Fei Yan

Fei Yan joins the Walter Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) as a visiting scholar.  Previously, he was also the 2014-15 APARC Postdoctoral Fellow.  His research focuses on comparative/historical sociology, contentious politics, Chinese politics, and political culture. His work has appeared in Modern China, The China Review, Social Movement Studies, and Twenty-First Century.

His current book project examines the nature of factional politics during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Based on the analyses of factional contention in Guangzhou in 1966-1968 with the more abundant sources available today, he identifies how political alignment was formed and changed at times of radical instability in a dynamic process.

A native of Nanjing, China, Yan has received academic training from Stanford University and University of Oxford. From 2005 to 2008, he was a research fellow in the Department of Applied Social Studies at City University of Hong Hong. Besides his academic activities, Yan is also extensively engaged in public debates and his opinion articles have appeared in a variety of eminent media outlets including Financial Times and Fortune.