. He is a member of professional associations such as the American Political Science Association and the Association for Asian Studies. He has also served on the editorial boards of various journals, including American Political Science Review, World Politics, Asian Perspective, Journal of Contemporary China, and Journal of Chinese Political Science and as co-editor of China: An International Journal. He has been a co-director of the University of Chicago Workshop on East Asia: Politics, Economy and Society.

Professor Yang is the author of many books and scholarly articles on China’s political economy and governance.