Bulletin Number Five 1985

The Fifth Conference on the Chinese Legal System and National Construction The Fifth Conference on the Chinese Legal System and National Construction — the second of the conferences dealing with Chinese economic law — was held at Cho Yiu Conference Hall from 29th to 30th November, 1985. Sponsored by the Centre for Contemporary Asian Studies, the Conference was opened by Dr. Ma Lin, Vice-Chancellor of the University, and Chairmen of the various sessions included Mr. Justice T.L. Yang, Mr. William Hsu, Professor Yue-man Yeung, and Dr. H.C. Kuan. Dr. Byron S.J. Weng, Secretary of the Chinese Law Programme, who was responsible for organizing the Conference, chaired the closing session. More than seventy specialists and scholars took part in the two-day Conference. Among the nine participants from Mainland China were Mr. Sun Yaming, former Director of the Law Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Liu Shengping of Peking University, Mr. Xu Jie, Head of the Economic Law Department, China University of Political Science and Law. Six Hong Kong scholars and lawyers, including Mr. Zhang Xin and Mr. Wang Youjin, were invited to deliver papers. The background of the speakers and discussants was varied: some were specialists involved in the drafting of Chinese civil and economic laws, others were esteemed professors of law and young Chinese scholars recently returned from advanced studies overseas, experienced practising lawyers, or researchers on Chinese law in Hong Kong who were educated in China, Hong Kong and Western countries. Of the fifteen papers, six were macro-level analyses which dealt with the relationships between economic theory and China's economic system reforms on the one hand and the nearly one hundred economic laws and regulations promulgated in recent years on the other. The others discussed the characteristic of specific codes of law such as The Law on Chinese-Foreign Joint Ventures, the Patent Law and the External Economic Contract Law, compared them with Common Law, and analysed the functions of Chinese lawyers in regard to external economic activities. Specific examples were cited to highlight the need for China to: uphold judicial independence, separate enterprises from government, make her leaders at different levels to be more aware of the concept of rule of law, upgrade the quality and status of workers in the legal profession, strengthen economic judicial work, consolidate the existing laws and regulations, speed up the enactment of the civil law, and delineate the similarities and differences between the concepts of law in China and those generally accepted in the international community. Opposing views were expressed on such issues as socialist ideology as reflected in Chinese economic law, the functions of mediation and arbitration vis-a- vis adjudication, and the meaning of certain specific articles of law. The paper delivered by Mr. Zhang Xin, Research Fellow of the Centre for Contemporary Asian Studies, on 'China's Economic System Reforms and the Economic Judiciary' was widely acclaimed. Itis particularly worth mentioning that several scholars from Mainland China made objective analyses of the economic laws and regulations under consideration and pointed out their weaknesses. The Conference went very smoothly, thanks to the assistance of the supporting staff, especially Jean Xiong and Dolly Wong. Proceedings of the Conference will be published in due course. - B, Weng 14 NEWS