Yang Zhang

New paper w/@jieunkim1211 in World Politics: do societal actors matter in authoritarian legal systems? We argue lawyers in China act as "rightful challengers" — leveraging intra-state tensions to advance their clients' interests. doi.org/10.1353/wp.202…

great cover! press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Gr…

Yet another reason why Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Century deserves many revisits. Rarely cited as a discussion of tariffs, the book has an original angle on why and how American tariffs worked in the past; and would allow us to develop a unique (and unlike mainstream ones, 1/

delighted to see Xiaohong's book is coming out this fall, posthumously. It is going to demythicize the revolution while revolutionizing our understanding of China's Cultural Revolution and market reform. press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Gr…

Truly wonderful news that some of Xiaohong Xu’s book manuscript will be published posthumously. The field owes the three editors who made this happen a tremendous debt. [The Great Separation | University of Michigan Press] press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Gr…

Don't miss the final interdisciplinary research seminar of this semester! 📚 Join us as @ProfYangZhang from @AmericanU explores "Studying Elite Politics through Conversation Networks: Elite Conflicts and the Making of the Chinese Reform." 🗓️ Date: Dec 5, 2025 (Fri) 🕧 Time: 12:30 - 14:00 HKT | 20:30 - 22:00 PST (Dec 4) 📍 Venue: Rm 201, May Hall, HKU or via Zoom 👉Register now: hkihss.hku.hk/en/events/stud… Stay tuned for more exciting seminars next semester! ✨ #InterdisciplinaryResearch #ChineseReform #ElitePolitics #HKU #ZoomEvent @HKUniversity @hkihss

Please join the day-long series "Historical Social Sciences and China" this Friday in the Grant Park Parlor at Palmer House @socscihist. Our symposium features four sessions on elite politics, socialism & capitalism, state & empire, and a roundtable on Remaking Modernity.

You can download a copy of my review essay “Changing China in Sociological Eyes” (AJS, July 2025) from the link below. academia.edu/142956049/Ch...

Glad to share my essay “Changing China in Sociological Eyes” (AJS, July 2025). It reviews three recent books, while urging historicizing China’s reform and discussing the relationship between area studies and sociology. I’d love to hear your thoughts! journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/73…

You can download a copy of my review essay “Changing China in Sociological Eyes” (AJS, July 2025) from the link below. By reviewing three recent books, I argue it is crucial to assess China’s reform era by historicizing its past, present, and future. academia.edu/142956049/Chan…

This Friday at 9 am EST, we'll host Jack Goldstone @jgoldsto to offer a demographic view on the competition among the U.S., China, Russia, and India in the 21st century. It is followed by an interdisciplinary panel by @hofunghung @ZhangTaisu etc. Join us: american.zoom.us/j/8391626681

“Navigating the Nexus in Politics, History, and Methodology,” a conference in honor of Professor Dingxin Zhao on the occasion of his retirement, will be held on October 11-12 at the University of Chicago. See details in the poster. Registration link: forms.gle/UeVYxGDJSoUN2f…

@AntongLiu Congrats! Wow!

Pleased with my new publication that draws on the works of Han Feizi, the greatest nemesis of Confucius, as well as on my past research on canonical early modern Western political thought to explore the nature of reputation, disobedience, and political authority. OPEN ACCESS.

@dikaioslin I used to teach his work in my Empire courses, but I will remove it next time.

Haha, who's the real offender here? OP explicitly mentioned both "Western and East Asian hegemonies" in her post. If not for your (implicit?) racism, I don't see how you could have missed the "East Asian" allusion and accused her of complacency with Chinese colonialism.

Honored and excited for this symposium on After Positivism, hosted by @NSSRNews on Friday 9/27. @LeeJackJin_Gary has pulled together a tremendous set of panelists for a robust discussion on the comparative method. Free & open to the public; register here: event.newschool.edu/afterpositivism

Congratulations to @mutinous_lass and @ProfYangZhang for receiving honorable mentions for the @ASAnews Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award! american.edu/sis/research/h…

@cfmeyskens He is indeed one of most insignificant secretaries of Mao.

We have organized four panels commemorating Xiaohong Xu on Nov. 1 in the upcoming Social Science History Association Annual Meeting in Toronto. The panels will bring together 23 scholars from sociology, history, political science, and law to explore and engage with his main work.

The preliminary program is now online and can be found here: ssha.org/conference/. Don't forget to book your hotel room soon, as the deadline to reserve it at the conference rate is September 15th!!! (Reservation link can be found at the same link above).

@bdmabrams Thank you so much, Benjamin!

@ProfYangZhang Brilliant! I really liked this article.

My medal just arrived. I am honored to receive an honorable mention for this year's CBSM Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award. This article is about China’s elite politics and mass politics, i.e., the 1989 Tiananmen movement. The link: link.springer.com/article/10.100…