Law and Literature Studies in China
Date & Time: July 25, 2025 (Friday) 15:00-16:00
Venue: Room 723, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong (Live on zoom)
Language: English
(Hybrid event)
Abstract:
This lecture will focus on the history, the methodology, and the scope of the teaching and research of Law and Literature in China.
Law and Literature is a Western legal subject and curriculum, which developed as a branch of postmodern legal studies during the 1970s in American law schools and legal academic circles. As a field of legal scholarship and teaching, Law and Literature was introduced into China by the translation of the works of Richard Posner, Martha Nussbaum and Paul Kahn, etc. It later developed as a popular area of frontier interdisciplinary studies, and was introduced into the curriculum of law schools in mainland China.
Law and Literature in China encounters several challenges, such as from the cultural tradition of China, from the history of legal education and legal orthodoxy in China, and from the mainstream legal courses in law schools, as well as from the independently defined and self-sufficient legal methodology, subject definition and paradigm, etc. This lecture will cope with four dimensions in the argument: firstly, the tradition of culture and history in China and the definition of Law and Literature; secondly, current legal academic studies on Law and Literature in China; thirdly, the topics, materials, and scope of Law and Literature studies in China; and fourthly, the teaching and curricula of Law and Literature in the law schools of China. The lecture will be a rudimentary study on Law and Literature in China, which can develop and grow with teaching and research in multiple and interdisciplinary subjects.
The Speaker:
Weiwei Zhang, is Associate Professor at Kenneth Wang School of Law of Soochow University in China. She obtained her Doctorate of Law at the Law School of Peking University in 2005. She was a visiting scholar at the History Department of Harvard University in 2019. Her teaching and research interests are Legal Theory, Comparative, Law, Law and Literature, Law and Confucianism. She has engaged in creative writings and contributions for poems and dramas. She has several kinds of academic and literary publications, such as poetry, The Rejoice of Heart: The Poetry from Spring Mirror Garden (Beijing: Law Press, 2014), the translation of John C. H. Wu’s Fountain of Justice: A Study in the Natural Law (Beijing: Law Press, 2015), and a collection of her works, Poetic Justice: A Preliminary Research on Law and Poetics (Beijing: Press of China University of Political Science and Law, 2017)
This is a hybrid event for the audience. Prior registration is required. Please visit http://bit.ly/44c2geX to register. For inquiries, please email Louisa at .
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