The year 2021 was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the closing year of China’s building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and the starting year of China’s new journey into the comprehensive construction of socialist modernization. With the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the law discipline of ZUEL fully implemented the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, pursuit the goal of “Chinese characteristics, world-class”, endeavored to promote the construction of first-class law disciplines, and strove to make the law discipline play its new role in the new journey of the comprehensive framework for promoting the rule of law.
In 2021, all the faculty and staff of the Department of Law of ZUEL worked hard together to promote the construction of the discipline of law with meticulous academic spirit and the spirit of good-example-serve-as-the-best-sermon, achieving good results in theoretical research, personnel training, international exchange and cooperation, etc. There are ten major events as follows.
1. In-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law has achieved remarkable results.
With the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the work of the discipline of law continued to achieve new results in 2021 in the in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law “into colleges and universities, into teaching materials, into the classroom” work was continued as Professor Chen Baifeng edited a series of teaching materials of Marxist Theory Research and Development Project, including Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, Ethics and the Rule of Law and Constitutional Law. The compulsory course “Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law” was also fully integrated into undergraduate and graduate classes. Professors Yao Li, Xu Hanming and Chen Baifeng have published nearly 20 relevant research papers in important journals, and the research on Xi Jinping thought on the rule of law hosted by Professor Xu Hanming was awarded a Major Research Project of the Ministry of Education in philosophy and social sciences. The “Publicity Group of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law” and “Youth Study Club of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” continued to innovate the form of publicity, and the “2021 Law Youth Seminar for Universities in Central China”, which focuses on the “100-year Journey of Rule of Law under the Leadership of the Communist Party of China”, was selected as one of the top ten news of legal education in 2021 by Legal Daily.
2. Zhou Qiang, Secretary of the Party Organization and President of the Supreme People’s Court, came to ZUEL for research.
In October 2021, Zhou Qiang, Secretary of the Party Organization and President of the Supreme People’s Court, came to the Center for Intellectual Property Research, a key research base for humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education. President Zhou Qiang had a discussion and exchanged with experts and scholars from our university about learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, strengthening judicial protection of intellectual property, and promoting the cultivation of rule of law talents. Intellectual property think tank construction in ZUEL in 2021 has achieved remarkable results: In February, the “People’s Court Intellectual Property Judicial Protection Theory Research (ZUEL) Base” was jointly established with the Supreme People’s Court; In August, it was selected by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as one of the first “Pilot Think Tank Construction Units in the Culture and Tourism Industry”; In October, with the Jiangxi Provincial High People’s Court, ZUEL built “Jiangxi Ceramics - Digital Industry Intellectual Property Rights Judicial Protection Theory Research Base”; In December, Secretary of the Party Organization and President of Hubei Provincial High People’s Court, Mr. You Xiangrong, came to ZUEL to conduct a research on the creation of a preferred site for international intellectual property dispute resolution.
3. The number of National Research Projects establishments has reached a record new high in 2021.
The number of National Research Projects establishments has reached a record new high in 2021. Those approved projects included: Two Major Projects (Huang Yuye, Jian Jisong), three Key Projects (Liu Renshan, Zailin, Qian Yefang), one General Project (Yu Yaojun), four Youth Projects (Chen Aifei, Ding Hantao, Huang Zhihui, He Rong), one post-funding Key Project (Qu Younghua), two post-funding General Project (Hou Zhuo, Yu Longgang) of the National Social Science Foundation, and one Chinese Academic Foreign Translation Key Project (You Mingqing), one Major Research Project of Philosophy and Social Science, Ministry of Education (Xu Hanming), the number of which ranked among the top in the country. In addition, a university-level excellent doctoral dissertation supervised by Prof. Li Jianghong was awarded the National Social Science Foundation’s Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Publication Project.
4. The textbook edited by Prof. Wu Handong won the second prize of National Excellent Textbook.
In July 2021, the Office of the Leading Group of the National Textbook Construction Award announced the first “National Textbook Construction Award”, and Professor Wu Handong was honored with the title of “Advanced Individual in National Textbook Construction”, whose book Intellectual Property Law (5th edition) won the second prize of National Excellent Textbook (Higher Education Category). This was a breakthrough in the construction of teaching materials in our university. Professor Wu Handong has been working in the field of intellectual property for forty years and has achieved fruitful results. In January 2021, the “Review and Prospect of 40 Years of Chinese Intellectual Property Law and the Launch of Wu Handong’s Law Collection (Collector’s Edition)” was held in Beijing, organized by the China Copyright Association and the China Intellectual Property Research Association; In November, Prof. Wu Handong’s solo system-based textbook “Intellectual Property Law” was published, generating a warm response.
