Dear readers, Time to put The China Collection in your blog reader. After twelve years (I started in May 2005) and almost a million visits here at the Chinese Law Prof Blog, I'm making some major changes in my blogging. I'm changing the blog name. I'm changing the URL. I'm changing the platform. I'll have several co-bloggers. Why? Basically, I wanted (a) to have more hands-on control over the blog's format and various bells and whistles, and (b) to get some co-bloggers with me so that the blog itself could feature more frequent posts on a wider variety of subjects, including not just law but ..read more

Here's a good blog post on that subject by Dan Harris at the China Law Blog. Must reading for students interested in this practice area ..read more

{MAY 17th UPDATE: A much fuller and better piece about this development is available at the Foreign Affairs website here.] Did that headline get your attention? If it’s an exaggeration, it’s not much of one. Last week a student brought to my attention a statement Li Keqiang made last month that I and just about everyone else (I can’t be sure) seem to have missed. At a press conference at the end of the National People’s Congress session, Li announced that full private ownership of land has been restored in China’s cities. Of course, he didn’t use those exact words, but the effect of this state ..read more

Yesterday I posted about an article on the excellent Lawfare blog that discussed the significance of some Chinese regulations on digital evidence collection. I now think that the Lawfare blog post's interpretation, which seemed plausible to me when I read it, is not correct. This change of view is prompted by an excellent analysis by Jeremy Daum of the China Law Translate site. I recommend it highly. Note that he is not saying that China does not hack into foreign servers without the host country's permission. (As I noted in my blog post, "[I]f I had given the matter any thought before this, I ..read more

Check out this recent post from the Lawfare blog. I've read the regulations to which it refers, and the post describes them accurately. Frankly, if I had given the matter any thought before this, I would have assumed that Chinese investigative authorities were already doing this whenever they wanted to. Note to the "everybody does it" chorus: The blog post is also accurate in stating that this is not the normal practice of domestic police authorities, including in the United States; they seek permission from the foreign sovereign the same way they would seek permission for sending agents abroa ..read more

Here's the job announcement. It seems to be based in Washington, DC. Among the job requirements: "An advanced degree and 5+ years’ experience working with China trade and investment policy issues ..read more

On March 15th, the National People’s Congress passed the long-awaited General Rules of Civil Law (中华人民共和国民法总则) (GRCL), a collection of general principles that will come into effect on October 1, 2017. Interestingly, the GRCL will not replace the 1986 General Principles of Civil Law (民法通则) (GPCL) when they come into effect; for various reasons, the decision was made to have the GPCL continue in effect to the extent that their provisions do not conflict with GRCL provisions.[1] The GRCL are accompanied by three documents explaining features of the text and certain amendments: Explanation NPC La ..read more

I have received the following announcement: The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative currently has three open positions with a China focus: a Program Director, a Program Manager, and a pro bono longterm legal specialist.  If interested, please follow the links to apply ..read more

A recent article on the ThinkProgress website has created something of a stir. The article asserts that China's recent grant to Donald Trump of a trademark in "Trump" is especially questionable under the Emoluments Clause because China violated its own law in granting the trademark, thereby making it clear that the trademark was a special favor to Trump: "The apparent preferential treatment for the U.S. president could land Trump in legal trouble back at home." Yesterday I received requests from people at two different Congressional committees asking for references to experts in Chinese tradem ..read more

Kudos to the China Guiding Cases Project at Stanford and to American University's Washington College of Law for putting on what looks to be a very interesting seminar on Chinese guiding cases. It's on February 22nd. Information and sign-up here: https://cgc.law.stanford.edu/event/guiding-cases-seminar-20170222 ..read more