Eric X. Li
Eric Xun Li (born Li Shimo in 1968) is a Chinese venture capitalist and political scientist. He founded the Chinese nationalist news site (), and is a board of directors member at the China Europe International Business School, as well as a trustee of the China Institute at Fudan University. Li has published several opinion pieces in Western media outlets where he criticizes liberal democracy and praises what he calls the "Chinese meritocratic system" and the Chinese political leadership. Early life and education. Li was born and raised in Shanghai. He went to the United States for higher  education in the late 1980s. He received his BA in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He also has a PhD in political science from Fudan University. Business ventures. In 2000, Li returned to China and founded Chengwei Capital, with an investment portfolio of over $2 billion. Its top investments include Youku, an Internet-based television service, and Huazhu Hotels Group, a chain of Chinese budget hotels. In 2011, Li founded , one of China's largest news and opinion media outlets. Guancha is regarded by some  Western media as holding a nationalist stance, in line with Li's own views. Zihao Chen of University College London viewed the site as an online entity with "very conservative political attitudes". Li also serves on the board of directors of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), the board of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI). He is a trustee of Fudan University's China Institute, a trustee of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive of the University of California, Berkeley, a trustee of the San Francisco Symphony, a trustee of  Asia Society Hong Kong, a member of the international board of the New York Philharmonic, a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which organizes the annual Shangri-La Dialogue. Views. In an op-ed he wrote for "The New York Times" in 2012, he said that China needed a different development framework around a different idea of modernity. In a 2012 op-ed and a 2013 TED Talk, Li advocated for China's one-party state on the grounds of "pluralism", saying that China has prospered under a "meritocratic system" and alleviated poverty without  elections, and that its system is superior to Western democracy in several respects. Some commentators have deemed Li's talk to be pro-China propaganda spread on a Western platform, using Western-style arguments and flexible rhetorics. In a 2018 opinion piece he wrote for "The Washington Post", Li argued it was "a good thing" that General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and paramount leader Xi Jinping abolished his two-term limits for governing the country. In a 2020 op-ed he wrote for "Foreign Policy", Li said that Xi is a "good emperor". In a 2021 opinion piece  he wrote for "The Economist", Li criticized liberal democracy in favor of China's form of governance (which he described as a different form of democracy).