Xu Yong, Distinguished Professor of the "Changjiang Scholar" Program in Liberal Arts under the Ministry of Education; Senior Professor at Central China Normal University; specializes in research on Chinese politics and grassroots governance; author of Nationalisation, Peasantry and Rural Integration in China, among other works. Former Convener of the Political Science Discipline Review Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, Member of the Social Sciences Division of the Ministry of Education's Social Science Committee, among other positions.