Works by Faculty

Drawing on extensive Chinese and international archival sources, this two-volume work by Distinguished Global Network Professor of History Chen Jian offers a well-researched biography of Zhou Enlai, examining his life, political legacy, and role in revolution, state-building, and foreign affairs. The book provides a fresh perspective on modern Chinese political and diplomatic history and will be of interest to both scholars and general readers.

Rather than a direct translation of the author’s 2024 English-language book under the same title, this Chinese edition is presented in two volumes and is more closely tailored to Chinese readers and to the historical context of modern China.

About the Author

Chen Jian is Global Distinguished Professor of History at NYU Shanghai, Global Network Professor at New York University, and Zi Jiang Distinguished Professor at East China Normal University. He is a leading scholar of modern Chinese history, Sino-U.S. relations, and the international history of the Cold War. His major works include China’s Road to the Korean War, The Great Transformation: China’s Road from Revolution to Reform, and Zhou Enlai: A Life.

Co-authored by 22 seasoned professors and senior executives from New York University, NYU Shanghai, and leading industry institutions, this book examines the evolution of international REITs and their relevance for China, the theoretical foundations and practical pathways of China’s REITs, and in-depth case studies of representative REIT projects. Edited by Guohua Jean Zhang, Professor of Practice from NYU Shanghai’s Institute for Cities and Real Estate in Emerging Markets (ICREEM), it is the first academic monograph in China to systematically examine real estate investment trusts (REITs) from a global perspective, while integrating insights from local practice. 

At a time when China’s real estate sector is undergoing accelerated transformation and public REITs are rapidly advancing, this book provides the field with a critical theoretical framework and practical guidance, marking an important milestone in the development of China’s real estate REITs.

About the author

Guohua Jean Zhang is Professor of Practice in Real Estate at NYU Shanghai. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, he was a senior executive in real estate with the internationally renowned real estate investors and developers such as Taubman Centers Inc. and Ivanhoe Cambridge Group. He published articles and provided exclusive interviews on China retail real estate investment and management in industry magazines. He also organized and led training seminars for business partners and government officials in promoting international best practices.

For the past 30 years, religious leaders in Tanzania have often been involved in sensitive health programs such as family planning. In this book, Assistant Professor of Anthropology M. Yunus Rafiq asks what happens when those leaders are unavailable. Drawing on ethnographic research, he shows how NGOs often turn to figures on the edges of religious life -- such as healers, marriage counselors, and Quran teachers -- and recast them as religious leaders. Rather than simply carrying out NGO agendas, these actors also reshape their roles and sometimes redirect the projects themselves. Using the Kiswahili concept kujiendeleza (“to make oneself go”), the book presents development as a negotiated, uneven process shaped by adaptation, agency, and competing aims. The book is an important read for researchers in African public health, religion, and development studies.

About the author

M. Yunus Rafiq is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at NYU Shanghai and a Global Network Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at NYU. He is a trained medical anthropologist focusing on public health, region, and communicative practices in Tanzania. Before joining NYU, he worked on two large-scale randomized control trials aimed at improving maternal and child health and increasing the uptake of modern contraceptives in rural Tanzania. His research has been funded by Wenner Gren, Fulbright Hays, Hewlett, Ash Center at Kennedy School, and the American Philosophical Society.
 

A new edition of the 1980s classic by renowned historian and Distinguished Global Network Professor of History Chen Jian, this book on the origins of the Second World War has been highly regarded for its international perspective and rigorous analytical framework. Looking through a global lens, Chen systematically examines shifts in prewar imperialism, the connections among historical events, and the interaction between forces pushing toward war and those resisting it. He argues that World War II resulted not only from fascist aggression, but also from the structural flaws of the Versailles–Washington system, revealing the logic behind the war’s seeming inevitability.

For this new edition coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the author has reverified historical sources and fully updated the notes and bibliography in line with contemporary academic standards. The book remains both a rigorous inquiry into the war’s origins and a reminder to draw wisdom from the past. 

