Faculty

Profile

Lei Ping is Associate Professor of Chinese Studies and Chair of Languages Department at The New School. She holds a PhD in East Asian Studies from New York University. Her research centers on global capitalism, Chinese socialism, social class formation, urban and cultural studies in both Asian and global economic and political contexts. Her latest book, Shanghai Mundane: Survival and Revival of Bourgeois Sentiments under Chinese Socialism (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) offers a new critical intervention into the studies of the paradox of Chinese socialism. Her "Gentrification of Taste and Lifestyle: Shanghai as an Instagrammable Wanghong City" is recognized as Wiley's 2025 top cited article. Her writings have also appeared in leading peer-reviewed academic journals such as Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, Developing Economies, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, China Review International, NewBooks Asia. Ping has served on the editorial board of Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism. Ever since 2020, her University Lecture "China Today: Art, Economy, and Politics” has been continuously awarded by The New School as one of the few university-wide Signature Courses that demonstrates the university’s commitment to innovate in the online teaching and learning space of critical China Studies. Ping also launched and directed the first field-based undergraduate summer study abroad program for The New School in Shanghai China in collaboration with Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and Parsons School of Design. 

Degrees Held

Ph.D. East Asian Studies, New York University

M.A. East Asian Studies & MATESOL, New York University 

B.A. Philosophy, Fudan University 

Recent Publications

Books (Monograph):

2025 Ping, Lei. Shanghai Mundane: Survival and Revival of Bourgeois Sentiments under Chinese Socialism (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025)

Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles, Book Reviews, and Public Scholarship:

2026 Ping, Lei and Zhe Ren. "Introduction to Special Issue on Neighborhood Transformation in East Asian Cities: Rethinking Gentrification and Global Capitalism." Journal of The Developing Economies. Vol.64(1), March 2026. 

2024 Ping, Lei. “Gentrification of Taste and Lifestyle: Shanghai as an Instagrammable Wanghong City.” The Developing Economies. Journal Special Issue on Neighborhood Transformation in East Asian Cities. 2024. (Recognized as Wiley's 2025 Top Cited Article)

2022 Ping, Lei. Feature. “Shanghai: Between Modernity and Postmodernity.” China Review International, Vol.27(2), Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2022.

2021 Ping, Lei & M. Larrimore. "A Sanctuary from Double Betrayal." Public Seminar. June 2021. 

2020 Ping, Lei. "Advertising Homeownership through Cultural Capitalism: Neoliberal Making of New Shanghai Middle-Class Dream." Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism. Vol.2(1), 2020. 

2019 Ping, Lei. "Demolition of a Distinctive Chinese Habitus: Controversies of Urban Sustainability in Postsocialist Shanghai." Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development. Vol.61(6), 2019. 

2019 Ping, Lei. "Survival of Shanghai Urbanite Culture in the Mao Era: Bourgeois Aspirations and Practice of Longtang Everyday Life." Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism. Vol.1(1), 2019. 

2019 Ping, Lei. Book Review. Shadow Modernism: Photography, Writing, and Space in Shanghai, 1925-1937 by William Schaefer. International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) NewBooks.Asia. October 2019.

2018 Ping, Lei. Book Review. Scythe and the City: A Social History of Death in Shanghai by Christian Henriot. China Review International, Vol.23(4), Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2018.

2018 Ping, Lei. Book Review. Curating Revolution: Politics on Display in Mao’s China by Denise Y. Ho. International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) NewBooks.Asia. September 2018.

2015 Ping, Lei. Book Review. Spectacle and the City: Chinese Urbanities in Art and Popular Culture edited by Jeroen de Kloet and Lena Scheen. Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.74(1), January 2015.

2010 Ping, Lei. “Restratified Private Space in Postsocialist Shanghai” and “Les strates de l’espace privé dans un Shanghai postsocialiste.” Ciel Variable, Vol. 84. February 2010.

Performances and Appearances

2021 WNSR TNS Radio Podcast Interview. "Only One Can Survive: Portraying Class Disparities through Ritualized Violence in Film/TV." December 2021. 

2020 CBS Sunday Morning Show On-Camera Expert. "Dumplings: A Delicious Tradition." January 2020. 

2019 USC US-China Today Interview. "When Cultural Appreciation Becomes Appropriation: Chinese Imagery in Western Fashion.” December 2019.

Research Interests

China Studies; Shanghai Studies; Cultural and Urban Studies; Modern and contemporary Chinese political economy, history, art, literature, and cinema.

Awards And Honors

Siganature Online University Lecture ULEC "China Today", 2020-present

Faculty Mentoring Grant, The New School, 2017-2018

Research Fellow, India China Institute, 2015-2016 

GSAS Dean’s Travel Grant, NYU

Henry MacCracken Fellowship, NYU