Cambridge Journal of China Studies 11 International Law Teaching in China: Engaging in a Pedagogical Reform or Embracing Professionalism and Internationalization? Qingjiang KONG China University of Political Science and Law, China Email: [email protected] Abstract: As international law is becoming increasingly relevant to the rising China, serious problems have been found to cluster in the international law teaching in China. Since its introduction, the development of international law in China has been plagued by the love-and-hatred attitudes of the Chinese regimes in succession towards it. What Chinese law schools and beyond are lacking is a true professionalism that demands an estrangement from political reality and internationalization that calls for retrench of the pedagogical approaches. This article is intended to contribute to the understanding of the landscape of international law teaching in this rising country as it faces challenges. Key Words:China, International Law, International Law Teaching, Professionalism, Internationalization Professor of law, China University of Political Science and Law, and The Collaborative Innovation Centre for Territorial Sovereignty and Maritime Interests. Volume 12, No. 1 12 INTRODUCTION International law has shaped China’s perception of the world since its introduction into the Central Kingdom in the 1860s. Nowadays, international law is becoming increasingly relevant to the rising China. So is the teaching of international law. What Chinese law schools and beyond are lacking is among others, a precise overview of the development charts of the discipline of international law in China and the state of international law teaching in China. Problems about the teaching have clustered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. At undergraduate level, teaching international law remains largely on the periphery of legal education; while at graduate level, teaching of international law is generally seen as part of training program supposedly tailored to cultivate specialized personnel. Besides, quite standardized curriculum-mapping has a negative influence on the student’s interest. A lion share of courses is business-related, whereas courses concerning other fields of international law are relatively rare. Also, students are ill-prepared in language skills and lack practical training. This article is intended to contribute to the understanding of the teaching of international law landscape in this rising country as it faces challenges. 1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT Any discussion of international law teaching in China has to be perused in the historical context of the development of international law discipline in the country. 1.1. Origin (before 1949) Modern international law was formally and systematically introduced into China in the 1860s. The self-isolated China had gradually been exposed to the outside world since the Opium Wars1 in 1840 and the second Opium War in 1856-18602 awoke the Imperial Qing Court and its elites. They were desperate to open their eyes up to Western countries. In 1861, as part of its Westernization Movement (Self-Strengthening Movement, or Yangwu Yundong),3 the Qing Court established the Tsungli-Yamen,4 which was tantamount to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Imperial Court.5 It was borne to adapt to the tough situation at home and abroad.6 1 The First Opium War broke out between Great Britain and Imperial Qing in1840 and ended with the conclusion of Nanking Treaty in 1842 by which China ceded Hong Kong and open five trade ports to Britain. 2 The second Opium War was fought in 1856 between the Great Britain and France on one side and the Qing on the other. During the war, the Imperial Summer Palace was burned and looted by the invaders. The war was ended in 1860 when the fighters signed the Tianjin Treaty, under which China was obligated to pay gigantic compensation to its opponents and opened its capital to foreign embassies. 3 The Westernization Movement (1861 – 1895) was a period of institutional reforms initiated in China during the late Qing dynasty following a series of military defeats and concessions to foreign powers. 4 Written also Tsung’-li Ya’men or Tsung-li-Yamen. 5 Webster’s 1913 Dictionary. Also see Meng, S. M, The Tsungli Yamen: Its Organizations and Functions, Harvard East Asian Monographs, Volume 13, East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, 1970. 