About the author

Chen Jian is the Director of the NYU Shanghai-ECNU Center on Global History, Economy, and Culture, a Distinguished Global Network Professor of History at NYU Shanghai, and a Global Network Professor in the Department of History at NYU. He is also Zijiang Distinguished Visiting Professor at East China Normal University. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, he was the Michael J. Zak Professor of History for US-China Relations at Cornell University, Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the London School of Economics, and visiting research professor at the University of Hong Kong (2009-2013). He holds a PhD from Southern Illinois University and an MA from Fudan University and East China Normal University in Shanghai.

A forthcoming volume in Polity’s Theory Redux series, Assistant Professor Bogna Konior reimagines the internet and artificial intelligence through the metaphor of Liu Cixin’s “dark forest” – a universe where visibility invites danger and survival depends on strategic silence. Professor Konior portrays the online world as a zone of cosmic conflict, shaped by existential tension, emergent AI cults, deceptive super-intelligences, and users who behave like camouflaged life-forms. The book argues that intelligence – human and artificial – is mutating under pressure, learning to conceal, misdirect, and manipulate as transparency becomes a liability. In this dark forest, survival belongs not to the loudest voice, but to the most effectively hidden.

The book is now published across Europe, and will be in the United States in February 2026, with translations underway in Chinese, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and German.

About the author

Authored by Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science Wu Xiaogang and Fudan University Professor Hu Anning, this volume brings together 12 quantitative studies based on data (collected by Professor Wu) from the Beijing College Student Panel Survey (BCSPS) (2009-2013). The selected papers explore how family socioeconomic status, cultural and social capital, and college experiences shape students’ outcomes in China’s labor market. Topics include Independent Freshman Admission Program in China’s higher education, the role of cultural capital in elite university access, parental education and students’ views on love and intimate relationships, education-job matching and income returns among highly educated individuals, and the influence of social networks on career attainment.

Offering rich empirical insights, this collection deepens our understanding of social differentiation and stratification within China’s higher education and provides a valuable foundation for future research in this field.

About the author:

Wu Xiaogang is the Director of the Center for Applied Social and Economic Research (CASER) at NYU Shanghai, a Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science at NYU Shanghai and a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at NYU. In 2022, he was elected a member of the Sociological Research Association (SRA), the honor society to recognize leading researchers in the sociology. Wu has been the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Sociological Review since 2011, a quarterly journal published since 1968. In AY 2023-2024, He is on sabbatical leave from Shanghai.   

Celebrating 20 years of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this edited volume by Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science Wu Xiaogang and Assistant Professor of Sociology Miao Jia synthesizes essential research on inequality and stratification in contemporary China from Chinese Sociological Review (2011-2023). Drawing on nationally representative CGSS data, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of shifting patterns in education, income, career mobility, and intergenerational inequality across all Chinese provinces excluding Tibet. The collection underscores the enduring impact of institutional frameworks like hukou and danwei, advancing beyond early transition theories to illuminate how political, economic, and demographic forces converge to shape China's complex contemporary social structure.

About the authors

Wu Xiaogang is the Director of the Center for Applied Social and Economic Research (CASER) at NYU Shanghai, a Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science at NYU Shanghai and a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at NYU. In 2022, he was elected a member of the Sociological Research Association (SRA), the honor society to recognize leading researchers in the sociology. Wu has been the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Sociological Review since 2011, a quarterly journal published since 1968. In AY 2023-2024, He is on sabbatical leave from Shanghai.   

Miao Jia is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at NYU Shanghai. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai. Miao’ s research centers on how urban life and neighborhoods affect health inequality, productive aging, and subjective well-being in the Asian context. Her current research examines the role of the neighborhood and its physical and social environments in shaping health and psychological well-being of older populations. She is also interested in the social consequences of homeownership in large Chinese cities. 

Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science Wu Xiaogang, a world-renowned scholar in Chinese inequality and social stratification, brings together his research since 2010 in this book. It covers a range of pressing social issues, including association of  education and income, the impact of the household registration system on social stratification, job mobility and income inequality in urban China, gender disparities, and the declining fertility and changes in educational gender opportunities. Each chapter explores a specific topic in depth through quantitative research methods, offering detailed data analysis along with accessible explanations of research design and methodology. The book serves as a valuable practical reference for both newcomers to quantitative research and seasoned social science scholars, offering insights in both theory and method.

