2023: Building China’s Independent Legal Thinking Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Law

Law professor Zhang Wenxian’s June 3 talk can gives you an idea how Xi Jinping on law as in many other areas (Secretary Xi has been publishing books at a furious pace0 is reshaping China. Thanks to Susan Finder who pointed this article out to me.

Other translations on Chinese law on this blog:

• 2017 Zhang Xuebo: Observations on the History of Rule by Document 1982-2017
• 2023: PRC Administrative Law Decisions Taken Offline
• 2022: Zhou Shifeng on 2015 China’s Rights Lawyers Mass Arrests 
• 2004/2019/2022: PRC Lawyer: China Law Will Progress, Despite Everything
• 2022: Chinese Law Prof’s Lament and Encouragement
• Xi Jinping Thought on Rule By Law
• Legal Daily Daily: Tianjin U Law Student and Faculty Discuss “Lying Flat”
• 2019: Some Thoughts on Law in China

Zhang Wenxian “Construction of an Independent Legal Knowledge System in China and the Development of Law Journals” at China Law Association Law Journals Research Association 2023 Annual Academic Meeting

From Wikipedia in Chinese article 张文显 Zhang Wenxian

Zhang Wenxian ( 1951- ), male, is a native of Nanyang, Henan Province, and a jurist of the People’s Republic of China. He graduated from Jilin University with a master’s degree in Legal Theory from the Law Department and a doctorate degree in Marxist Philosophy from the Philosophy Department, and has a postgraduate degree as a professor.

Biography

From 1983 to 1985, he studied at Columbia University School of Law, and from 1989 to 1990, he was a senior visiting scholar at the University of Washington, U.S.A. From 1985 to 1993, he served as deputy dean of the Law Department, deputy dean of the Law School, dean, associate professor, professor, and doctoral supervisor of Jilin University, and from January 1994, he served as vice president of Jilin University, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, and deputy director of the Academic Committee of Jilin University. From January 1994 to 1993, he served as Vice President of Jilin University, Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee, Deputy Director of the Academic Committee of Jilin University, and Member of the Academic Degree Committee of the University.

In December 2007, he became Vice President and Secretary of the Party Group of the JilinProvincial High People’ s Court. in January 2008, he was elected President of the Jilin Provincial High People’s Court. he has been a deputy to the National People’s Congress since 2008 ^[1].

In March 2008, he ceased to serve as Secretary of the Party Committee of Jilin University. in January 2013, he stepped down as President of the Jilin Provincial High People’s Court.

In January 2015, Zhejiang University hired Zhang Wenxian as a senior professor of liberal arts, director of the Collaborative Innovation Center for Judicial Civilization, and honorary dean of Guanghua Law School. [2 ^] In December 2019, the Institute of State Systems of Zhejiang University was established, with Zhang Wenxian as its director. [ ^3]

I have added URLs, bolding and italics.

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Contributing to the Construction of an Independent Legal Knowledge System in China

—Speech at the Annual Conference of the Research Association of China Law Journal, 2023
By Zhang Wenxian

June 3, 2023

为建构中国自主法学知识体系建功立业 ——在中国法学会法学期刊研究会2023年年会上的讲话
张文显 2023年6月3日

Respected Director Lü Zhongmei,

Leaders, executive directors, and members of the Research Association of China Law Journal, colleagues and distinguished guests present at the conference:

Greetings, everyone! First of all, I sincerely thank Comrade Lü Zhongmei, Member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Vice Chairman of the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Vice President of the China Law Society, for representing the China Law Society and delivering an inspiring and enthusiastic speech. I hope that the Research Association of China Law Journal will earnestly study and comprehend the important spirit of Vice President Lü Zhongmei’s speech and implement it throughout this annual conference.

Next, I would like to share three opinions with you on the theme of this year’s conference, “Constructing an Independent Legal Knowledge System in China and the Development of Law Journals,” and exchange ideas with all of you.

I. Deeply understand the historical background and significant importance of constructing an independent legal knowledge system in China.

Since the reform and opening-up policy, especially in the new era, our party has consistently promoted the prosperity and development of philosophy and social sciences. In 2017, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Chinese Characteristics in Philosophy and Social Sciences.” In 2022, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the first national plan for the development of philosophy and social sciences since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, titled “National 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Philosophy and Social Sciences.”

