General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3098 |
| Course name: | Constitutional and Administrative Law in the PRC |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Specialization: | Chinese law |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course offers an in-depth introduction to the constitutional and administrative law in the PRC, with a primary focus on constitutional law and politics. Furthermore, the course covers administrative laws related to constitutional practice, governance, and human rights. The central theme is to dissect China’s unique party-state constitutional system by concentrating on the interface of law and politics. The course spans a broad range of theoretical, legal, and political topics, including socialist constitutional theories, the constitutional-making process, state and party institutions, citizens’ rights and obligations, judicial review, and central-local relations. Specifically, the course scrutinizes the interaction and conflicts between the socialist Chinese public law and Hong Kong common law systems under the One Country Two System framework.
The course adopts a comparative approach to study PRC constitutional and administrative law, referencing public law theories and practices from various jurisdictions with different political systems, including liberal democracies, authoritarian regimes, and socialist countries. Through comparative studies, students are expected to understand the major differences between concepts in the Chinese public law and the features of western liberal constitutionalism, as well as the challenges and prospects for China’s public law reform.
Additionally, this course incorporates pertinent content from the National Unified Legal professional Qualification Examination to more effectively prepare students interested in practicing law in both Hong Kong and Mainland China in the future.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Han Zhu | zhuhanhk@hku.hk | CCT 411 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Understand the overall framework of constitutional and administrative law in mainland China, along with its their historical evolution
CLO 2 Apply Chinese constitutional and administrative laws to specific cases and events.
CLO 3 Appreciate the interaction of the socialist Chinese public law and Hong Kong’s common law system under One Country Two Systems framework
CLO 4 Critically analyze the similarities and significant differences between the public law in China and Western rule of law jurisdiction
CLO 5 Demonstrate a deep understanding of the broader political, economic, and socio-cultural factors underlying the constitutional and legal development in China
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Participation in class discussion | TBC | 10% | 5 | 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 |
| Group presentation | TBC | 20% | 2, 3, 5 | 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 |
| Course essay | TBC | 50% | 2, 3 | 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/