5. Professor Huang Meiling’s Italian Translation of the Civil Code Receives Praise from Italian President.
In June 2021, the Italian translation of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China by Professor Mei-Ling Huang was officially published in Italy, which was the first Italian version of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China in the world. The President of Italy, Mr. Sergio Mattarella, expressed his full recognition of the book’s role in promoting Sino-Italian jurisprudential exchanges, to which many domestic and foreign media have carried on the special reports.
6. The teaching team of theoretical law led by Prof. Chen Baifeng was selected as the second batch of “Huang Danian-type teaching team in national universities”.
In December, 2021, the Ministry of Education announced the results of the second batch of “Huang Danian-style Teacher Team”, and the team of theoretical law teachers led by Professor Chen Baifeng was successfully selected. The team presides over one national first-class course and one provincial first-class course, leads one innovation team of the Ministry of Education and three ministerial research bases, and undertakes the teaching of more than 10 courses such as Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, Jurisprudence, Jurisprudence of Social Governance, Rule of Law in Contemporary China, and Theory and Practice of Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics. In March 2021, the team won the title of “Excellent Teaching Team of Hubei Province”; in May, the course Contemporary Chinese Rule of Law undertaken by the team was selected as the first batch of Curriculum Civics Demonstration Project of the Ministry of Education, and the teaching team of the course won the title of “Curriculum Civics Teaching Master and Team”.
7. Professor Xu Hanming was awarded the first batch of New Liberal Arts Research and Reform Practice Projects by the Ministry of Education.
In November 2021, the Ministry of Education announced the list of the first batch of New Liberal Arts Research and Reform Practice Projects, and Professor Xu Hanming’s project New Liberal Arts Construction Practice in Economics and Management Law - Taking the Construction of “Three Systems” of Social Governance Law as an Example was on the list. Social governance jurisprudence is a second-level discipline set up independently by our university, relying on the university’s Research Center for Rule of Law Development and Judicial Reform. The Center is the base for the innovation team of social governance and rule of law of the Ministry of Education, the research of rule of law of the Chinese Law Society, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on the application of procuratorial theory, the reform of the judicial system and social system in Hubei Province. It is also the key research base of humanities and social sciences in Hubei Province, which is thus of great significance for research and reform practice of the new liberal arts in our university.
8. Undergraduate student Su Zhengmin was selected as the 16th “China Student of the Year”.
In December 2021, the results of the 16th “China Student of the Year” were announced, and a total of 20 were selected. Su Zhengmin, a 2018 undergraduate student of Civil and Commercial Law of our school, was selected. It was the first time for our students to receive this award. From the Liangshan region, Su Zhengmin is enthusiastic about public welfare and social responsibility, establishing the “Su Zhengmin Volunteer Service Team” and initiating the “Liangshan Ayi School Sponsorship Program”. He has been selected as a representative of the 27th National Federation of Schools and Colleges, an outstanding individual of the National College and University Students “Culture, Science and Technology, Health three-to-the-countryside”, and a model of the National College Students’ New Party Members Training, etc., receiving extensive attention and reports from central media such as Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, Guangming Daily and China Youth Daily.
9. “European Studies: Comparative and European Law” Master’s Degree Program was selected by the Ministry of Education as one of the independent admission institutions for Sino-foreign cooperative studies.
In August 2021, the Ministry of Education released the list of institutions for independent enrollment in Sino-foreign cooperative education, where only two universities in Hubei were selected, and our master’s degree program of “European Studies: Comparative and European Law” was on the list. The program, approved by the Ministry of Education in April 2019, was established by ZUEL and Sapienza University of Rome. It is dedicated to cultivating high-end foreign legal talents with both theoretical and practical skills.
10. Undergraduate major of Intellectual Property Rights and the setting up of secondary disciplines of Party Internal Regulations and Discipline Inspection and Supervision were successfully promoted.
In 2021, the Department of Law vigorously promoted the construction of new majors and disciplines. The undergraduate major of intellectual property was approved by the Ministry of Education (major code 030102T), and became the only training unit in China with a complete training chain of undergraduate, academic master, LLM, JD, post-doctoral and “Belt and Road” intellectual property master and foreign-related intellectual property senior talents. The two independent secondary disciplines of Party Regulations and Discipline Inspection and Supervision have been approved by the Academic Degrees Committee of the university and submitted to the Ministry of Education for record.
ZUEL Law Discipline, steady and long-lasting
In 2022, the Law Discipline of ZUEL will continue to forge ahead, ride on and continue to write the chapter, to promote the “Double First-Class” construction of the university with practical action and more excellent results.