So, how do we construct the Chinese characteristics in philosophy and social sciences? On April 25, 2022, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during his visit to the Renmin University of China: “Accelerating the construction of Chinese characteristics in philosophy and social sciences ultimately means constructing an independent knowledge system in China.” This important statement profoundly illustrates that constructing an independent knowledge system in China is the overarching approach and crucial point in building Chinese characteristics in philosophy and social sciences. 

Law is an important supporting discipline of philosophy and social sciences and plays a significant role in governing the country and maintaining social order. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statement not only provides us with the correct path for constructing an independent legal knowledge system in China and building a Chinese-style legal system, but also equips us with sharp ideological weapons and scientific methods. 

In March of this year, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Strengthening Legal Education and Theoretical Research in the New Era” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”). The “Opinions” emphasize the need to strengthen the research on the basic principles of Marxist legal science and conduct original research on Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law. It also emphasizes the importance of focusing on the comprehensive practice of governing the country according to law in the new era, conducting theoretical research in law that is rooted in Chinese culture, based on the national conditions, and addresses Chinese issues, summarizing and refining the concepts, viewpoints, and theories that have distinctive characteristics, originality, and representativeness of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and constructing an independent legal knowledge system in China.

Constructing an independent legal knowledge system in China is a great undertaking in the new era to promote the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist legal studies. It represents a fundamental transformation from being mere importers of Western theories to creators and contributors of Chinese theories in the world of academia. It serves as the academic foundation for building a distinctive Chinese-style legal system, meets the urgent need to cultivate high-quality legal professionals with both integrity and competence, and is an inevitable requirement for advancing the modernization of the Chinese-style rule of law. In summary, it is a profound revolution of great significance both in the field of law and globally. We must earnestly study and comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping’s April 25, 2022 speech, thoroughly grasp the spirit of the opinions issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, and through the discussions and exchanges at this annual conference, further understand the historical position and significant importance of constructing an independent legal knowledge system in China. We should enhance our sense of mission and responsibility in accelerating its construction, and strengthen the proactive participation of law journals in the construction of the legal knowledge system.

II. Law journals have a unique responsibility and great role in constructing China’s independent legal knowledge system

Law journals must be loyal to the Party, loyal to socialism, and loyal to Marxism. [法学期刊姓党、姓社、姓马] They are the main force and main channel for comprehensively occupying the ideological and theoretical position in the field of law with the socialist rule of law thought with Chinese characteristics in the new era. They are also the practical base and powerful force for promoting the construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system. We should actively participate, promote, and lead in the epoch-making knowledge innovation and disciplinary revolution in the construction of the legal knowledge system. Therefore, we should make efforts to do the following work well:

First, we need to continuously deepen the research on Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law and produce more high-level research achievements. The core of a knowledge system lies in its theory. The core of an independent legal knowledge system in China must be legal theory, and the soul of Chinese legal theory can only be Marxist legal theory, socialist legal theory with Chinese characteristics, and especially Xi Jinping’s thought on rule by law. Xi Jinping’s thought on rule by law, with its scientific theoretical thinking, profound historical perspective, and broad global vision, elucidates the universal laws, logical reasoning, and future trends of human legal development. It represents the theoretical expression of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics in the new era, contemporary Marxist legal thought in China, and Marxist legal thought in the 21st century. It embodies the fundamental adherence to the comprehensive rule of law and possesses distinct scientific, people-centered, practical, and open characteristics. 

Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law is the greatest step forward in the development of Chinese legal theory with distinctive and profound legal philosophical systems, forming the main content of the independent legal knowledge system in China. It not only serves as the guiding ideology and theoretical foundation for constructing an independent legal knowledge system in China but also contains a series of original theories that represent the intellectual essence and high-quality resources of the independent legal knowledge system in China.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, especially after the Central Conference on Comprehensive Rule of Law, where Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law was officially put forward, Chinese law journals have organized the writing and publication of a large number of research achievements on Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, including excellent works. In the future, we should strengthen the research on Xi Jinping’s thought on rule by law, including the underlying worldview and methodology, and publish more high-level research achievements to make greater contributions to the construction of the Chinese legal knowledge system guided by Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law.

Second, we need to deepen and expand the research on the practice and development achievements of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. The era is the mother of thought, and practice is the source of theory. To construct an independent legal knowledge system in China, we must base it on the practice of socialist rule by law with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We should use the developing Marxist theories and methodologies as new perspectives and tools to systematically and scientifically summarize the vibrant experience of comprehensively governing the country according to law and building a socialist rule of law in China. This will deeply reveal the essential characteristics, development path, and practical logic of socialist rule of law in our country. By developing new achievements in understanding, we can enhance the subjectivity, autonomy, and contemporaneity of the Chinese legal knowledge system.

