Cheng Li is a leading authority on Chinese politics and society who headed the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center from 2014 to 2023, spending many years advocating greater understanding and better relations. He grew up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution and at one point worked as a “barefoot doctor,” who received basic medical training to serve rural communities. After graduating from East China Normal University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature, he came to the United States in 1985 for graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was mentored by ICWA alumnus and dean of China studies Doak Barnett. Cheng went on to earn a PhD in political science from Princeton University and returned to China as an ICWA fellow from 1993 to 1995, observing grassroots change. Based on his experience, he published his book Rediscovering China: Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform (1997). The author and editor of numerous books, Cheng is currently professor of political science and founding director of the Centre on Governance of China and the World at the University of Hong Kong, and a director of the National Committee on US-China Relations.