Research Scholar, UPenn Center for the Study of Contemporary China. Specialize in administrative law. Host the CSCC Podcast: https://t.co/LO2KDj1K0c
Nov 28, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
When Li Keqiang was elevated to the Premiership back in 2012, a lot of the reporting on him noted that he (along with his classmate @JingzhouTao) had been the student of Peking University Law School Prof. Gong Xiangrui, the preeminent administrative law scholar in 1980s China. /1
Some then noted that Prof. Gong had been trained in the West. More specifically, from the mid to late 1930s, Gong Xiangrui studied British constitutional law at the LSE with Harold Laski, and French administrative law at Pantheon-Assas, earning degrees from both institutions. /2
Dec 7, 2020 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
As @StephenMcDonell notes later in this thread, these 14 senior Chinese government figures are subject to new US sanctions because of their institutional role, each a Vice Chair of the NPC Standing Committee. Even so, it's bracing to see Wan Exiang on this sanctions list... /1
This week, I'm finalizing a new CSCC podcast episode with @MarkSidel, who in his role opening the @FordFoundation's office in Beijing in the 80s, played a big role in the Committee for Legal Education Exchange with China, & also in seeding early clinics in Chinese law schools. /2
Dec 6, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I quite like and admire Prof. Cai Xia, but I am genuinely confused by the degree to which the commentary around her Foreign Affairs piece (and earlier reporting) elevates her status in the Party hierarchy. I wish there was more sophistication about that. Functionally, within...
..the Party-state system, there is no real distinction between her former status and that of Prof. Xu Zhangrun, or Prof. He Weifang, or that once held at CUPL by my good friend @tengbiao. There are very many idealistic and reform-minded academics who are “体制内”, and it’s not...
Nov 22, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A friend asks why I’ve expended so much energy over the past day arguing the point here that regulatory failures in Wuhan in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic merit sharp critique to this day, in light of everything that has happened since. Its a reasonable question. /1
The best answer I can give is this: those regulatory failures were not unique, in the broad landscape of Chinese regulation, but rather indicative of widespread endemic challenges throughout the system. This was just a particularly consequential failure, for China & the world. /2
Sep 5, 2020 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
The President of the United States has spent all morning tweeting about "critical race theory", fun! You may ask, gentle readers, what exactly is that, how can I learn more, and does it have any relevance to me? Sounds really interesting, no? It is! A few points below.... /1
First, you'll want to learn a bit about critical legal studies (CLS), one of the most influential scholarly movements in American law schools in the latter half of the 20th century, which built on ideas first developed by the American legal realists in the 1920s and 30s. /2
