Prof. Dr Haiying Feng is a Rural Sociologist whose PhD is from China Agricultural University, Beijing. Her previous affiliation was the Qinghai Institute of Management and Administration, Xining. Her research interests are in the fields of rural development, ethnology, sociology and the influence of Coupled Human Natural Systems (CHANS) on climate change, land use and livelihoods among China’s ethnic minority pastoralists in undeveloped areas of western China.