On October 11th, 2019, a Peking University School of Transnational Law (“STL”) delegation consisting of Professor Jin Zining, Professor Huang Hui, and Assistant Director of Personnel Wang Wei, travelled to the University of Frankfurt, Germany. They successfully held a seminar on Chinese Law Faculty Recruitment and the “Localization of German Legal Commentary and Case Analysis Method”. Many young scholars from Cologne University, Heidelberg University, Freiburg University, and Frankfurt University attended the event.
First of all, STL Assistant Director of Personnel, Wang Wei, gave a brief introduction about STL, including its unique teaching characteristics, student development, and faculty resources.
Subsequently, led by Professor Huang Hui, all attendees took turn to share their thoughts based on their specialties. They reached a consensus that following the current needs of China’s legal education, including instruction, research and practice, it is necessary to incorporate localization issues while introducing German commentary and case analysis methods. The process cannot be completed overnight. Rather, it should be done gradually by juxtaposing our current practice for legal teaching and research with varying contemporary approaches adopted in other countries to find solutions unique to China’s legal context. Professor Jin Zining summed up and commented on these views. She reminded the attendees to pay attention to the “localization” trend of German legal concepts and to avoid merely imitating German practices.
Finally, Professor Huang Hui said that this was the first academic event held by STL to communicate with scholars studying in Germany. It is expected that there will be a series of similar activities in the future to further strengthen the relationship with young law scholars and promote Sino-German legal and cultural exchanges.