Bai Yunxiang, born in December 1955, is a native of Jinan, Shandong Province, with his birthplace in Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province. He is a member of the Communist Party of China. He graduated from the Department of Archaeology, School of History and Culture, Shandong University, holding a postgraduate degree and a Ph.D in History.

After graduating from Shandong University in July 1978, he joined the institute and has successively served as an assistant research fellow, editor, associate senior editor, senior editor, and research fellow (promoted to second-class research fellow in 2010). He also held the positions of professor and doctoral supervisor at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He also successively served as the Deputy Director (acting) of the Editorial Office of Archaeology and Director of the Editorial Division of Archaeology; Director of the Editorial Office of Archaeology, President (Legal Representative) of Archaeology Press, Deputy Director of the Institute of Archaeology, and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection (until March 2016).

He retired in January 2018 and was subsequently appointed as a senior discipline leader under the "Summit Strategy" of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an Academic Consultant of Archaeology Press. He was awarded the title of National Top 100 Publishing Workers, enjoys the special government allowance of the State Council, and is a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute.

He has successively engaged in field archaeology, academic journal editing, archaeological research and teaching, as well as academic organization and management. His major research fields include Qin-Han archaeology, handicraft archaeology, and archaeology of Sino-foreign exchanges, with more than 130 academic papers and monographs published at home and abroad.

From 1978 to 1982, as a member of the Jing-Wei Archaeological Team of the Institute of Archaeology, he focused on the academic project of exploring the pre-Zhou culture, conducting large-scale archaeological surveys in Xi'an, Xianyang and Baoji of Shaanxi Province, and Pingliang and Qingyang of Gansu Province. He surveyed over 100 sites dating from the Neolithic Age to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He also participated in the excavations of the Changshan Neolithic Site in Zhenyuan County, Gansu; the Xujianian Siwa Culture Cemetery in Zhuanglang County, Gansu; the Nianzipo Pre-Zhou Cultural Settlement Site in Changwu County, Shaanxi; and the Palace City Site of the Sui-Tang Luoyang City in Luoyang, Henan.

Transferred to the Editorial Office of Archaeology in 1983, he took charge of editorial administration and worked as an editor for Acta Archaeologica Sinica, Collected Papers of Archaeology and Archaeology. He once served as the Associate Editor-in-Chief of both Archaeology and CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY (English Edition). As a member of the editorial board and the leader of the editorial and publishing working group, he organized the compilation and publication of six volumes of Chinese Archaeology Series (nine volumes in total).

From 2002 to 2010, he concurrently held the post of the leader of the Guangzhou Archaeological Team (later renamed the South China Second Team) of the Institute of Archaeology , co-directing the excavation of the Palace Site of the Nanyue Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty in Guangzhou together with the heads of local cultural relics and archaeology institutions.

As the Chinese representative, he presided over the Sino-Japanese cooperative project "Archaeological Study on the Han Dynasty Mirror Molds from the Qi State Capital City Site in Linzi, Shandong Province" from 2004 to 2006; the Sino-Japanese cooperative project "Study on the Han and Jin Dynasties Bronze Mirrors from Luoyang" from 2008 to 2010; and the Sino-Japanese cooperative project "Archaeological Study on the Bronze Mirrors and Mirror Molds from Linzi, Shandong Province" from 2019 to 2024.

From 2011 to 2020, he led the Philosophy and Social Sciences Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, entitled "Archaeological Excavation and Research on the Metallurgical Remains at the Qi State Capital City Site in Linzi, Shandong Province".

•Bai Yunxiang (Sole Author). "A Query on the 'Japanese Envoys' in the Fresco of Foreign Envoys from the Tomb of Crown Prince Zhanghuai of the Tang Dynasty". Archaeology, No. 12, 1984.

•Bai Yunxiang (Sole Author). "An Archaeological Observation on Whether Bronze Farm Tools Were Widely Used During the Yin and Western Zhou Dynasties". Agricultural Archaeology, No. 1, 1985.

•Bai Yunxiang (Sole Author). "A STUDY OF URN-BURIAL IN THE WARRING STATES PERIOD AND THE QIN-HAN TIMES". Acta Archaeologica Sinica, No. 3, 2001.

•Bai Yunxiang (Sole Author). Archaeological Research on Iron Objects from the Pre-Qin to Han Periods. Science Press, 2005. (Japanese edition: Chūgoku Kodai no Tetsuki Kenkyū [Research on Ironware in Ancient China], published by Douseisha, Japan, 2009). Awarded the First-Class Prize of the 7th Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

•Bai Yunxiang et al. (Chinese Chief Editor & Lead Author). ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE HAN PERIOD MIRROR-MOLDS FROM THE SITE OF THE E QI STATE CAPITAL LINZI IN SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA. Science Press, 2007. Awarded Top 10 Books of National Cultural Heritage and Archaeology 2007.

•Bai Yunxiang et al. (Co-Chief Editor & Lead Author). Chinese Archaeology · Qin-Han Volume. China Social Sciences Press, 2010. Awarded the Second-Class Prize of the 4th Guo Moruo Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Chinese History.

•Bai Yunxiang (Sole Author). " The Two Eastward Migrations of the Bronze Craftsmen in Ancient China Seen from the Bronze Swords Unearthed at Sangnim-ri Site in Korea and the Bronze Mirrors Unearthed at Hirabaru Site in Japan". Cultural Relics, No. 8, 2015. Awarded the Third-Class Prize of the 10th Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

•Bai Yunxiang. " On the Provenance Study Method of the Archaeological Relics Based on the Styles and Distributions". Archaeology, No. 9, 2016.

•Bai Yunxiang (Sole Author). Qin-Han Archaeology and Research on Qin-Han Civilization. Cultural Relics Press, 2019. Awarded Top 10 Cultural Heritage Books of 2019.

•Bai Yunxiang (First Chief Editor & Lead Author). Archaeology of the Metallurgical Industry in the Ancient City of Qi in Linzi (3 Vols.). Science Press, 2020. Awarded Major Scientific Research Achievement of the Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 2020.