6 Yang Zewei, The History of International Law, Higher Education Press, 2011, p.340. Cambridge Journal of China Studies 13 To get a better understanding of international norms, the Imperial Court hired William A. P. Martin to translate Elements of International Law (by Henry Wheaton)7 into Chinese.8 This book, which was not limited to the rights of legation, but extended to the law of war, the law of the sea, the prize law, the treaty law, got published in 1864 with the assistance of Tsungli- Yamen. And it was then well known as Law of Nations (Wanguo Gongfa), and had the immediate effect of facilitating Chinese diplomacy, but an impact on China and beyond in the long run.9 It was the very firs that an international law publication introduced to China.10 In 1869, William A. P. Martin was appointed as Head of the School of Combined Learning (Tongwenguan), which was established in 1862 to prepare talents capable of dealing with foreign affairs. He was also made the person responsible for teaching of the “law of nations”. Given the crises plaguing the Imperial Qing Court in late nineteenth century, teaching of international law was timely and relevant. Later, international law was taught at the Imperial University of Peking (Jingshi Daxuetang), the predecessor to today’s Peking University, replaced Tongwenguan subsequently in 1902, which signified China’s acceptance of the law of nations, though its attitude towards international law seems always a combination of love and hatred. With the emergence of dozens of law schools (fazheng xuetang) in the first decade of the 20th century,11 international law teaching took roots. If it was during the late Qing that international law was first introduced, it was in the Republican China that international law became widely accepted. According to a study, 67 law schools were established during the Republican period.12 It is unknown if all law schools offer international law curriculum, it is safe to say that international law was taught in most law schools (fazheng xuexiao). At the National Beijing College of Law (previously, Jingshi College of Law during the Qing Court period), for example, public international law and private international law were collectively taught as “Law for Negotiation” (Jiao She Fa).13 Beiyang University was even known, inter alia, for its long list of 7 Henry Wheaton, Elements of International Law, Fourth English Edition (ed. by J. Beresford Atlay), London: Stevens and Sons, 1904. First published in 1855. 8 See Yang, Zhuo, A Study on the Translation of Elements of International Law by W.A.P. Martin, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Dissertation 2014. 9 Lydia H. Liu, The Clash of Empires: The Invention of China in Modern World Making, Harvard University Press, 2004, pp.113–15. 10 Zou Zhenhuan, One Hundred Translated Books that Most Influenced China, China Translation Publishing Company, 1996, p.56. 11 In 1907 alone, 16 law schools (fazheng xuetang) were established in major cities across the country. See Office of General Affairs, Ministry of Education and Learning, The First Education Statistical Chart, quoted from Li Yunlong (ed), Series of Historical Records (zhongguo shiliao congkan) No 3, Collected Vol 10 Issue 10, p. 19. 12 Li Xuezhi, A Preliminary Exploration of the Law Schools (Fazheng Xuexiao) in the Early Republican China Period, Journal of Tianjin Normal University, Vol. 155 (2001), No 2, p. 26. 13 Lin Jingzhong, From Law of Nations to Public Law Diplomacy: The Introduction, Interpretation and Application of International Law in Late Qing, 2009, pp.126–27, 153. Volume 12, No. 1 14 mandatory courses on international law and Soochow University for its teaching of international law in English.14 In addition to most universities that were founded by Western missionaries, 15 national universities were required to offer international law as mandatory course.16 It should be pointed out that during the Republican China period, the international law teaching was heavily influenced by Japan. Japan rose abruptly as a result of its Meiji Restoration.17 Japan, which used to be a tributary state of the Chinese Empire, even destroyed the Imperial Fleet of the Imperial Qing Court during the Chinese-Japanese War of 1985. The rise of Japan triggered interest among Chinese intellectuals. The significant event, along with geographic proximity and language similarity, turned out to be an incentive for Chinese students to pursue legal studies in Japan. Chinese graduates from Japanese schools subsequently influenced the Republican China’s discipline of international law and international law teaching. For example, until the 1920s, most of China’s international law textbooks were translated from Japanese either by Japanese professors in China or by Chinese students in Japan.18 It is fair to say that the Republican China period witnessed the utilization of international law in advancing the country’s diplomatic objectives, and professionalization of the discipline of international law, which was based on the Imperial Qing’s legacy on the reception of the law of nations. 19 It is even argued that international law prompted the Central Kingdom’s intellectual shift from tianxia (all-under-heaven)20 to the nation-state concept.21 An example is that international law became a mandatory subject in both judicial and diplomat examinations in the 1910s.22 After the May 4th Movement in 1919, a variety of universities opened up the course of international law. 23 National Wuhan University, Soochow University and Chaoyang University 14 Pasha L. Hsieh, The Discipline of International Law in Republican China and Contemporary Taiwan, 14 Wash.
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