Chinese Legal Studies and Chinese Legal Culture: Digitalization and Sustainable Development
The project will explore the development of Chinese culture and Chinese law from a Danish (Nordic) perspective in the context of globalization. It aims at increasing a mutual understanding and knowledge of perceptions of culture, nature, digitalization and rule of law in China and Denmark contributing to global efforts to support a sustainable digital society, as culture is both an enabler and a driver of the social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
Wen Xiang as the PI of the project is affiliated to iCourts.
THE PROJECT IS CLOSED
Project period: 2018-2021
It is noted that the ancient “Silk Road” was not only seen as a trade tool, but also seen as a bridge with significant cultural meanings. In recent years, with the adoption of the China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative (BRI), China has become more actively engaged in the global economy and legal order. The BRI as a modern version of silk road could serve as a passage for exchange of Eastern and Western civilizations in the culturally diversifying world. Cultural diversity has long been recognized in China, the founding father of Chinese historiography Sima Qian’s (145 BC - 86 BC) account on different cultural groups is expressed as “Tian Xia Su Tu Er Tong Gui” in Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian). It offers us a useful insight into the perception of cultural diversity since the Han Dynasty. In modern China, it is also well said by Fei Xiaotong that we need to be culturally conscious, striving for harmony but not sameness (He Er Bu Tong).
It is vital that China strives to integrate the Chinese traditional culture and value into its modern concept of a harmonious society. Meanwhile it is of significance to explore the global implications of China’s new policies. Though the Chinese and Danish (Western) concepts of sustainable development could be arguably ideologically, and historically different, it is worth noting that the western and eastern civilizations show similarities by joining forces on the platform of ecological civilization, reflecting new development pathways to achieve a cleaner, healthier, more beautiful and sustainable feature.
Sub-project: Wen Xiang is a Co-PI of a project on Plant Food and Pleasure-Food Consumption’s Sustainability and Pleasrure Schism Network, which will identify the most relevant research and the needs for interdisciplinary research related to sustainable food consumption. This will create a holistic roadmap to accelerate the necessary transition to a sustainable plant-based consumption manner.
Wen Xiang is part of the 4 EU+Summer School in International Business Law (lead by Prof. Joanna Lam) and lectures course on Global Carbon Market and Emission Trading Systems: Investment Perspective.
Conferences:
16th Annual Conference of European China Law Studies Association, Wen Xiang, conference organizer, sponsored by Sino-Danish Center and Carlsberg Foundation, S.C.Van Foundation, ThinkChina, Copenhagen, September 2022; The ECLS annual conference includes 36 panels and 2 keynotes.
“Sustainability Strategy and Asian Investments in Energy Sector in Africa: Regulation, Governance and Investment”, Asia and Africa in Transition, Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI conference 2021), KU, June 2021.
Wen Xiang, Olubayo Oluduro and Joanna Lam, conference organizers.
9th Sino-Finnish International Seminar on Comparative Law
Organized by the China Law Center, the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Law Institute, Beijing, September 2019.
Wen Xiang, Presentation on To Regulate or Not: Regulatory Challenges of Genome Editing Crops in the EU.
Beijing Impact Investing Days
International Conference organized by CBS and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, May 2019, Beijing.
Wen Xiang, organizing committee member.
International Law in Times of Trade Wars and Global Environmental Problems: Protection or Protectionism?
Organized by National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia), the ESIL IG on International Environmental Law, and the ASIL IG on IP Law, May 2019, Moscow.
Wen Xiang, Presentation on Trade Synergies and Competition of Green Technologies: Prospects and Challenges between China and Nordic Countries.
China, Sustainable Development, and Policy-Making, 2nd Nordic-Chinese Forum for International Economic Law, April 2019, Copenhagen.
Organized by Joanna Lam, Wen Xiang and Günes Ünüvar.
China in International Economic Dispute Resolution, 1st Nordic-Chinese Forum for International Economic Law, January 2018, Copenhagen.
Organized by Joanna Lam and Wen Xiang.
Other events:
iCourts Lunch Seminar:
“WTO Appellate Body and International Rule of Law”, December 1st, 2020, Ms. Hong Zhao, Chairperson of Appellate Body, WTO.
