International Students Enjoyed the Helsinki Summer School Course on Chinese Law

The Helsinki Summer School Course: Law and Society in China took place at the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki in August. The course was coordinated and taught by the Finnish China Law Center’s postdoctoral researcher Dr. Yihong Zhang, together with guest lecturers from the United Kingdom (Professor Eva Pils), Italy (Dr. Flora Sapio) and the Hong Kong SAR (Professor Chao Xi). This year is the first time that the Helsinki Summer School offers a course on Chinese law. Students from nine different countries and three continents have participated in this two-week intensive course.

The course provides a unique exposure to research and scholarship on the Chinese legal system. It covers a wide range of legal areas, including criminal justice, corporate social responsibility, company law, foreign investment law and securities regulation, etc. One student of the course, Steffen Schwardmann, who is studying Political Science and Sociology at the University of Kassel said that “The broad range of topics made the course immensely informative.”

The course highlights the comparative value of learning about the Chinese legal system. Another student of the course, Amanda Allcock, who is studying law at the King’s College London said that the course helped her to “place China’s legal system in a global context and use my own understanding of UK law to compare and contrast.” She also recognized that the course has allowed her “to critically analyze both systems and look to future developments.”

On the pedagogical side, the course has encouraged open discussion and teamwork among students. Every student had the chance to give a short presentation in class, thereby demonstrating their understanding of the assigned course materials. Through the combination of individual student presentation, teacher-guided discussion and teamwork, students have learned to articulate their ideas and communicate with other participants of the course.

The Helsinki Summer School has also arranged a series of social activities to give participants the opportunity to get to know each other and to explore the capital area of Finland during their spare time. Such activities included, for instance, evening on an island, wildlife and sauna trip to the scenic Nuuksio national park, and a fun open air event that gave participants a taste of the Finnish culture.

We believe that the students of this course will continue to use the knowledge and skills they have obtained at the Helsinki Summer School. We look forward to having the next Helsinki Summer School course on Chinese law in the near future. The Helsinki Summer School 2018 will be arranged 7.8.-23.8.2018.

 

 

Photo by Tapio Kovero

Text by Yihong Zhang