Prof. Li Hanlin is currently Director General in the National Institute of Social Development, The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He obtained his PhD in Sociology from the Bielefeld University in Germany in 1984 and became a Professor in Sociology in 1988 at the Institute of Sociology, CASS, where he served as Deputy Director General (2003-2006). He was actively involved in the organization of the First and Second Asia Pacific Regional Conference of Sociology (1993, 1996) as a Member of its Steering Committee, and also in the organization of the Asia Pacific Sociological Association where he eventually served as a Member of its Executive Committee (1997-2002). He served as Board member for the Journal “The Chinese Social Sciences” (2008-) and Vice Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Swiss Academy of Development, 1996-2002, and has been a Member of the Executive Committee of the International Social Sciences Council (ISSC) since 2008. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Science Center for Social Research in Berlin, the State University of New York, Bielefeld University, and Queensland University.

He is the author and co-author of several books and numerous articles dealing with changes in the Chinese work unit society, the Danwei phenomena, the basic structure of the Chinese society, attitudes to modernization and reform policy, theory of knowledge transfer, Chinese urban development, the sociology of science, Chinese harmony society, etc. His more recent publications include: Participation and Co-determination from the Point of View of Organizational Solidarity (The Chinese Social Science Press, 2010); Social Process of the Organization Change (Dongfang Press, 2006); Thoughts on the Chinese Work Unit Society (Shanghai, 2004); Structural Strains during the Process of Social Change (Social Sciences in China, 2010); Anomie Effect in Chinese Danwei-Organizations (Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House, 2009); The Chinese Reform and Social Change in Danwei-Institutions (Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House).