Dr. LAI yuan has a doctorate of world history from Shanghai University. He graduated from Havana University, Cuba with a Bachelor of Spanish Literature, and received an MBA from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. He has also studied in Argentina and Peru as a visiting Scholar. He published academic papers in journals such as Latin American Studies and International Forum. His main research interests are Sino-Latin American relations, U.S-Latin American relations, Latin American social and cultural history, etc.