His areas of research interest include East Asian politics and comparative politics with a particular emphasis on China and Japan. Yuan Yao obtained his B. L. in International Politics and a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics from Peking University in China. He also completed his second Ph.D. in International Studies at Waseda University in Japan. He is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard-Yenching Institute (2016-2017) and was a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, JSPS(2009-2011). His current research project examines the politics of cultural heritage in China from the Cultural Revolution in Mao's era to the market era. Dr. Yao was awarded the “Outstanding Figure for Cultural Heritage Preservation of China” award in 2010 for his contribution to the preservation of the old city in China.