Pei Yiran (1954—), a native of Hangzhou, is a scholar and writer. During the Cultural Revolution, Pei worked in the northernmost China as a send-down youth. In 1978, he was admitted into the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Heilongjiang University, and went to work in the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference after graduating in 1982. In 1984, Pei began to teach literature in the Zhejiang College of Political Science and Law. From 1986 to 2000, he served as a lecturer, and later an associate professor, in the Zhejiang Broadcasting and Television College, during which he earned a master degree from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Hangzhou University, as well as a doctorate from the same department of Fudan University. In 2000, Pei became a professor in the School of Humanities at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and later became vice dean of the School and head of the Department of Journalism.
Pei faced suppression from authorities for writing and publishing articles and books critical of the CCP, and went into exile in the United States since 2017. He was a visiting scholar at the School of Historical Studies of Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and became an associate research fellow at the East Asian Institute at Columbia University in 2020. He also served as the ninth president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center from May 2020 to September 2022.
Pei's research interests include Chinese literature, Chinese intellectuals, and twentieth-century Chinese history, and he has published a large number of books and academic papers, including *Choices and Explorations of Chinese Intellectuals*, *Red Life History - The Revolutionary Years (1921-1949)*, *Historical Evidence of the Red Disaster: Causes of the Great Famine*, and *Why Is This? – Causes of the “Right” Disaster*.
Pei faced suppression from authorities for writing and publishing articles and books critical of the CCP, and went into exile in the United States since 2017. He was a visiting scholar at the School of Historical Studies of Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and became an associate research fellow at the East Asian Institute at Columbia University in 2020. He also served as the ninth president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center from May 2020 to September 2022.
Pei's research interests include Chinese literature, Chinese intellectuals, and twentieth-century Chinese history, and he has published a large number of books and academic papers, including *Choices and Explorations of Chinese Intellectuals*, *Red Life History - The Revolutionary Years (1921-1949)*, *Historical Evidence of the Red Disaster: Causes of the Great Famine*, and *Why Is This? – Causes of the “Right” Disaster*.
