Hamilton College Professor of Government Cheng Li, one of the nation's foremost authorities on Chinese leadership, has been named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for the 2002-03 academic year.
Li will spend his fellowship year in Washington studying Chinese leadership changes and the implications for U.S.-China relations.
A native of Shanghai, Li was largely self-educated during the Cultural Revolution. In 1985, he came to the United States and earned a master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University. He joined the Hamilton faculty in 1991 and was a recipient of the college's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1993.
From 1993-95, Li worked in China as a fellow of the U.S.-based Institute of Current World Affairs, observing grassroots changes in his native country. Following that fellowship, he authored a nationally acclaimed book, Rediscovering China: Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform.
In his most recent book, China's Leaders: The New Generation, Li provides background and analysis of the "fourth generation" of leaders — those who grew up during the Cultural Revolution and are poised to assume leadership positions in China during the coming year.
Li's academic writings have appeared in World Politics, Asian Survey, The China Quarterly, The China Journal, The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, Modern China, Issues and Studies and some edited volumes. He was the guest editor of the Journal of Chinese Sociology and Anthropology in 1997. Li is currently working on two book manuscripts: Chinese Technocrats: Their Social Origins, Ideological Attributes, and Political Behavior and National Identity and Urban Subcultures in China.
Professor Li is frequently called upon to share his unique perspective and insights as an expert on China. Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State, he helped to brief James Sasser and Admiral Joseph Prueher, both former Ambassadors to China. He has given lectures at the National Press Club, the Ambassadors' Roundtable, and the Distinguished Speaker Series, in addition to holding seminars for the U.S. State Department and participating in a Congressional staff briefing. He is a frequent commentator for the BBC, Reuters, VOA and numerous other media organizations in the U.S. and abroad.
A member of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, Li is a commentator for the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, advisor for the School of International Affairs at Fudan University in Shanghai, and a member of the Institute for Current World Affairs and the U.S. Council for Security Cooperation of Asia Pacific. He has received research grants from the Peter Lewis Foundation, the Crane-Rogers Foundation, the Charlotte E. Proctor Honorific Fellowship, the Emerson Foundation, and the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.
Professor Li teaches courses titled "Politics in China," "China's Cultural Revolution," "International Relations," "International Political Economy," and "East Asia and the United States." He is preparing a new course titled "Political Economy of China in the Reform Era."
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars was created by Congress in 1968 to "commemorate the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson." Located in the heart of Washington, D.C., the center aims to "unite the world of ideas to the world of policy by supporting pre-eminent scholarship and linking that scholarship to issues of concern to officials in Washington. It does so," according to the center, "by offering fellowships and other support to high-level professors, public officials, journalists, professionals and other leaders, giving them special opportunities for research and writing."
According to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who recently spoke at Hamilton, "I have always felt that in a town of monuments, the Center is unique because it is a living monument. It memorializes not only Wilson, but Wilson's lifelong effort, as educator and president, to map a trail for a future that would elude the traps of the past."
