Perhaps happening: The Transformation of Chinese Law

Author: Su Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Approaching the issue from an institutional perspective, this book examines the development of Chinese legal studies over the past 25 years as an important component of the rule of law practices and institutional construction in the transforming China. It is a reflection and critique of law itself from the perspective of a legal scholar, expanding the field of legal research. The book focuses on the overall pattern and basic trends of the development and transformation of legal studies, as well as the underlying academic institutional and social contexts that support this pattern. Grounded in empirical and experiential research, the author treats some phenomena in contemporary Chinese legal studies as symptoms and attempts to diagnose the underlying institutional issues. By intertwining macro-level perspectives with micro-level analyses, the author explores shifts in the knowledge types within contemporary Chinese legal studies, the quantity and quality of academic outputs, academic translation, and changes in the mainstream ideological trends of law. The book also analyzes a series of social factors that constrain and influence the development of legal studies and legal scholars, including social changes, social expectations, academic traditions, and more. Additionally, the author proposes a series of recommendations regarding the institutional construction of legal research. This is an empirical study on the current state of Chinese legal studies, as well as a theoretical work. It is both a sociological study of law and a sociological study of the sociology of legal research, representing the first of its kind in China.