Zangchun Gan, the New World Research Fellow for the fall of 2008, is the deputy chief supervisor of state land for the People’s Republic of China. He graduated from Hubei College of Finance and Economics with a bachelor’s degree in 1982, and acquired a master’s degree in law from Peking University in 1984. Gan’s varied career includes stints as a farmer, worker, teacher, and government official. His research focuses on the adjustment of the relationship between central and local governments from the perspective of the United States federal system’s evolution.