Chinese Law Prof Blog

New York City program on judicial reform in China, May 13, 2008

J. Clifford Wallace, Senior Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, will speak and lead a discussion on judicial reform in China at Jones Day's New York office on May 13. More information here.

Where Chinese judges get their hair cut

Who's visiting this blog?

The hit counting service for this blog provides statistics on where visitors come from. As expected, the United States accounts for the plurality (as well as the majority) of visitors: 52%. But second place goes to Hong Kong: 12%. After that comes Canada (6%), France (5%), and Australia (3%). Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands, and Sweden each account for 2%.

The really interesting numbers come when you adjust for population, though. In terms of hits per 1,000,000 of population, here's the ranking:

Hong Kong: 1868
Sweden: 242
Belgium: 218
Canada: 198
U.S.: 186
Australia: 156
Netherlands: 128
France: 85
U.K.: 36

It's not surprising that Hong Kong would be a center of interest in Chinese law, but what's going on in Sweden and Belgium? Comments welcome (especially from Swedes and Belgians).

UPDATE: As one of the comments points out, the absence of China from this list is probably because this blog is blocked in China.

Temporary move to Conglomerate

For the next two weeks, I won't be blogging much on this site; I'll be a guest blogger at the Conglomerate blog. My first post there is here.

A conversation between the ruler and the ruled

Here's an interesting account by Ma Shaofang, one of the student organizers of the 1989 Tiananmen hunger strike and now a businessman in Shenzhen, of a recent conversation over a mandatory "tea" with some agents of the Ministry of State Security. Thanks to China Digital Times for the translation.

This blog's reading level

Here's an interesting site that purports to tell you what level of education is required to read particular blogs. Try inputting this blog's URL (http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/china_law_prof_blog) and give yourself a pat on the back, Einstein.

Actually, I'm not proud of it; it's not my desire to be obscure. I think there's a lot to be said for the view of the quotation offered by Eugene Volokh of the Volokh Conspiracy (rated Junior High School reading level): "Think with the learned, and speak with the vulgar."

Foreign law firms in China

Every so often people ask me for a list of foreign law firms in China. Here's one I recently came across, thanks to a posting by David Atnip on the Chinalaw list.

Yale J. Int'l L. seeks papers by JD students

I have been asked to post the following announcement. Apparently papers on China are considered "international law" and thus welcome.

THE YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ANNOUNCES ITS SIXTH ANNUAL YOUNG SCHOLARS' CONFERENCE

CALL FOR PAPERS FROM JD STUDENTS
Deadline: December 10, 2007

The Yale Journal of International Law (YJIL) is accepting submissions
for its Young Scholars' Conference, which will take place on March 1,
2008. The Conference aims to encourage scholarship in international
law among current J.D. students by giving them an opportunity to
present a paper and receive feedback from distinguished professors in
the field. The Conference will include panel presentations of student
scholarship, a roundtable discussion on careers in legal academia, a
keynote address, and a closing dinner. Two of the papers presented at
the Conference will be selected for publication in YJIL. Support for
the Conference has been provided by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen '37 Fund.

YJIL will accept papers of no more than 15,000 words (including
footnotes) on topics in international law from current J.D. students.
Papers that have previously been published will not be considered.
Presenters must be able to travel to New Haven, CT, for a full day of
events on March 1, 2008. YJIL will provide presenting students with
accommodations and cover up to $200 of their conference-related travel
expenses.

Submissions, accompanied by author's c.v., should be sent to
yjil.conference@yale.edu.

Donating law books to China

Here's an item from the ABA's China Law Committee listserv:

Kara Phillips, a long-time Committee member and contributor to the China Law Reporter, recently coordinated the contribution of over 300 English language law books to Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) Law School. The article at http://www.llrx.com/features/shanghaiexpress.htm describes the process Kara used to coordinate the contribution, and is an excellent primer for those considering similar contributions. Please take a look.

Seeking information about Hsiang Che-chun

I'm looking for information about Hsiang Che-chun (pinyin Xiang Zhejun 向哲浚), who was the Chinese prosecutor in the Tokyo Trials. If you know anything about him, or know of people or resources that might be helpful, please send me an e-mail (dclarke at law dot gwu dot edu) to let me know. Thanks.

U Penn's Chinese Law and Policy Review

This is an unsolicited announcement about the Chinese Law and Policy Review, an online journal run by students at the Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School. Its unique claim to fame (of course it no doubt has others) is that it publishes all its articles in both Chinese and English; original submissions may be in either language. For more information, check out its Web site.

Call for papers: conference of the European Association for China Law Studies

Here is an edited version of an announcement I recently received:

The Second Conference of the European Association for China Law Studies is bringing together legal scholars from Europe and other countries around the world.  This conference series will serve as a meeting point for the research and teaching of Chinese law, an informational exchange among those involved in organizing China law studies, and a forum for developing individual research projects.

