Dr. Katherine Kaup has studied China policy since 1990. She was editor of and contributor to “Understanding Contemporary Asia” (2nd edition 2021). She is a National Committee on United States China Relations (NCUSCR) Public Intellectual Fellow and serves on the NCUSCR Board of Directors.  

Dr. Kaup’s research focuses on ethnic minorities, rule of law, and human rights developments in China. In her most recent publication “Controlling Law: Legal Developments in China’s Southwest Minority Regions,” in The China Quarterly, she examines how conflicts between customary minority law and state law are resolved. She is the author of “Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China,” and several articles and chapters on ethnic minorities. Kaup has served as special adviser for Minority Nationalities Affairs at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Yunnan Nationalities University, Visiting Scholar at the Guangxi Ethnic Affairs Commission, and Principal Investigator/Program Director for several federally-funded Chinese language programs and for the Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment. She regularly leads government, student, faculty and alumni groups to China.

Dr. Kaup received her bachelor’s degree from Pinceton and her master’s and PhD from the University of Virginia. She is the James B. Duke Professor of Asian Studies and Politics and International Affairs at Furman University.