Zhuoran “Z” Li, MAIR, 2022

I was born in Beijing, China, and moved to the United States when I was thirteen years old. My strongest area of expertise in research is document analysis. Due to my language proficiency, I am also able to conduct research in Chinese, English, and Japanese. I am interested in China's political development, economy, foreign policy, and legal system. My current research is focused China's mobilization capability and its relationship to policy implementation. In addition, I am conducting research on China's Bianzhi system and building a CCDI corruption investigation database.  I am also very interested in the politics of Japan, Russia, and the Korean peninsula, and would like to conduct a comparative study of China and these countries.

I chose SAIS because I want to receive rigorous academic training in the study of China other countries. I also believe that a two-year program  SAIS will allow me to explore different opportunities. The experience also broadened my perspective on Chinese politics and compelled me to rethink China's political development in various ways. My most memorable experience was attending the professor. Iza Ding's China Studies Happy Hour performance governance. Her presentation really captured the essence of China's policy implementation and local cadre incentives. After SAIS, I hope to enroll in a Ph.D. program to further my academic career continuing to become a better scholar.

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