Expert Profile
Wang Feng

Professor of Sociology
Wang Feng is a leading expert on demography, aging, and inequality - particularly in China.
Areas of Expertise
- China
- Post-Communist Societies
- Social Inequality
- Social Demography
- Contemporary Chinese Society
- Comparative Historical Demography
Biography
As a leading expert on demography, aging, and inequality, Wang Feng is Professor of Sociology at University of California, Irvine and Professor (invited) at Fudan University, Shanghai. He was a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy (2013-2016), Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution (2010-2013), Professor at Tsinghua University (2011-2013) and Invited Visiting Professor at Keio University, Japan. Dr. Wang’s research focuses on social inequality in post-socialist societies, global demographic change and consequences and migration and social reintegration in China. Dr. Wang is the author of multiple award-winning books and is a contributor to leading global media outlets. Dr. Wang’s work has been supported by various funding sources such as Pacific Rim Research Program, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation and American Council of Learned Societies. He served as the chair of the Department of Sociology at UC Irvine, and as an expert and consultant for the United Nations, World Economic Forum, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank.
Media




Media Appearances
China’s Population Declines for 3rd Straight Year
The New York Times, 1/16/2025
China steps up campaign for single people to date, marry and give birth
Financial Times, 12/25/2024
The End of China As a Great Power: Population Collapse | Opinion
Newsweek, 12/23/2024
So, Are You Pregnant Yet? China’s In-Your-Face Push for More Babies.
The New York Times, 10/8/2024
China Stops Foreign Adoptions, Ending a Complicated Chapter
The New York Times, 9/6/2024
China Is Hiding A Population Secret, Analyst Claims
Newsweek, 7/18/2024
The One-Child Policy Supercharged China’s Economic Miracle. Now It’s Paying the Price.
The Wall Street Journal, 7/11/2024
China is facing a brutal reality as it desperately tries to fix its population decline problem
Business Insider, 1/31/2024
Newsletter: On our radar: ‘Dragon babies’
The New York Times, 1/20/2024
China's population declines for the 2nd year in a row
NPR, 1/21/2024
Event Appearances
China’s New Demographic Reality and the Era of Immigration: the Case of Shanghai
AAS-in-Asia, Association of Asian Studies (Taipei, China), 6/22/2015
How Much Can We Learn about Future through Seeing History? -- Population Projections for China since 1980
Population Association of America Annual meeting (San Diego), 5/2/2015
What’s Behind the Shifting Labor Income Age Profiles in China?
Population Association of America Annual meeting (San Diego), 5/1/2015
Articles
The Social and Sociological Consequences of China's One-Child Policy
Annual Review of Sociology
Changing society, changing lives: Three decades of family change in China
International Journal of Social Welfare
4 (Re)emergence of Late Marriage in Shanghai: From Collective Synchronization to Individual Choice
Wives, Husbands, and Lovers
Government policy and global fertility change: a reappraisal
Asian Population Studies
Education
University of Michigan
MA, Sociology, 1984
Hebei University, China
BA, Economics, 1982
University of Michigan
PhD, Sociology, 1987
Accomplishments
- Book Award, Asia and Asian American Section
- Best Book Award
- Allan Sharlin Memorial Award for Best Book in Social Science History
Affiliations
- Sociological Research Association : Member
- International Union for the Scientific Study of Population : Member
- Population Association of America : Member