In recent years, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important instructions regarding this matter. For example:

• During the 35th Collective Study Session of the 19th Central Political Bureau, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed, “We should strengthen the research on the original concepts, judgments, categories, and theories of our country’s rule of law, and enhance the construction of the Chinese characteristic legal discipline system, academic system, and discourse system.” 
• During the 17th collective study session of the 19th Central Political Bureau, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward, “We should strengthen the theoretical research on China’s socialist state system and legal system, summarize the successful experience of our country’s institutional construction over the past seventy years, and construct an academic system, theoretical system, and discourse system for the theoretical framework of China’s institutional construction, providing theoretical support for firm institutional confidence.” 
• During the 37th collective study session of the 19th Central Political Bureau, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “We should rely on the vivid practice of the development of human rights in our country to refine original concepts. We should develop the disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system of human rights in our country.“

 In an article commemorating the 40th anniversary of the promulgation and implementation of the current constitution, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed, “We should combine contemporary Chinese constitutional system and constitutional practices, strengthen the theoretical research on China’s constitution, and refine its characteristic concepts and original perspectives.” 

During the collective study session of the Central Political Bureau on the implementation of the Civil Code, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “We should adhere to the guidance of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, based on our national conditions and reality, strengthen the theoretical research on civil legal systems, and promptly construct a civil law theoretical system and discourse system that reflect the socialist nature, distinctive Chinese features, practical characteristics, and contemporary characteristics, providing theoretical support for the effective implementation of the Civil Code and the development of our country’s civil legal system.” 

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions are characterized by their ideological, targeted, and guiding nature. They are profound in meaning and carry deep emotions. However, to be realistic, we have not implemented them well in the field of legal studies, and law journals have not done a good job either. Over the years, how many iconic and original concepts, propositions, and viewpoints have we extracted from the practice of socialist rule of law in the new era, injected into the Chinese legal knowledge system and disciplinary system, and formed a general consensus in terms of major innovative theories? We can reflect on this question during this conference in order to promote the implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions in law journals and achieve fruitful results in the field of legal studies.

Third, we must continue to vigorously promote the study of excellent traditional Chinese legal culture. Excellent traditional Chinese legal culture is the intellectual source and cultural foundation of China’s independent legal knowledge system. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “The Chinese nation has a profound cultural tradition, forming a distinctive ideological system that embodies the knowledge, wisdom, and rational thinking accumulated by the Chinese people for thousands of years. This is our unique advantage.”  “Since ancient times, our country has formed a unique Chinese legal system in the history of world legal systems and has accumulated profound legal culture… The Chinese legal system was formed under specific historical conditions in our country, demonstrating the great creativity of the Chinese nation and the profound heritage of Chinese legal civilization. The Chinese legal system embodies the spirit and wisdom of the Chinese nation, and there are many excellent ideas and concepts worthy of inheritance.” 

General Secretary Xi Jinping has cited classic concepts, judgments, memorable phrases, and maxims from ancient Chinese legal thought in a series of speeches. They are all high-quality resources for the contemporary Chinese legal knowledge system. Through creative transformation, innovative development, and critical inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese legal culture and its ideological essence, they will undoubtedly highlight the historical heritage, national character, and cultural heritage of China’s independent legal knowledge system. A few years ago, at the annual meeting of the Law Journals Research Association, I called for the serious implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions regarding the inheritance of excellent legal culture and emphasized the importance of Chinese legal history research. Every journal should publish a certain number of research achievements in traditional legal culture. There have been significant improvements in recent years, but the balance is still lacking. I hope that each journal will increase its efforts in this regard.

Fourth, we need to lead the creation of the conceptual and categorical system of China’s independent legal knowledge system. Concepts and categories are the crystallization of understanding, the carriers of thought, and the cells of knowledge systems. They are the yardstick for measuring the theoretical thinking level of a nation. Whether in natural sciences or social sciences, the existence form of a knowledge system is a conceptual system. The core concepts play a pivotal role in the conceptual system, while the cornerstone categories serve as the foundation and can become research paradigms. Therefore, to construct China’s independent legal knowledge system, we must combine the “scientific spirit” with the “spirit of the craftsman” and create a conceptual and categorical system that not only has profound ideological content but also exquisite structure. 

