Wang Feng // Find an Expert // UCI

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

Watch on YouTube: Wang Feng: Chinese Society and Economy after the One-Child Policy

Media Appearances

How China Is Tackling a Population Crisis
Newsweek, 3/18/2024

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

China’s population decline accelerates as economy reaches low growth target
Financial Times, 1/17/2024

China Is Pressing Women to Have More Babies. Many Are Saying No.
The Wall Street Journal, 1/2/2024

Xi Jinping Is Fighting a Culture War at Home
The Atlantic, 12/20/2023

Why China’s Young People Are Not Getting Married
The New York Times, 7/10/2023

China’s population is shrinking. It faces a perilous future.
National Geographic, 3/22/2023

Desperate for Babies, China Races to Undo an Era of Birth Limits. Is It Too Late?
The New York Times, 2/26/2023

Single Mothers in China Face Fewer Hurdles as Beijing Tries to Boost Births
The Wall Street Journal, 2/15/2023

Could Migration Help Ease The World's Population Challenges?
NPR, 1/30/2023

How China came to regret its one-child policy
Vox, 1/18/2023

Why China’s shrinking population is a big deal – counting the social, economic and political costs of an aging, smaller society
The Conversation, 1/18/2023

For the first time since 1960, deaths outnumbered births in China last year
NPR, 1/17/2023

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