Zai Liang is professor of sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY, and director of Urban China Research Network. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago and conducted post-doctoral research at Brown University. He has served as chair of Asia and Asian American section of the American Sociological Association. His main research interests are in internal and international migration and urban sociology. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health as well as other private foundations.