

About
BIO
I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. I joined HKU in 2019, jointly appointed by the Department of Sociology, Department of Geography and the Faculty of Arts (China Studies). Previously, I was a Research Assistant Professor of Social Science and a Junior Fellow of Institute for Advanced Study at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2017-2019).
In 2017, I received my PhD in Social Science from HKUST, where I was also trained at the Center for Applied Social and Economic Research (CASER). I completed my MPhil in Social Science at HKUST in 2013 and BA in Sociology at Shandong University in 2011.
Research Interests
I am a stratification researcher and social demographer who studies urban inequalities. My research agenda is situated at the intersection of sociology of education, sociology of work, and urban sociology, with a substantive focus on child development and youth employment issues in urban China. In most of my research, I draw on various longitudinal survey datasets and a wide range of quantitative methods for causal inference, and have recently incorporated computational, experimental and GIS approaches.
In particular, I am interested in understanding:
- the impacts of various family, school and neighborhood factors on children’s educational and developmental outcomes;
- young people’s experiences of school-to-work transition, precarious employment and skills mismatch;
- socio-spatial factors (e.g. migration, segregation, location) that shape urban residents’ attitudes, well-being, and life chances.
Currently, I am working to expand upon my three main lines of research described above by undertaking the following new initiatives:
- Of Jobs and Men: An AI-assisted Approach for Studying Skills Mismatch in Hong Kong.
- Unravelling Urban Malaise: The Impact of Activity Spaces on Subjective Well-being in China’s Metropolises.
- Early Childhood Development in Hong Kong: A Longitudinal Study (funded by RGC-CRF).
- Educational Expansion, College Premium and Social Mobility: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong and Taiwan Youth (funded by RGC-ECS).
- Socioeconomic Segregation, School Choice, and Geography of EducationalInequality in Hong Kong (funded by RGC-GRF).
News
- Check out my new (or old?) article published in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, where I demonstrate the interplay between equal opportunity policy and the reversal of gender achievement gap through an educational reform in Hong Kong.
- I have been selected to join the Editorial Board of the journal Work, Employment and Society (WES), serving a four-year term from 2025 to 2029.
- Our paper in Work, Employment, and Society has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the 2023 HKSA conference.
- My former student, Xinmiao Song, and I published a paper in The China Quarterly. This study highlights a mismatch between the massification of vocational education, which prioritises enrolment numbers over educational quality, and the demand for skill formation and skilled labour in China.
- Our new paper is out in Chinese Sociological Review, examining the effects of diverse childcare combinations on women’s labor supply from a life course perspective. Turns out that domestic workers, rather than grandparents or kindergartens, are the lifesavers for mothers of young children in Hong Kong!
Research
“It is possible to make very significant progress against the biggest problem in the world through the accumulation of a set of small steps, each well thought out, carefully tested, and judiciously implemented.”
—— Banerjee and Duflo (2011, p.40, Poor Economics)
Publications
See below for a list of my publications by research area.
*: Xu is the corresponding author
#: post-doc/graduate student coauthor
Sociology of Education
Main interest: the impacts of various family, school and neighborhood factors on children’s educational and developmental outcomes.
Xu,Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2025. "Equal Opportunity Policy and the Reverse Gender Gap in AcademicAchievement: Evidence from A Quasi-experiment in Hong Kong." Research inSocial Stratification and Mobility, 97:1010-48. [Open Access]
Song, Xinmiao# and Duoduo Xu*. 2024. “More Graduates, Fewer Skills? Vocational Education Expansion and Skilled Labour Shortages in China.” The China Quarterly, 260: 970-985. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2022. “Separate and Unequal: Hukou, School Segregation, and Educational Inequality in Urban China.” Chinese Sociological Review, 54(5), 433-457.
Zhang, Zhuoni, Tianzhu Nie# and Duoduo Xu. 2019. “Family Background, Parenting Practices, and Child Outcomes: Chinese Immigrants’ Offspring in Hong Kong.” Chinese Journal of Sociology, 5(3), 263-282. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo*, Xiaogang Wu, Zhuoni Zhang and Jaap Dronkers. 2018. “Not A Zero-Sum Game: Migration and Child Well-being in Contemporary China.” Demographic Research, 38(26), 691-726. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo and Xiaogang Wu. 2017. “The Rise of the Second Generation: Aspirations, Motivations and Academic Success of Chinese Immigrants’ Children in Hong Kong.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(7), 1164-1189.
Xu, Duoduo* and Jaap Dronkers. 2016. “Migrant Children in Shanghai: A Research Note on the PISA-Shanghai Controversy.” Chinese Sociological Review, 48(3), 271-295.
