ZHENG Zhenman was born in 1955 in Xianyou, Fujian Province. He graduated from Department of History at Xiamen University in 1980, and studied social and economic history in the Ming and Qing Dynasty following FU Yiling in 1982, obtained his MA degree of history in 1984. He obtained his PhD degree in 1989. He is a professor and Director of Department of History and Vice Dean of College of Humanities at Xiamen University. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Department of History and Dean of Center for Research on Local Historical Documents at Xiamen University.