Professor, Dean at the School of Public Policy and Management

Email: zhuxufeng@tsinghua.edu.cn

Tel:+86-10-62771252

Xufeng ZHU is Professor and Dean at the School of Public Policy and Management (SPPM) and Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development Goals, Tsinghua University (TUSDG), Director of the Science & Technology Development and Governance Center, Tsinghua University (TUSTDG), Editor-in-Chief of China Public Administration Review, and Director of the Think Tank Research Center of the SPPM. Dr. ZHU earned his bachelor’s degree in environment engineering and doctor’s degree in public management from Tsinghua University in 2000 and 2005. Before returning to Tsinghua University in 2012, he was Professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University.

His research interests include public policy theories, think tanks and expert participation, sustainable development, science & technology policy. He is the author of The Politics of Expertise in China (2019), The Rise of Think Tanks in China (2013), Biometric Recognition Technology and Urban Agile Governance (in Chinese 2024), Digital Advocacy: Chinese and Global Think Tanks in The New Media Era (in Chinese 2022), Reform and Opening-up and Contemporary Think Tanks in China (in Chinese, 2018), Expert Involvement in Policy Changes (in Chinese, 2012), and China's Think Tanks: Their Influences in the Policy Process (in Chinese, 2009), and has published over 40 English articles in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Governance, Public Administration, Policy Studies Journal, The China Quarterly, Policy Sciences, Public Management Review, Journal of Contemporary China, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, and other international journals and dozens of articles in Chinese journals such as Social Sciences in China, Sociological Studies, and Management World, which are highly prestigious academic journals in respective fields.

He was nominated by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and appointed by the Economic and Social Council as a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP). He serves as President of the Asian Association for Public Administration (AAPA), Vice President of the Chinese Public Administrative Society, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the China Public Management Association. He used to serve as Executive Council member and Co-Chair of the SDG working committee of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), World Economic Forum Global Future Council member. He also serves as Regional Editor of Asian Journal of Political Sciences, Co-Chair of International Institutional Council of Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, and editorial board memberships for more than ten international journals such as Public Administration Review, Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Journal of Contemporary China, and so on. He has won many national academic awards including the China National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (2016), the Youth Award of Management Science in China (2014), and the National Outstanding Youth Fund (2013). He was also selected as Harvard Yenching Scholar by the Harvard Yenching Institute in 2008. He was awarded ASPA-SCPA 's prestigious Marc Holzer Excellence in Mentorship Award for 2025, the Second Prize for Monographs and Papers in the Eighth and Ninth Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Outcomes Awards (Humanities and Social Sciences) presented by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (2024&2020), the “Naschold Award for Excellence in Scholarship in Public Management” at the 2017 Annual Conference of the International Public Management Network and “Best Comparative Policy Paper Award for 2012” of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA).

Books

 Zhu, Xufeng, The Politics of Expertise in China. London and New York: Routledge, 2019.

 Zhu, Xufeng, The Rise of Think Tanks in China. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.

 Zhu, Xufeng, Jing Zhao, Tianhao Chen, Wenjia Lou, Biometric recognition technology and urban agile governance《生物特征识别技术与城市敏捷治理》, Beijing: China Science and Technology Press, 2024.

 Zhu, Xufeng, Jing Zhao, Yuan Kong, Digital advocacy: Chinese and Global Think Tanks in the New Media Era《数字倡导：新媒体时代的中国与全球智库》，Beijing: Social Science Literature Press, 2022.

 Zhu, Xufeng, Reform & Opening-up and Think Tanks in Contemporary China. 《改革开放与当代中国智库》，Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2018.

 Zhu, Xufeng, Expert Participation in Policy Changes. 《政策变迁中的专家参与》, Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2012. (Translated and published in Korea in 2014.)

 Zhu, Xufeng, China’s Think Tanks: Their Influence in the Policy Process. 《中国思想库：政策过程中的影响力研究》，Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2009.

Selected English papers

 Du, Juan, Hongtao Yi, & Xufeng Zhu*, “Contingent Policy Design: Political Accountability and Environmental Governance in China”, Policy Studies Journal，Published online，Nov.16, 2025.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Yue Wang, “Credible Signaling to Promote Local Compliance: Evidence from China's Multiwave Inspection of Environmental Protection”, Public Administration, 103:47-65, 2025.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Yan Wang, “Policy Experimentation as Communication with the Public: Social Policy, Shared Responsibility, and Regime Support in China”, The China Quarterly, vol. 258, 400–422, 2024.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Juan Du, “My Superior’s Appreciation, My Subordinates’ Promotion: Experimental Evidence of a Promotion Decision Model of Middle-Level Bureaucrats in China”, International Public Management Journal, vol. 27, no. 4, 485-507, 2024.

 Huan, Yizhong, & Xufeng Zhu, “Interactions among Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land) and other Sustainable Development Goals: Knowledge for Identifying Global Conservation Actions”, Sustainable Development, vol. 31, no. 1, 321–333, 2023.

