Xi Chen joins the department as an assistant professor specializing in comparative politics. He received his LLB from East China University of Politics and Law, and an MPhil from Beijing University before going on to earn an MA and PhD in political science from Columbia University. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University for a year. His research interests include social movements, democratization, and state-society relations in the context of authoritarianism, and he is currently completing a book on social protest in China. In his spare time he enjoys tennis, ping pong, and Taichi. You can learn more about him and his research by visiting his new website at http://www.unc.edu/~xichen48/. Please click here to view Xi Chen's CV.