I am a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and a Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
My research focuses on the law and politics of Chinese environmental governance. My work has examined Chinese climate policy, US-China environmental cooperation and competition, environmental bureaucracy, information disclosure, public interest litigation, the role of state-owned enterprises in environmental governance, and symbolic uses of governance reform.
Prior to joining UCLA Law, I was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) based in Beijing and the founding director of NRDC’s China Environmental Law & Governance Project. In that capacity, I worked with China’s government agencies, legal community, and environmental groups to improve environmental laws and strengthen the role of the public in environmental protection.
I am a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations, a board member of the Environmental Law Institute, and a Co-Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the California-China Climate Institute.
If you want to get a sense of how I think about and approach the study of China and the law, this post is a good place to start:
Chinese Global Environmentalism
The environment was once one of China's greatest weaknesses. It is now becoming a pillar of China’s global power.
Chinese Global Environmentalism examines how China came to embrace green development and the ways in which China promotes a developmental form of environmentalism globally. through tools of green ideology, diplomacy, economic statecraft, and development cooperation.
China’s approach promises to advance certain global environmental and governance norms, while reshaping others in ways that will continue to exacerbate geopolitical tensions.
The book features several case studies that shed light on China’s approach, including Chinese green investment in Chile, environmental conflicts in Kenya, hydropower development in Southeast Asia, global climate negotiations, and Chinese dominance in clean technology development.
(Cambridge University Press, Elements in Global China, 2026)
