LI Cheng

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LI Cheng

Director, John L. Thornton China Center; Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, the Brookings Institution International Organizations and Other Institutions

Cheng Li is Director and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center. Dr. Li is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at University of Toronto, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale University, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Committee of 100.

He is the author/editor of numerous books, including Rediscovering China: Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform (1997), China’s Leaders: The New Generation (2001), Bridging Minds Across the Pacific: The Sino-US Educational Exchange (2005), China’s Changing Political Landscape: Prospects for Democracy (2008), China’s Emerging Middle Class: Beyond Economic Transformation (2010), China’s Political Development: Chinese and American Perspectives (2014), Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership (2016) and The Power of Ideas: The Rising Influence of Thinkers and Think Tanks in China (2017). He is the principal editor of the Thornton Center Chinese Thinkers Series published by the Brookings Institution Press.

Dr. Li has advised a wide range of U.S. government, education, research, business and not-for-profit organizations on work in China. Dr. Li has frequently been called upon to share his unique perspective and insights as an expert on China. He recently appeared on BBC, CCTV, CNN, C-SPAN, ABC World News, NPR, and PBS. Li grew up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution. In 1985, he came to the United States when he later received an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University.