Yihong CHEN

Yihong's doctoral research focuses on the constitutional implementation of China’s national family planning policy, exploring the underlying logic of population governance, the legal framework of childbirth and family policy, and the constitutional issues embedded within. Specifically, her study investigates how to reconcile the human rights commitments of protecting women, children, and families with the public concerns of maintaining the traditional order of marriage and family. Within this framework, she examines how coordination can be achieved—under the a set of constitutional norms of family planning and safeguarded by the newly-developed filing and review mechanism in China—among the legal systems governing population and family planning, marriage and family, and the protection of women’s and children’s rights.

A sub-project of her doctoral research, “A Constitutional Analysis of Childrearing Support for Unmarried Single-Parent Families in the Context of Building a Family-Friendly Society in China,” has been selected as a 2025 Young Scholars Project by the Association of Constitutional Law of Chinese Law Society. She has presented her research at several international conferences, including the 2025 Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Conference, the 21st Asian Law Institute Annual Conference (2024), and the Warsaw–Beijing Forum (2023).

At Oxford, she is an Associate Member of Exeter College and a Convenor of the Feminist Jurisprudence Discussion Group. She is also the Founder of the CUPL QINGLIN JIASHU Academic Workshop. She received the Cai Dingjian Award for Outstanding Students in Constitutional Law, a highly selective honour recognising top  constitutional law PGRs at leading Chinese law schools.

Before joining Oxford, she visited University of Bristol and completed the GW-OXFORD International Human Rights Summer School in July 2025. She has also worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Uganda for empowering women and youth in agriculture, and served as an Editor and Project Assistant at the Berggruen Research Center, Peking University. She has passed the National Legal Qualification Examination of China and gained professional experience at a law firm.

PUBLICATIONS

1.   Aolei QIN, Yihong CHEN. “Reform and Improvement of Premarital Examination in Constitutional Context:  On the Connection Between Article 49 of Constitution and Article 1053 of the Civil Code”, Journal of Soochow University Law Edition, no.1, (2024), pp.14-27.

2.    Yihong CHEN.  “The  Historical  Versions  and  Insights  of the  ‘People’s  Democratic  Dictatorship ’ in  the Constitution”, Graduate Law Review, no.6, (2021), pp.1-17.

3.    Yihong CHEN.“Reviewing an Academic Debate on ‘Relative Concealment’”, Rule ofLaw Weekend, March 25, 2021, 11th edition.

4.    Yihong CHEN.   “On  Innovative  Considerations  in  the   System   of  Centralized  Control  of  Operators”, Shanghai Law Study, vol.15, (2020), pp.188-206.

TRANSLATIONS

1.    《立法法理学：立法中的实践理性》，2024. Translation of Legisprudence: Practical Reason in Legislation by Luc J. Wintgens.

2.    《评〈政治哲学与亚伯拉罕的上帝〉》，2021. Translation of Review on Political Philosophy and the God ofAbraham by Micheal P. Zuckert.

3.    《评〈革命政治与洛克的 “政府论 ”〉》，2023. Translation of Review on Revolutionary Politics and Locke s’ Two Treaties ofGovenment by John Dunn.

4.    《评〈革命政治与洛克的 “政府论 ”〉》，2023. Translation of Review on Revolutionary Politics and Locke s’ Two Treaties ofGovenment by Patrick Kelly.

5.    《孟德斯鸠和休谟的自由主义权利批判》. Translation of The Liberal Critique ofRights in Montesquieu and Hume by Thomas L. Pangle.

6.    《 影 响 宪 法的 哲 学 权 利 观 念 》 .  Translation of The Philosophic Conception ofRights Informing the Constitution by Thomas L. Pangle.

7.    《共和主义与权利》. Translation of Republicanism and Rights by Thomas L. Pangle.