Sociology of Work
Main interest: young people’s experiences of school-to-work transition, precarious employment and skills mismatch.
Xu,Duoduo*, Jiao Guo#, Karen Ka Han Li#, and Lucy P. Jordan. 2024. “Who Cares? Childcare Support and Women’s Labor Supply in Hong Kong.” Chinese Sociological Review, 56(1), 30-62. [Open Access]
Song, Xinmiao# and Duoduo Xu*. 2024. “More Graduates, Fewer Skills? Vocational Education Expansion and Skilled Labour Shortages in China.” The China Quarterly, Online First. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo*, Shuheng Jin#, Ngai Pun, Jiao Guo#, and Xiaogang Wu. 2022. “The Scarring Effect of First Job Precarity: New Evidence from a Panel Study in Hong Kong.” Work, Employment and Society, Online First.
Jin, Shuheng#, Tianzhu Nie#, Ngai Pun, and Duoduo Xu*. 2022. "Spatial Mismatch, Different Labor Markets and Precarious Employment: The Case of Hong Kong." Social Indicators Research, 161(1): 51-73. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2021. “From Political Power to Personal Wealth: Privatization and Elite Opportunity in Post-Reform China.” Journal of Contemporary China, 30(132):993-1013.
Xu, Duoduo*. 2018. “From Poverty to Prosperity: College Education, Non-cognitive Abilities, and First-job Earnings.” Chinese Sociological Review, 50(1), 53-82.
Urban Sociology
Main interest: how socio-spatial factors (e.g. migration, segregation, location) shape urban residents' attitudes, well-being, and life chances.
Xu, Duoduo* and Jiao Guo# (equal authorship). 2023. “In Sight, In Mind: Spatial Proximity to Protest Sites and Changes in Peoples’ Political Attitudes.” British Journal of Sociology, 74(1): 83-104. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2022. “Separate and Unequal: Hukou, School Segregation, and Educational Inequality in Urban China.” Chinese Sociological Review, 54(5), 433-457.
Jin, Shuheng#, Tianzhu Nie#, Ngai Pun, and Duoduo Xu*. 2022. "Spatial Mismatch, Different Labor Markets and Precarious Employment: The Case of Hong Kong." Social Indicators Research, 161(1): 51-73. [Open Access]
Xu, Duoduo* and Xiaogang Wu. 2021. “From Political Power to Personal Wealth: Privatization and Elite Opportunity in Post-Reform China.” Journal of Contemporary China, 30(132):993-1013.
Xu, Duoduo and Xiaogang Wu. 2017. “The Rise of the Second Generation: Aspirations, Motivations and Academic Success of Chinese Immigrants’ Children in Hong Kong.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(7), 1164-1189.
Xu, Duoduo* and Jaap Dronkers. 2016. “Migrant Children in Shanghai: A Research Note on the PISA-Shanghai Controversy.” Chinese Sociological Review, 48(3), 271-295.
Working Papers
See below for a list of my working papers.
In Progress
- Tracking Effect or Selection Effect? Vocational Education and Status Attainment in China (with Jiao Guo)
- School as the Second Home for Children: The Protective Factors of Parental Divorce in Chinese Schools
- How Do Neighbors’ Attitudes Affect Your Identity? The Case of Hong Kong
- The Overeducated Generation: Educational Expansion and College WagePremium in Hong Kong
- School Segregation and Geography of Educational Inequality in Hong Kong
- Risk Preference and Migrant Entrepreneurship in Urban China
Teaching
See below for a list of UG/PG courses that I have taught.
HKU Sociology PG
SOCI6003 Research Seminars for Postgraduate Students
2023/24 1st and 2nd Semesters
HKU Sociology UG
SOCI2002 Social Stratification and Social Class
2022/23 2nd Semester
2023/24 2nd Semester
HKU Sociology UG
SOCI2030 Quantitative Research Methods
2021/22 2nd Semester
2020/21 2nd Semester
2019/20 2nd SemesterHKU Sociology PG
SOCI8021 Individual dissertation
2021/22 2nd Semester HKU Geography UG
GEOG3421 Studying Cities
2022/23 2nd Semester
2021/22 2nd Semester HKU Geography UG
GEOG2126 Globalizing China
2019/20 1st Semester
HKU Geography PG
GEOG7120 Urban China
2019/20 2nd Semester
HKU Arts UG
SINO2005 Selected Topics in China Studies
2021/22 2nd Semester
2020/21 2nd Semester
2019/20 1st SemesterHKUST Social Science UG
SOSC3880 Social Inequality and Social Mobility
2018/19 2nd Semester
2017/18 2nd SemesterData
Links to some datasets that I have used for my research.
Contact
9.05, 9/F., The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong+852 3917 2062CV
© 2019