General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6008 / JDOC6008 |
| Course name: | Introduction to Chinese Law and Legal System |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Frist |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
The objective of this course is to introduce students to China developing legal system and selected areas of substantive law. The notion of law as understood by contemporary lawyers has been an important part of China efforts at modernization since the second half of 19th century, even though for a pre-urban and preindustrial society imperial China had a relatively sophisticated legal culture. Since 1978, in order to promote economic reform (among other reasons), the Chinese party-state has refurbished its legal system and created an impressively broad corpus of legal rules. However, from a comparative perspective, the extent to which China has become a ule of law society remains unclear and this is one of the main concerns of the course. After examining briefly the system of governance before China embarked on its modernization programme, and bearing in mind the continuing influence of some of the enduring values of Chinese legal culture, this course goes on to explore the wide-ranging processes of legal modernization, the constitutional foundations of the current party-state, key contemporary Chinese legal institutions, access to civil, criminal and administrative justice, administrative and civil law, family and population law (because the family remains central to Chinese society), and social protection law (because this throws light on the relevance of law for social justice). Assessment is primarily by means of one research essay, though students should be prepared to participate in the class fully and to make class presentations. They will be given feedback on their research essay work in progress submitted for review as well as their presentations.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | John Liu | liuz@hku.hk | CCT 902 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Describe the institutional framework, procedural arrangements, and fundamental principles structuring contemporary Chinese legal system;
CLO 2 Explain the major cultural, economic and political forces informing and transforming the formal legal institutions in China;
CLO 3 Compare the fundamental features of Chinese legal system with other major legal systems in our contemporary world;
CLO 4 Apply the basic concepts and principles in various branches of Chinese law to solve real-world problems in China;
CLO 5 Evaluate the performance of Chinese legal institutions by relying upon well-developed legal principles and concepts embodies in the universal ideal of ule of law with proper consideration of China particular historical and cultural background.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-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 |
| One reading report | 18 Nov 2022 | 30% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | |
| A case analysis assignment including three case analysis tasks | 10 Dec 2022 | 70% | 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/