About the author

Wu Xiaogang is the Director of the Center for Applied Social and Economic Research (CASER) at NYU Shanghai, a Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science at NYU Shanghai and a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at NYU. In 2022, he was elected a member of the Sociological Research Association (SRA), the honor society to recognize leading researchers in the sociology. Wu has been the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Sociological Review since 2011, a quarterly journal published since 1968. In AY 2023-2024, He is on sabbatical leave from Shanghai.   

Professor of Practice in Business and Finance Rodrigo Zeidan establishes a comprehensive standard for green banking, targeting both academic and professional audiences. He bridges the gap between traditional financial metrics and sustainable banking practices, making a compelling, practical case for integrating environmental considerations into financial decision-making. Rather than treating sustainability as a peripheral concern, Zeidan demonstrates that environmental indicators are essential tools for sound and responsible banking. Positioned as a foundational resource, this manual is poised to become the definitive guide for current and future participants in the green finance movement.

About the author

Professor of Practice in Business and Finance Rodrigo Zeidan is also a Senior Scholar at the Center for Sustainable Business, NYU Stern, and a columnist at Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil’s leading newspaper. His more recent research focuses on Sustainable Finance alongside issues in Corporate Finance and Development Economics. He co-created the Sustainability Credit Score System, which may become the standard sustainability rating system globally. Alongside his article in Nature Sustainability, his research has been published in the Journal of Corporate Finance, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Economic Letters, International Journal of Production Economics, Economic Modelling, Energy Economics, European Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Environmental Management, Journal of Cleaner Production among others. 

Co-authored by Assistant Professor of IMB Helena Rong, the book argues that design is not merely aesthetic, but a measurable infrastructure that shapes economic, social, and civic outcomes.. Using New York City as a living laboratory, it combines real estate, architectural, sensory, and digital data with AI tools including machine learning and computer vision to quantify qualities long considered intangible, such as daylight, greenery, and spatial forms and experiences. By integrating these measures into real estate valuation models, the book establishes a financial benchmark for design and makes the case for human-centric, sustainable projects that deliver both economic returns and social benefits. The work has drawn international attention and was recently featured in MIT News’ “3 Questions” series.

About the author

Helena Rong is an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media Business (IMB) at NYU Shanghai and affiliated with the Program on Creativity + Innovation (PCI). Her research operates at the nexus of urban studies, design, technology studies, data science, and public policy. She focuses on leveraging innovative technologies and methodologies to foster social impact in urban decision-making, aligning incentives across diverse stakeholders to maximize the societal benefits of technological innovation, and developing adaptive urban interfaces that respond to evolving community needs.

Following his Zhou Enlai biography published earlier this year, Distinguished Global Network Professor of History Chen Jian joins forces with the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University Odd Arne Westad for a book on China’s dramatic transformation in the “long 1970s” as it moved from political upheaval to unprecedented economic growth and social changes. The two offer a compelling portrayal of the country's efforts and progress, while exploring the nation's gradual and steady embrace of the outside world. They focus on the shifting power dynamics and political agenda of the leadership, and the contributions of various figures – from China’s own everyday people to overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and American engineers, from Japanese scholars to German designers, etc. It is a story of revolutionary transformation that neither the Chinese people nor foreign observers had expected.

About the authors

Chen Jian is the Director of the NYU Shanghai-ECNU Center on Global History, Economy, and Culture, a Distinguished Global Network Professor of History at NYU Shanghai, and a Global Network Professor in the Department of History at NYU. He is also Zijiang Distinguished Visiting Professor at East China Normal University. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, he was the Michael J. Zak Professor of History for US-China Relations at Cornell University, Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the London School of Economics, and visiting research professor at the University of Hong Kong (2009-2013). He holds a PhD from Southern Illinois University and an MA from Fudan University and East China Normal University in Shanghai.

Odd Arne Westad is the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University. His books include The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times, winner of the Bancroft Prize, and Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750. 

