Hu Lian is Dean of the Institute of China Cooperative Economy at Anhui Agricultural University. He holds a joint PhD from Renmin University of China and the University of California, Irvine, and is a Professor, PhD Supervisor, Distinguished Professor of Anhui Provincial Leading Talents Program, and Candidate for Anhui Provincial Academic and Technical Leaders. In recent years, he has presided over more than 10 projects including the National Social Science Fund, Humanities and Social Sciences Planning Projects of the Ministry of Education, and Major Philosophy and Social Sciences Projects of Colleges and Universities in Anhui Province. As the first author, he has published over 40 papers on rural and urban-rural development in journals such as Management World, China Rural Economy, The Journal of Quantitative & Technical Economics and Social Indicators Research, with several included in ESI Highly Cited Papers and ESI Hot Papers.He has won many academic awards, including the Third Prize of Anhui Provincial Social Science Award and the Excellence Award of the Essay Competition on Xi Jinping’s Important Expositions on Poverty Alleviation organized by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.