Ching Kwan Lee

Ching Kwan Lee is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her work focuses on global and comparative issues, including labor politics, political sociology, decolonization, and the dynamics of Chinese capitalism. She is renowned for her trilogy on Chinese labor and global expansion, including Gender and the South China Miracle, Against the Law, and The Specter of Global China. Lee has also authored groundbreaking studies on Hong Kong’s decolonization struggles and African-China relations.

Education: PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Research Interests:

• Globalization and its social impacts
• Comparative labor movements and protest dynamics
• Decolonization and postcolonial state formations
• Sino-African economic and labor relations
• Hong Kong’s political trajectory and transnational activism

Her recent work explores resistance to 'global China,' including mass mobilizations in Hong Kong documented in Forever Hong Kong: A Global City’s Decolonization Struggle (2025). She co-edits the Cambridge Elements in Global China and leads the Global Hong Kong Studies @UC initiative.

Awards & Recognition:

• 2024 Distinguished Career in Political Sociology Award
• Multiple book prizes for The Specter of Global China
• Fellowships at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study and Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study

Grants & Initiatives:

• Lead researcher on NSF grants studying platform capitalism and labor in China
• Initiated comparative projects on Brazil, India, China, and South Africa (Southern Interregnum)
• Co-editor of volumes on Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement and global labor studies