 Xiao, Shiyang & Xufeng Zhu*, “Bureaucratic Control and Strategic Compliance: How Do Subnational Governments Implement Central Guidelines in China?” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 32, no. 2, 342–359, 2022.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Hui Zhao, “Experimentalist Governance with Interactive Central–Local Relations: Making New Pension Policies in China”, Policy Studies Journal, vol. 49, no. 1, 13-36, 2021.

 Zhang, Youlang, & Xufeng Zhu*, “The Moderating Role of Top-Down Supports in Horizontal Innovation Diffusion”, Public Administration Review vol. 80, no. 2, 209–221, 2020.

 Zhang, Youlang & Xufeng Zhu*, “Career Cohorts and Inter-Jurisdictional Innovation Diffusion: An Empirical Exploration in China”, International Public Management Journal, vol. 23, no. 3, 421-441, 2020.

 Zhu, Xufeng*, & Guihua Bai, “Policy Synthesis through Regional Experimentations: Comparative Study of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme in Three Chinese Provinces”, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, vol. 22, no. 4, 320–343, 2020.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Think Tanks in Politically-embedded Knowledge Regimes: Does ‘Revolving Door’ Matter in China?” International Review of Administrative Sciences, vol. 86, no. 2, 295–315, 2020.

 Zhu, Xufeng*, & Youlang Zhang, “Comparison of Policy Experiments: Practices in Asia”, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, vol. 22, no. 4, 275–280, 2020.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Tianguang Meng, “Geographical Leadership Mobility and Policy Isomorphism: Narrowing the Regional Inequality of Social Spending in China”, Policy Studies Journal, vol. 48, no. 3, 806–832, 2020.

 Zhang, Youlang & Xufeng Zhu*, “Multiple mechanisms of policy diffusion in China”, Public Management Review, vol. 21, no. 4, 495–514, 2019.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Youlang Zhang, “Diffusion of Marketization Innovation with Administrative Centralization in a Multilevel System: Evidence from China”, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, vol. 29, no. 1, 133–150, 2019.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Hui Zhao, “Recognition of Innovation and Diffusion of Welfare Policy: Alleviating Urban Poverty in Chinese Cities during Fiscal Recentralization”, Governance, vo. 31, 721–739, 2018.

 Xue, Lan, Xufeng Zhu*, & Wanqu Han, Embracing Scientific Decision Making: The Rise of Think Tank Policies in China, Pacific Affairs, vol. 91, no. 1, 49–71, 2018.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Executive Entrepreneurship, Career Mobility and the Transfer of Policy Paradigms”, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, vol. 20, no. 4, 354–369, 2018.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Youlang Zhang, “Political Mobility and Dynamic Diffusion of Innovation: The Spread of Municipal Pro-Business Administrative Reform in China”, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, vol. 26, no. 3, 535–551, 2016.

 Zhu, Xufeng, In the Name of ‘Citizens’: Civic Activism and Policy Entrepreneurship of Chinese Public Intellectuals in the Hu-Wen Era. Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 25, no. 101, 745–759, 2016.

 Chien, Crison, Xufeng Zhu*, & Tingjia Chen, “Self-Learning through Teaching: Singapore's Land Development Policy Transfer Experience in China”, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, vol. 33, no.6, 1639 – 1656, 2015.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Peipei Zhang, “Intrinsic Motivation and Expert Behavior: Roles of Individual experts in Wenling Participatory Budgeting Reform in China”, Administration & Society, vol. 48, no. 7, 851–882, 2016.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Mandate vs. Championship: Vertical Government Intervention and Diffusion of Innovation in Public Services in Authoritarian China”, Public Management Review, vol. 16, no. 1, 117–139, 2014.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Policy Change and Expert Involvement in China”, Public Administration, vol. 91, no. 2, 281–302, 2013.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Rebuilding Government Credibility in Chinese Environmental Resident Activism”, Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 46, no. 3, 1303–1304, 2012.

 Zhu, Xufeng* & Chao Zhang, “Reducing Information Asymmetry in the Power Industry: Mandatory and Voluntary Information Disclosure Regulations of Sulfur Dioxide Emission”, Energy Policy, vol. 45, no. 6, 704–713, 2012.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Government Advisors or Public Advocates? Roles of Think Tanks from the Perspective of Regional Variations”, The China Quarterly, vol. 207, 668–686,2011.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Making Guanxi More Influential: Bureau Chiefs and Policy Experts in the Chinese Policy Decision-making Process” The China Review, vol. 9, no. 2 (Fall), 129–155, 2009.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “The Influence of Think Tanks in the Chinese Policy Process: Different Ways and Mechanisms”, Asian Survey, vol. 49, no. 2, 333–357, 2009.

 Zhu, Xufeng, “Strategy of Chinese Policy Entrepreneurs in the Third Sector: Challenges of “Technical Infeasibility” Policy Sciences, Vol. 41, no. 4. 315–334, 2008.

 Zhu, Xufeng, & Lan Xue, “Think Tanks in Transitional China.” Public Administration and Development, Vol. 27, no. 5. 452–464, 2007.