“Break the senior-ranking system”: Thirteen people at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have been promoted to higher professional titles without following the regular promotion order this year.

On December 23rd, the China Social Sciences Network published an article titled “Title Promotion Accelerates the Growth of Social Science Young Talents – A Chronicle of the Title Work of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2024”, which introduced that in 2024, 13 people were promoted to a higher professional title (8 to the level of senior professional and 5 to the level of associate senior professional), exceeding the total number of those promoted over the past three years.

The article explained that previously, those who were promoted title breaks were concentrated in the economics department and scattered in the history and philosophy departments. This year, the range of disciplines covered by those promoted to higher titles has expanded, covering not only the departments of philosophy, history and economics, but also the departments of social politics, law and international studies. In addition to researchers, editorial staff have also been promoted in title.

In recent years, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has vigorously implemented a system of title breakthroughs, and the enthusiasm of young scholars for scientific research has soared. As Yang Zheng from the Industrial Economics Research Institute stated, the title breakthrough system sets a high-quality orientation, breaks the senior ranking system, allows young scholars to conduct high-quality academic research without institutional indicators, and enables outstanding young talents to stand out.

Similarly to Yang Zheng, Fan Jiarui from the Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy Institute, Gong Xiaofei from the American Studies Institute, Yang Yuanzhang from the Ethnology and Anthropology Institute, and Wu Haijun from the Industrial Economics Research Institute, who were all promoted to associate senior professionals in June this year, have not been working at the academy for a long time. Their average service years in intermediate positions were less than two years before they were promoted to the associate senior level.

According to statistics from the Personnel Education Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences cited in the article, compared with regular promotions to the associate senior level, those who were promoted through breakthroughs in 2024 had a significantly shorter average service years in intermediate positions.

On the same day as the article was published, another article titled “One of the Experience Sharing of Title Promotion Breakthrough Personnel at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Interpretation of Traditional Chinese Culture” was also published on the official WeChat account of China Social Sciences Network, introducing the case of Liu Zifan, a young researcher at the academy.

Liu Zifan is a male researcher born in March 1986 with a Ph.D. in history. He was promoted to a researcher in June 2024 and currently serves as Director of the Studies on Sui-Tang-Wu Dynasty in Ancient History Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as well as a mentor at a university affiliated with the academy. He is also affiliated with various research centers and societies.

Liu Zifan mainly focuses on research in fields such as Tang history and Dunhuang studies. He has published three personal books and numerous articles in top-tier, authoritative and core journals such as “Historical Research”, “Ethic Studies”, and “Chinese Journal of History”. He has also hosted two National Social Science Fund projects. He has received various honors including “Young Talent” at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2021), “Puyuan Plan” for young talents at the academy (2023), and was named a “National High-level Talent with Special Support for Youth”.

Liu Zifan stated that he joined the academy as an associate researcher in 2021 and would have been able to apply for promotion to researcher status in 2026 if following regular procedures. However, under the policy of breakthrough promotions, he was able to be promoted to a full professor title at least two years ahead of schedule. Furthermore, those who are promoted through breakthroughs do not count against their institute’s quota for titles and positions within five years, providing special promotion paths and policy support for young talents.

The澎湃新闻记者 also noticed that as early as March or April this year, the official WeChat account of China Social Sciences Network had published a series of interviews with personnel who had achieved breakthrough promotions in their titles, featuring a group of outstanding young talents. These included Ni Hongfu who holds a dual position as Executive Dean of Applied Economics School at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences University and Director of Xi Jinping Economic Thought Research Institute at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Yang Bo who is an associate researcher at Pre-Qin History Research Institute; Yang Hongyuan who holds multiple positions at different research centers and colleges at CASS University; etc.

Most of these cases achieved breakthrough promotions between 2021 and 2023, with an age structure dominated by post-80s generation scholars, with even post-95s young scholars making their mark. For instance, Cao Jing, a young female scholar born in June 1995 with a Ph.D. in Economics who was promoted to an associate researcher in June 2023. Her research focuses on local debt risk and local government financing issues such as bonds issuance costs, inter-city capital flows in different regions etc. She has published nearly ten papers in top-tier and authoritative journals such as Economic Research and Finance & Trade Economics. She has also hosted a National Natural Science Fund project about Municipal Debt Risk Studies and has received various awards such as Academic Award from the “Huang Da – Mundell Economics Award”. Cao Jing stated that she studied at Tax Law School at University of International Business and Economics during her undergraduate and master’s degree programs and focuses on local debt risk and local government financing research during her Ph.D. degree program when she was promoting to work at Fina Finance Research Institute of Chinese Academy Of Social Sciences after graduation in 2021 September，she was promoted to an associate researcher in June 2023。She expressed her eagerness to serve as an academic hall for many young scholars as China’s top academic institution in Philosophy and Social Sciences，“I cherish high hopes for serving our hallowed academy’s dreams，our hopes to contribute our learned thoughts toward practical policy making drew me toward our academy，” said Cao Jing幸幸怀之终于在此，“在这块学术殿堂的圣地，我有幸继续我的学术探索之旅。”