Fanqi Lin

Fanqi Lin is a PhD Student in Development Economics at SOAS - University of London.

Fanqi studied MSc in political economy of late development at LSE. She has a background in development studies, economic history and political economy, with a focus on Maoist and post-Mao economic development. She conducted research on agrarian change in China for her master’s dissertation. With a specific interest in developmental state research, Fanqi began her research on the developmental state model in China’s NEV industry at SOAS in 2022.

Fanqi’s PhD research focuses on the Chinese economic model through the lens of new energy vehicle (NEV) industry development. Through this research, she synthesises key features of the China model from a mission-oriented state perspective in the context of green transition and rapid technological change. Her work examines the policy processes of China’s green industrial policy, with particular attention to how national strategies interact with local development models, the resulting variations across regions, and the ways in which state structure and state capacity shape policy outcomes.

She is also interested in the making of China as a modern political and economic entity, including questions of state formation, nationalism, development ideology, and China’s evolving role in the global political economy.

From 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025, Fanqi taught China and World Development at SOAS University of London, serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) and Senior Teaching Fellow for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Her teaching focuses on China’s political economy, development trajectories, and China’s position within the global development system.

She was a Carl Menger Fellow during the 2024–2025 academic year.

• Institution and economic development
• Political economy of industrial policy
• Green transition and technological change
• China