Sociologist Lu Xueyi dies aged 79
Academic showed courage in calling on party leadership to attend to rural peoples' problems
Lu Xueyi , a prominent sociologist and rural expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, died on Monday at the age of 79.
Lu, former director of academy's Institute of Sociology, was known for his research into China's social transition and the consequent social conflicts, and for boldly calling on the Communist Party leadership to pay attention to the problems of rural people, including migrant workers.
It makes a difference whether they have the land for just 30 years, or...longer
He led many important sociology research projects and was the editor-in-chief of the annual Social Blue Book, published by the academy, until recently.
Born in Jiangsu in 1933, he was honorary chairman of the Chinese Society of Sociology as well as being a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences academician and member of its academic board.
After graduating from the philosophy department of Peking University in 1962, Lu went on to become a postgraduate of philosophy under CASS. He began to focus his academic research on rural issues in 1978. Between 1983 and 1986, he conducted his rural study in Shandong while a deputy party chief in a county in the northeastern province.
Lu was one of the few mainland scholars publicly express fears that China might fall into what economists and sociologists call the "middle income trap", which has been experienced by some Latin American nations. He called on central government to speed up mainland social development to help create a middle class that could cushion increasing social conflict.