CESL 10th Anniversary Celebration Photo by Lu Yunkai

Chinese Co-Dean of CESL, Professor Liu Fei

On behalf of the school, Huang Jin expressed a sincere welcome to the EU Ambassador and to all guests and friends from China and abroad to the celebration. Also, he expressed a warm congratulations on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of CESL, a sincere thanks to the education authorities, legal experts and scholars of the EU and China, all of whom he said, support and help CESL a great deal.

President of CUPL, Professor Huang Jin

Huang Jin spoke of the joint unveiling ceremony of CESL on 23 October 2008 by former Chinese Vice Premier, Mr. Li Keqiang and former Chairman of the European Commission, Mr. Barroso, which indicated the official establishment of the CESL. Both parties pointed out that it is necessary to establish CESL as a world-class law school focusing on cultivating legal talents both in China and in the West. This shows that the Chinese government and the EU pay high regard to the cooperation and exchange of legal education between China and the EU. In the last ten years, with the support of the Chinese government and the European Union and with the cooperation of institutions from China and the EU and 16 universities, including the University of Hamburg and CUPL, and with the participation of many Chinese and European experts and scholars, CESL has become an indispensable platform for academic and cultural exchanges between China and the EU. It has made great progress in training, scientific research, and social services. CESL has not only cultivated more than 1,000 highly-qualified legal minds, but also promoted comparative legal studies of Chinese and European laws and studies of legal issues in the process of communication between China and the EU. This greatly boosted academic exchanges, cultural exchanges and legal cooperation in general between China and the EU.

Huang Jin pointed out that 2018 is not only the 40th anniversary of China's reform but also the 40th year of rehabilitation of the legal education at CUPL. The progress that CUPL has made up to now are the results of reform and open policy. The establishment and development of CESL owes a great deal of thanks to the achievement of friendly cooperation between China and the EU within the context of China's reform and China will continue to make reforms in a wider extent. CUPL will also continue to work with all parties in order to do great work with CESL and strive to achieve better. Huang Jin said, on the historical note of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of CESL, we must not forget our initial intentions when looking to the future and moving forward. We will continue to adhere to the internationally-orientationed cultivation of legal talents, as a fully-functioning platform of communication between China and the EU, for steady developments of economic relations, trade relations and cultural exchanges in order to continue to make more contributions to the accord between the Chinese and European people.

Mr. Nicolas Chapuis expressed that the establishment and development of CESL is no coincidence. China is the EU's largest trading partner. Every day both parties deal and trade with each other. It is of great significance to integrate the legal knowledge of China and the EU in the context of rapid economic development and deep integration of the two sides. He pointed out that the cultivation of legal talents in CESL has played a supplementary role in the development of China-EU relations. It does not only help us to understand mutual legal mechanisms, but also helps to integrate the respective legal cultures. At present the China-EU School of Law has reached a decade of achievements but this is still part of the continuing process of building‘Rome’. It is hoped that both sides will enhance exchange and communication between EU and Chinese scholars in the future and will promote the globalisation of the study of law.

EU ambassador to China, Mr. Nicolas Chapuis

Mr. Zhang Fusen delivered a speech entitled “The Decade of CESL and Its Future”. He pointed out that CESL is a cooperative institution for legal education jointly established by the Chinese government and the European Union. It has a close connection with the developments of economic and trade relationships and legal exchanges between China and the EU since its establishment. At CESL, legal scholars and students of different languages and cultural backgrounds study and work together and have accumulated positive teaching and research results in an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect. The diversified integration of the international environment is a valuable asset for the development of CESL. Cooperation is the source of the energy of CESL to continuously work hard to provide the exchange of legal studies and the research of issues between China and EU better in the future.

Former Minister of Justice, Chinese Co-chair of CESL JMC, Mr. Zhang Fusen

As the representative of Chinese partner universities, Mr. Ma Huaide reviewed the last ten years of CESL in his speech. He said that he was honoured to witness the establishment and continuous progress and prosperity of CESL. It would have been impossible cultivating such a large number of highly-qualified legal minds in the last 10 years without the support and help of the Chinese government and the EU. He hopes that in the future CESL will further promote cultural and legal exchanges between China and Europe and make greater contributions in promoting the building of a community of human prosperity and advance legal practice.

Vice-President of CUPL, Professor Ma Huaide

Representing the European partner universities, Professor Danièle Alexandrein of the University of Strasbourg, France, introduced the objectives of CESL and why the European side wanted to join the project. She said that the goal of CESL is to train students, provide professional training for legal professionals, to provide judges, lawyers and scholars with an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of foreign legal knowledge and to further promote the friendship between China and Europe. This project also provides an opportunity for the European side to gain an in-depth understanding of Chinese law. As an European professor, she also has benefited a lot.

Representative of the European partner universities, Professor Danièle Alexandrein in University of Strasbourg, France

Mao Wenfei, 2013 Double Masters graduate, and Dr. Peter Leibküchler spoke as Chinese and European alumni representatives respectively. They reviewed their years of study in Changping and said that the collision of ideology and culture in CESL had enriched their ideas. Critical thinking patterns and meticulous and accurate legal expressions had provided them with unique learning experiences. High-intensity learning tasks enabled them to be able to work in high-pressure environments.

2013 Double Masters, Mao Wenfei

Dr. Peter Leibküchler

In his closing speech, Hinrich Julius expressed that in the last ten years both China and the EU have, despite having different legal cultures, succeeded in teaching together and hence, encourage students to communicate with each other, explore educational standards considered most suitable for both sides, find the most appropriate solution to the problem and all-in-all have reached remarkable achievements. In the future CESL will continue to work hard and simultaneously looks forward to continuing a dialogue, exchange and joint development.

European Co-Chair of CESL’s JMC, Hinrich Julius

Translated by Yu Donghang (2018 double master student)

Edited by Caoimhe Cotter