Contemporary Chinese legal scholars are not as proficient in refining legal concepts and categories as ancient Chinese thinkers and differ significantly from Western methodologists. The gap lies mainly in the insufficient ability, level, and achievements in refining original and universal concepts and categories. Without a large number of original concepts and categories, lacking innovative and paradigmatic core concepts and cornerstone categories necessary for constructing a legal knowledge system, the “construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system” would be nothing but a “castle in the air.” This has become a bottleneck in the construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system. 

Therefore, it is urgent and essential to accelerate the improvement of theoretical thinking ability, refine the conceptual and categorical system of China’s independent legal knowledge system, and forge more “intellectual chips.” Law journals have unique advantages in promoting the formation and dissemination of new concepts, categories, and propositions representing the achievements of contemporary legal understanding. They can establish integrated and systematic columns to contribute fundamentally to the construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system by introducing original and creative concepts, categories, and propositions.

III. Key law journals should play a supportive role in the construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system.

On September 29th of last year, the “Conference on the Construction of the Knowledge System of Philosophy and Social Sciences and the Enhancement of Consultation and Service Capacity in Universities” organized by the Ministry of Education was held in Beijing. According to the deployment of the Ministry of Education and the work arrangement of the Department of Social Sciences, I serve as the convener of the major project for the construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system. 

Subsequently, we started planning and demonstrating the work of the major project. Currently, the demonstration and preliminary organizational coordination work has been completed. We envision that the construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system will be carried out in four phases, following a timeline towards 2035: 

• The first phase involves conducting foundational theoretical and methodological research on the construction of the independent legal knowledge system. 
• The second phase focuses on the construction of autonomous knowledge systems in constitutional law and specialized fields of law. 
• The third phase involves the construction of knowledge systems in specific areas of law and emerging interdisciplinary legal studies. 
• The fourth phase entails the integrated and systematic construction of China’s independent legal knowledge system as a whole. 

These four phases can also be considered as four major lines of development.

Constructing China’s independent legal knowledge system requires strong academic support. Law journals and law databases will play a vital role. We welcome all law journals and databases to support the development of this system.

Finally, I wish the Law Journals Research Association a successful annual conference in 2023! Thank you!

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Mentioned in the article above:

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Philosophy and Social Science with Chinese Characteristics

中共中央印发《关于加快构建中国特色哲学社会科学的意见》

2017-05-16 17:48 Source: Xinhua News Agency

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BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) — Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Philosophical and Social Sciences with Chinese Characteristics (hereinafter referred to as “Opinions”). The Opinions emphasize that to adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must accelerate the construction of philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics. To hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, in-depth implementation of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches and new ideas and new strategies for governing the country, adhere to the people’s service, socialism, adhere to the blossoming of a hundred flowers, a hundred schools of thought, based on China, learn from foreign, digging history, grasp the contemporary, care for mankind, facing the future, fully embodies the inheritance, national, originality, modernity, systematic In order to provide strong ideological and theoretical support for the realization of the “Two Centenaries” goal and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we will innovate and develop philosophy and social science.

The “Opinions” pointed out that, standing on a new historical starting point, better to carry out the great struggle with many new historical characteristics, to promote the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, need to give full play to the role of philosophy and social science, the need for philosophy and social science workers to stand on the tide of the times, the first voice of thought, and actively for the party and the people to learn to establish the theory, to propose.

The “Opinions” pointed out that we should adhere to the guiding position of Marxism in the field of philosophy and social sciences. Marxist theory as a compulsory course, organize the majority of party members, cadres, especially leading cadres to study and research classic works, promote the compilation of classic works, guided reading work, strengthen education and teaching. Strengthen the study and research of the theoretical innovations since the 18th Communist Party Congress, and constantly deepen the study of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches and new ideas and new strategies for governing the country, sort out and summarize new explorations and new practices, and constantly expand new horizons and make new generalizations in theory. Promote the Chineseization, modernization and popularization of Marxism, develop 21st century Marxism and contemporary Chinese Marxism, and integrate the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics into all aspects of discipline construction, personnel training, scientific research, curriculum development, textbook writing and academic evaluation.

The “Opinions” pointed out that the construction of the discipline system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics should be accelerated. