Introduction to Chinese Society and Law
Introduction to Chinese Society and Law
FGV Direito Rio, February 2011
Instructor: Wei Cui, Associate Professor, CUPL, Beijing
This very condensed (5 sessions, 2 hours each) introductory course on Chinese law, taught in English, provides a basic overview of contemporary Chinese society from the perspective of its legal system. It aims to provoke students’ further interest in studying China and exploring commonalities in the social and economic developments in China and Brazil.
Textbook:
Daniel C. K. Chow, The Legal System of the People's Republic of China in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) (West Group Publishing, 2003)
Session Number and Topic / Reading:I. Background and Constitutional Law / Chow, Chapters 1-3
II. Government Structure and Administrative Law / Chow: Chapters 4-5
Supplementary material
III. The Role of the Judiciary / Chow: Chapters 6-8
Selection from Peerenboom, Judicial Independence in China
IV. Central-Local Relations / Hussain and Stern, “Public Finances, the Role of the State, and Economic Transformation, 1978–2020,” inLou and Wang, PUBLIC FINANCE IN CHINA (World Bank 2008).
Martinez-Vazquez et al, “Expenditure Assignments in China: Challenges and Policy Options,” in PUBLIC FINANCE IN CHINA
Wei Cui, Fiscal Federalism in Chinese Taxation (paper manuscript)
V. Civil Society / Hippel and Pissler, Nonprofit Organizations in the People’s Republic of China
(As an alternative option for Session V, foreign investment) / (Chow: Chapter 10)
Associate Professor Wei Cui received his B.A. from Harvard College, M.A. (philosophy) from Tufts University, J.D. from Yale Law School, and LL.M. (tax) from New York University Law School. Before starting to teach in Beijing in 2006, he practiced U.S. tax law in New York with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Since 2006, he has advised the Budgetary Affairs Commission of China’s National People’s Congress, the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Administration of Taxation on legislation and rulemaking in both the VAT and income tax areas. During 2009-2010, he served as Senior Tax Counsel to the China Investment Corporation, overseeing the tax aspects of CIC's investments. Professor Cui has held visiting professorships at Fordham Law School and the National Taiwan University Law School, and has been appointed Senior Fellow of the Melbourne Law School for 2011.