He is a Professor of Economics, the Dean of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at the Jinan University, and Editor of the Journal of Population Economics. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Before, he was a Professor at the School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. His research interest is focused on labor economics and the Chinese economy, including issues relating to human capital, income inequality, migration and the labor market. He has frequently published in journals like the American Economic Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Review of Economics and Statistics, and Journal of Population Economics.