First published in 1999, NYU Shanghai Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen’s book has a newly translated Chinese edition. A historian specializing in early modern Chinese history, Waley-Cohen provides an insightful examination of China’s interactions with the rest of the world, spanning from the Silk Road to the present day. She argues that long before Europeans arrived in East Asia, China was already intricately connected to a vast network of commercial, intellectual, religious, and cultural exchanges. Waley-Cohen portrays China as an open and cosmopolitan country, actively participating in exchanges with other cultures and societies.

About the author

Joanna Waley-Cohen is the Provost for NYU Shanghai and Julius Silver Professor of History at New York University, where she has taught Chinese history since 1992. As Provost, she serves as NYU Shanghai’s chief academic officer, setting the university’s academic strategy and priorities, and overseeing academic appointments, research, and faculty affairs. Her books include The Culture of War in China: Empire and the Military under the Qing Dynasty (I.B. Tauris, 2006), The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History (W.W. Norton, 1999), and Exile in Mid-Qing China: Banishment to Xinjiang, 1758-1820 (Yale University Press, 1991). 

Originally published in English in 2022, this must-read gets a Chinese edition. Drawing on eight years of fieldwork, Assistant Professor of Sociology Yi-Lin Chiang provides a unique perspective on how Chinese youth from socially advantaged backgrounds prepare to be globally competitive. Chiang explores how high-achieving Chinese high schoolers aspire to become “study gods” (xueshen) – students who excel academically not just through sheer hard work, but by mastering the unwritten rules of status and success. Chiang discovers how these youth use their  understanding of societal hierarchy to adjust their behavior, aligning with valued traits while avoiding those that could lower their standing. She observes them as they transition to university life and their careers, relying on their resourceful parents and external help to overcome obstacles and navigate professional relationships, while expecting preferential treatment. Study Gods highlights how this new generation is emerging as a powerful force in the global arena. 

About the author

Yi-Lin Chiang is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at NYU Shanghai. Before joining NYU Shanghai, she was Associate Professor of Sociology at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Chiang’s research focuses on educational stratification and intergenerational status transmission in greater China. Her ethnographic work examines the processes and outcomes of elite status transmission. In other lines of research, she uses Taiwanese panel data to explore how schools and families contribute to educational inequality. Her book, Study Gods (Princeton University Press), received the Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best Book in Sociology of Education from the Sociology of Education section of the American Sociological Association.

This 1996 Business Week bestseller by Director for the Program on Creativity + Innovation Adam Brandenburger and Milton Steinbach Professor at the Yale School of Management Barry Nalebuff gets an updated Chinese language edition. Co-opetition offers a theory of value in business. It argues that to create value, people need to act cooperatively. At the same time, in claiming value, there is an inherently competitive element. These two processes are brought together in this book via the notion of “co-opetition” — a fundamental duality at the heart of business.

About the author

Adam Brandenburger is the Director of the Program on Creativity and Innovation, as well as the Area Head of Economics and Global Network Professor at NYU Shanghai. Additionally, he holds the title of J.P. Valles Professor of Business Economics and Strategy at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU, and is a Distinguished Professor at the Tandon School of Engineering at NYU. He was a professor at Harvard Business School from 1987 to 2002.  He received his B.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge.  Adam researches in the areas of game theory, information theory, and cognitive science.

While Confucius is widely recognized as a philosopher and a wise teacher, Associate Professor of Global China Studies Zhao Lu’s new book examines lesser-known unconventional portrayals of him as a prophet, demon hunter, villain in 19th-century American media, and symbol of feudal oppression during the Cultural Revolution. Zhao looks at how these alternative depictions challenge the established images of Confucius, showing how they reflect the specific anxieties of different groups. His work reveals not only the diverse ways Confucius has been perceived, but also how his image has been used to address fears, legitimize power, reinforce stereotypes, and shape historical narratives.

About the author

Zhao Lu is an Associate Professor of Global China Studies at NYU Shanghai and a Global Network Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science at NYU. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Chinese intellectual and cultural history. Before joining NYU Shanghai, he was a Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (2017–2018) and a research fellow at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (IKGF), at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (2013–2017).