- Wen Xiang (ed.), 2023. Special Issue on Regulating Digital Economy in China, Asian Pacific Law Review (invited)
- Wen Xiang (ed.), 2023. Introduction of Regulating Digital Economy in China, Asian Pacific Law Review (invited)
- Yi Ma and Wen Xiang, Enforcing law through authoritarian environmentalism? State and non-state actors in China’s Environmental Public Interest Litigation", Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 2023.
- Olubayo Oluduro and Wen Xiang, China’s Investment in the Nigerian Energy Sector: A Prognosis of the Dispute Settlement Paradigm, Laws (submitted in 2023)
- Wen Xiang and Olubayo Oluduro, Integrating Sustainability Strategies into Chinese Investments in the Nigerian Energy Sector (Journal of African Law, submitted in 2023)
- Ma, Yi & Xiang, Wen, Clash of Local Titans: Lawsuits between Procuratorial Organs and Environmental Bureaus in China, 18 May 2021, ThinkChina.dk.
- Wen Xiang, Wen, Precautionary Principle and Regulation of GMOs in China, In: “Interpretation of the Precautionary Principle by the Courts: National, Comparative and International Analysis” (translated from Portuguese original), eds. de Oliveira, Moraes, and Ferreira, 2019
- Wen Xiang, Risk Regulation of Agricultural GMOs in China: Challenges and Prospect,. In: “Genetically Modified Organisms in Developing Countries”, eds. Adenle, Morris, and Murphy, Cambridge University Press 2017
This research track aims to reflect on the current discussion on digitalization, geopolitics, law and legal culture as perceived from Western and Chinese perspectives. It is expected to contribute to an understanding of the processes of legal, cultural, political and societal transformations sparked off in the digital era, and their relevant impact on European (Danish) and Chinese societies The resulting exchange of knowledge will be of direct relevance to Danish, Chinese and International academics, regulators and lawyers. Digitalization and the digital revolution are changing the world in the 21st century in terms of communication, (resource) control, censorship, commerce and surveillance of people, organizations, and markets. Size matters, huge states, and private actors play a considerable role in this development, where state and private governed ‘surveillance capitalism’ and ‘social credit systems’ coexist globally. It is noted that digitalization is far more than purely technological advances.
Advanced digitalization urges accountable up-to-date ethical and legal guidelines to address the impact of the digitalization on cultural and societal transformation globally. It requires a more holistic and responsible approach to promote cultural changes, social diversity and democratic values. Digitalization must be accompanied by compatible cultural policies to maximize opportunities for access and public participation, individual and collective creativities. In this way, digitalization could play a creative role to spread democratic values conveyed by artistic and cultural tools. The research strives to contribute to a better understanding for both Denmark and China towards a culture of responsible innovation and democratic societies empowering their citizens in a modern digital age.
Conferences:
Digitalization of Justice and Predictive Justice: European and Asian Perspectives, Wen Xiang, conference organizer in collaboration with Rome Tre University, May 2023
Hybrid Conference - The Second Conference on Digitalization and Legal Culture
Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, Università Roma Tre - Sala del Consiglio and University of Copenhagen
The Digitalization of Private Law: European and International Perspectives, Roma Tre University, 5 April 2023
Chair: Chris Thomale, Professor, Roma Tre University
Keynote speaker: Maria Chiara Malaguti, President of UNIDROIT
Discussant: Wen Xiang, University of Copenhagen
16th Annual Conference of European China Law Studies Association, conference organized by Wen Xiang, sponsored by Sino-Danish Center and Carlsberg Foundation, S.C.Van Foundation, ThinkChina, Copenhagen, September 2022; The ECLS annual conference includes 36 panels and 2 keynotes.