Authors are invited to submit abstracts before January 15, 2007.  The abstracts should be submitted as an email attachment sent to Dr. Knut Benjamin Pißler (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg/Germany, pissler@mpipriv-hh.mpg.de) or to Professor Christiane Wendehorst (Sino German Institute for Legal Studies, University of Göttingen/Germany, cwendeh@gwdg.de). The preferred format is MS Word.

The abstract should include:
- the title of the paper,
- full names of the author(s), their institutions, and email of the corresponding author,
- up to one page of text summarising the main contents of the proposed paper.

Authors will be informed of the paper’s acceptance before  February 1, 2007. Camera-ready papers (not exceeding 10 pages) are due by July 1, 2007.

The full-length papers presented at the conference will be published.

For more information, click here.

CECC roundtable on "China's National and Local Regulations on Religion"

I have received an announcement from the CECC (slightly edited) as follows:

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled "China's National and Local Regulations on Religion: Recent Developments in Legislation and Implementation," on Monday, November 20, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.  All CECC hearings and Issues Roundtables are open to the public and the press.

On March 1, 2005, the State Council's Regulation on Religious Affairs (RRA) entered into force, representing the first comprehensive national regulation devoted to religious issues.  This Roundtable examines the interplay between the national RRA and local regulations and discusses the practical impact of such regulations on freedom of religion in China. 

The panelists are:

• Eric R. Carlson, Attorney, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, D.C. and  a Fellow of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University.

• Bob (Xiqiu) Fu, President, China Aid Association, Midland, Texas.

• James W. Tong, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics, University of California-Los Angeles, and Editor of the journal Chinese Law and Government, Los Angeles, California.

Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs: Call for submissions

I have received the following announcement:

Call for Submissions

The Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs
commenced publication in 1981 under the auspices of the Chinese
(Taiwan) Society of International Law. The Yearbook publishes on
multi-disciplinary topics with a focus on international and
comparative law issues regarding Taiwan, Mainland China and
cross-strait relations. In addition, the Yearbook is considered to be
one of the foremost publications in the world concentrating on issues
of greater China.

The Yearbook accepts submissions of articles, comments and book
reviews.  Although we do not have a limit on article length, we
encourage the submission of articles under 25,000 words or 50 journal
pages, including text and footnotes. Authors are requested to conform
to the latest version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
In addition, the Pinyin system of translation should be used in
reference to publications in Chinese.

We strongly prefer electronic submissions of manuscripts. Please
attach the manuscript, a cover letter and a resume in Word format to
an e-mail to csil@seed.net.tw . Alternatively, we also accept paper
submissions. Please send manuscripts to the following address:

Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs
Attn: Professor Chun-i CHEN
P.O. Box 1-556 Wenshan, Taipei 116
Taiwan ROC

Editorial Board,
Volume 23, Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs

Getting into a China-related law practice

Many people wonder how to get into a law practice that focuses on China. Here are some recent postings on the subject:

• China Law Blog
• Transnational Law Blog
• Asia Business Intelligence

CECC hearings on China's commitments in financial services (2)

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China's hearing entitled "China's WTO Financial Services Commitments: A Commercial Rule of Law Assessment," which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, July 26 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., has been cancelled.

CECC hearings on China's commitments in financial services

I have received the following announcement:

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold a full Commission hearing entitled "China's WTO Financial Services Commitments: A Commercial Rule of Law Assessment," on Wednesday, July 26 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Room 124 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Senator Hagel will preside.

All CECC hearings are open to the public and the press. Members of the public who wish to attend do not need to respond to this message or otherwise register. News media representatives should see the final paragraph of this announcement.

The witnesses are:

Panel 1

Timothy P. Stratford, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China Affairs, Office of the United States Trade Representative

Mark Sobel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Monetary and Financial Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Panel 2

John Frisbie, President, The US-China Business Council

Pieter Bottelier, Visiting Associate Professor, School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University

Nicholas C. Howson, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

*****************************

For news media representatives: If you have no special equipment needs, you do not need to register in advance. If you need special equipment or services (e.g., malt box, audio feed), please contact Emma Ashburn at (202) 226-3831 not later than close of business on Friday, July 21.

Chinese Law Prof Blog postings in July

Dear readers:

I regret that postings will continue to be sporadic during July, as I will on vacation and otherwise away from my usual work routine for much of that time. Regular postings will resume around the middle of August.

Best wishes to all,

Don Clarke

USTR seeks comments on Chinese IPR protection

The Office of the USTR is conducting what it calls a "special provincial review" (SPR) of IPR protection in China, and solicits public comments concerning the locations and issues that should be the focus of the SPR. The deadline is July 14th; there will also apparently be an opportunity to submit more detailed comments later.

The full announcement is here: Download USTR.pdf

Slow month at Chinese Law Prof Blog

Dear readers,

May and the first half of June are going to be a very busy time for me, so I do not expect to be able to post as frequently as before. I hope to return to daily postings in the last half of June.

Best wishes,

Don Clarke