Professor Chen Zhiwu is currently the Director of the Asia Global Studies Institute at the University of Hong Kong and a Professor of Economics at the Feng Guojing Feng Guolun Foundation in the School of Economics and Business Administration. His main research work covers topics such as financial theory, financial sociology, economic history, emerging markets, the Chinese economy, and capital markets. Prior to joining the Asia Global Institute, Professor Chen served as a professor of financial economics at Yale University for 18 years and also as a distinguished professor at the School of Economics at Peking University.

Professor Chen's academic career began with publishing research papers on financial markets and asset pricing theory in top economics and finance journals. His research began to expand from mature markets around 2001 to include topics on market development and institutional construction in China's economic transformation process and other emerging markets. He is committed to building financial and social history databases from Chinese historical archives, and in addition to achieving success, he also conducts in-depth exploration and writing on economic and social history themes. He founded the "Quantitative History Workshop" (once a year) at the School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University in 2013, and has continued to hold this workshop and the International Quantitative History Annual Conference at the School of Economics, Peking University since 2015, with the aim of promoting quantitative history research.

Professor Chen is an international advisor to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a member of the Global Advisory Committee of China Minsheng Investment Corporation, and an independent director of IDG Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd., Bank of Communications, and Noah Wealth Management. Professor Chen has served as a member of the Yale Yale China Association, a member of the Expert Advisory Committee for the 12th and 13th Five Year Plans of Beijing, and as the academic director for the CCTV documentaries "Wall Street" and "Money". Professor Chen served as an independent director of China Petroleum Corporation from 2011 to 2017; Served as an independent director of Nord Fund Management Limited from 2007 to 2015; Served as a director of Jiayuan.com (a Nasdaq listed company) from 2011 to 2012; And served as a director of Eagle Securities in China from 2002 to 2005. His works have been widely published in newspapers and magazines in the United States, Hong Kong, China, and other countries. He participated in the founding of Zebra Capital Management fund management company and was one of its two partners from 2001 to 2011. In 2012, global consulting firm Burson Marsteller listed Professor Chen as one of the "Top 10 Most Influential People in China" in its "G20 Influencers' Report".

Professor Chen often publishes works on economic policies, market development, and legal reform in Chinese media. His Chinese works include How Does Wealth Come into Being?, Media, Law and Market, Why Chinese People Are Hard Working but Not Rich, Irrational Excitement, Logic of Finance, 24 Wealth Lessons, Chen Zhiwu on China's Economy, and Logic of Finance 2: The Road to Freedom. Over the years, his research has won numerous awards, including Graham's? Dude Award (2013), Pacesetter Research Award (1999), Merton? Miller Research Award (1994), Chicago Board Options Exchange Research Award (1994). Professor Chen's works have also won many awards in Hong Kong and China. Among them, "Logic of Finance" has won 23 best book awards of the year, and "Why Chinese People Are Hard and Not Rich" has won the first prize of the best book of Hexun.

Professor Chen obtained a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Central South University of Technology in 1983, a Master's degree in Management from National University of Defense Technology in 1986, and a PhD in Financial Economics from Yale University in 1990. He served as an assistant professor of finance at Madison University in Wisconsin, USA from 1990 to 1995; Served as an associate professor of finance at Ohio State University in the United States from 1995 to 1999; Since 1999, he has returned to his alma mater and served as a finance professor at Yale University. Professor Chen has been serving as the Feng Guojing Feng Guolun Foundation Professor (Economics) at the University of Hong Kong since July 2016.