Jin Li

Jin Li (Chinese: 金力, Jin Li) is a Chinese geneticist who led the research that concluded that all East Asians, including the Chinese, originated from Africa, adding support to the recent single-origin hypothesis of which he is considered a leading proponent. His team analyzed the Y chromosomes of males around China and compared this group with those of Southeast Asians and Africans. Results of the analysis suggested that Southeast Asia was the first destination of the migration from Africa to Asia which began approximately 60,000 years ago; from there, migrants moved into Southern China, then crossing the Yangtze River to Northern China. The 1998 study, which used genetic markers called microsatellites to compare Chinese populations, did not support an independent origin of Homo sapiens in China. The findings contradict the hypothesis that Peking Man (Homo erectus) was the ancestor of the Chinese people.

Jin is a professor at the National Human Genome Center in Shanghai as well as at the Institute of Genetics of Fudan University. Jin is the principal investigator of Asian populations for the Genographic Project which seeks DNA samples from the public to map historical human migration patterns around the world.