SDC Interdisciplinary Seminar, 29-30 November 2022
Wen Xiang, Keynote on Implication and development of China’s Data related Regulations
New Challenges in Doing Research on China, July 2022, Association for Social Science Research on China (Germany)
Panel 2. Data security, privacy, and confidentiality
Moderator: Björn Alpermann (University of Würzburg)
Wen Xiang (University of Copenhagen)
Julia Gurol (University of Freiburg)
Seminar on China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), Copenhagen (Hybrid), 24 November 2021
Organized by Danish-Chinese Business Forum, Danish Chamber of Commerce HK and The Royal Danish Consulate General in Guangzhou
Welcome and Introduction
By Danish Chinese Business Forum, Danish Chamber of Commerce HK and The Royal Danish Consulate General in Guangzhou
Introduction of the Law
By Kent Woo and Quentin Bottasso , Zhong Lun Law Firm
PIPL and Use of Genetic Information in the Pharmaceutical Industry
By Dr. Wen Xiang, ThinkChina UCPH Faculty of Law
10.00 Q&A
Moderated by Rasmus Sehested Thormann, DCBF
Seminar on China’s New Data Law: Implications of the Law for Danish-Chinese Research Collaboration
Organizers: Social Science @ Sino Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC) and Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK) in Shanghai, Copenhagen, October 2021
Panel discussion on the impact on Danish-Chinese Research Collaboration
Moderator: Stine Haakonsson, Associate Professor, CBS; Principal Coordinator for SDC Social Science
Panel:
Hong Yanqing (Associate Professor at the Law School, Beijing Institute of Technology)
Maj Grasten (Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School)
Niels Kaffenberger (Senior Scientific Officer, DLR Project Management Agency)
Wen Xiang (Associate Professor at Centre for Excellence of International Courts, University of Copenhagen)
Seminar on Smart Courts and the Informatization of China’s Judicial System, On 25 October 2021, the Finnish China Law Center, University of Helsinki
The Development of Chinese Smart Courts within the Broader Context of Judicial Reform, Björn Ahl, Professor and Chair of Chinese Legal Culture at the University of Cologne;
‘The Rise of Smart Courts in China: A Pathway to E-justice in the Digital Age?’ was given by Wen Xiang,
15th Annual Conference of European China Law Studies Association, Wen Xiang, presentation on Regulation of Privacy and Data Protection in Managing the COVID-19 in China , Warsaw, September, 2021;
2nd Digital Economy and Future Rule of Law“
Summit, Renmin University of China, December 2019.
Wen Xiang, Presentation on Impact of Digitalization on Courts: a Danish (Nordic) Perspective.
Seminar on Digitalization and Legal Culture: Western and Chinese Perspectives
Organized by Hanne Petersen and Wen Xiang, November 2019. It was supported by S.C. Van Foundation, ThinkChina.dk, research centers iCourts and CECS (Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen).
- Wen Xiang (ed.), 2023. Special Issue on Regulating Digital Economy in China, Asian Pacific Law Review (invited)
- Wen Xiang (ed.), 2023. Introduction of Regulating Digital Economy in China, Asian Pacific Law Review (invited)
- Hanne Petersen, Wen Xiang and Marya Akhtar (eds.), Digitalization and Legal Culture: Western and Chinese Perspectives, Special Issue, NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research, 2020
- Junlin Peng and Wen Xiang, The Rise of Smart Courts in China: Opportunities and Challenges to the Judiciary in a Digital Age, NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research, 2020
External researchers
- Olubayo Oluduro, Professor of Law, Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria
- Michael D. Birnhack, Professor, Associate Dean for Research, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University
- ZHANG Jiyu, Associate Professor, Dean Assistant of the Law School, Executive Director of the Law and Technology Institute, Renmin, University of China
- Bryant Walker Smith, associate professor in the School of Law and (by courtesy) the School of Engineering at the University of South Carolina
Funding
Chinese Legal Studies and Chinese Legal Culture: Digitalization and Sustainable Development has received funding from S.C. Van Fonden.
Project: Chinese Legal Studies and Chinese Legal Culture
(Project number: 1671)
Period: 2018-2021
Contact
PI Associate Professor
Wen Xiang
South Campus, Building: 6A.4.43
DK 2300 Copenhagen S
Phone: +45 35 33 10 14
Mail: wen.xiang@jur.ku.dk
PI Professor
Henrik Palmer Olsen
South Campus, Building: 6A.2.14
DK 2300 Copenhagen S
Phone: +45 35 32 32 19
Mail: henrik.palmer.olsen@jur.ku.dk