Xiaoqian Hu
Associate Professor of Law

- Room Number: 213
Xiaoqian Hu teaches Property and seminars on property theory, property and social change, and law and development. Her research on property issues in the United States examines how property law shapes racial and class inequality and what legal changes might be realizable to advance structural equity. Her research on China examines how property law shapes and is shaped by China’s socioeconomic transformation and how state actions and discourses affect class dynamics and government legitimacy.
Professor Hu received her S.J.D. from Harvard Law School and was awarded the Yong K. Kim ’95 Memorial Prize for her work on property struggles in China. She also received a Ph.D. in comparative law and law and economics from the University of Turin (Italy), and a master’s degree in civil jurisprudence and an LL.B. from East China University of Political Science and Law.
Representative Publications
- Racial Code Words: A Technology of Racialization and Racism (with Deirdre Pfeiffer, under peer review).
- Property and Prosperity, A Demythifying Story, 96. St. John’s Law Review (forthcoming 2023).
- Vulnerability, Resilience, and the Fair Housing Act, in Re-conceiving Equality and Freedom: Vulnerability, Dependency, and the Responsive State (Martha Fineman & Laura Spitz eds., Routledge, forthcoming 2023).
- Gender, Vulnerability, and Resilience in Pandemic-Era China, in Gender Companion to Gender and COVID-19 (Linda C. McClain & Aziza Ahmed eds. Routledge, forthcoming 2023) (with Yanliu Tao & Qichen Zhang).
- “A Glass of Milk Strengthens a Nation.” Law, Development, and China’s Dairy Tale, 16 J. Food L. & Pol’y 78 (2020).
- Dairy Tales: Global Portraits of Milk and Law, 16 J. Food L. & Pol’y 1 (2020) (with Jessica Eisen and Erum Sattar).
- “Put That Bucket Down!”: Money, Politics, and Property Rights in Urbanizing China¸ 44 Vt. L. Rev. 243 (2019) (lead article).
- Encounter: How Duncan Kennedy and Chinese Legal Scholars View Legal Transplants and the Rule of Law – A Commentary on the Harvard-Renmin Virtual Workshop on Duncan Kennedy’s Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought, 9 Front. L. China 560 (2014).
- When American Law Meets Chinese Law Eye to Eye: How Two Legal Systems Approach the Duty to Protect, 10 Global Jurist Article 5 (2010).
Other Writings
- Toward a Postmetaphysical Approach to the Study of Chinese Law, Law & Political Economy Blog, forthcoming Spring 2023.
Education
- S.J.D. Harvard University Law School
2019 - LL.M. Harvard University Law School
2012 (degree waived) - Ph.D. University of Turin
2010 - Master's in Law, East China University of Political Science and Law
2007 - LL.B., East China University of Political Science and Law
2004
Work Experience
- Associate Professor of Law
James E. Rogers College of Law
2019 - present - Teaching Fellow
Harvard University Law School
Spring of 2014, 2015, & 2018 - Law Clerk
Shanghai Arbitration Commission
2005 - 2006