Yu Xie, Otis Dudley Duncan Professor of Sociology and Statistics, will present his Distinguished University Professorship Lecture on April 1, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. in the Rackham Amphitheatre. A reception will follow.The lecture is entitled: “Understanding Inequality in China.” Drawing on past research, Xie advances the following propositions in this talk: (1) inequality in China has been largely mediated by collective agencies, such as locales and work units; (2) traditional Chinese political discourse promoted merit-based inequality, with merit being defined as improving the collective welfare for the masses; and (3) many Chinese people today regard inequality as an inevitable consequence of economic development. Thus, it seems unlikely that social inequality alone would lead to political and social unrest in today’s China.