Cheng Li, professor of government at Hamilton College, has recently been appointed to advisory or membership positions at the Hoover Institution, the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, and the National Committee on United States-China Relations, respectively.
The Hoover Institution, housed at Stanford University, conducts research about pressing domestic and international public policy issues. Li will serve as an advisor to the institution's China Leadership Project. Other advisors include James Lilley, former U.S. Ambassador to China, and Roderick MacFarquahar, professor of government, Harvard University. The project will explore the leadership politics of China and provide the resulting information to the American public. In addition to serving on the advisory committee, Li will write a quarterly assessment of current issues in local and regional Chinese politics.
The National Committee on United States-China Relations works to strengthen the relationship between the U.S and China by increasing the knowledge and understanding of the countries' citizens. The committee sponsors visits and exchanges between the two countries, and was responsible for the Chinese table tennis team's historic 1972 visit to the United States. Li has been elected to serve as a member of the committee. He will join the ranks of 700 other members who have distinguished themselves as influential experts and practitioners on U.S.-China relations.
Li will also advise the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University in China. Fudan University is located in Shanghai and was founded in 1905. It is one of the most prestigious universities in the People's Republic of China and has been a front -runner in educational exchange programs between the U.S. and China. Fudan hosts several thousand foreign students every year.
Li grew up in Shanghai and was largely self-educated during the cultural revolution. In 1985, he came to the United States where he earned a Ph.D. in political science at Princeton University. He is a member of the Institute of Current World Affairs in Hanover, N.H. His new book, China's Leaders: The New Generation (2001), provides background and analysis of China's new leaders.
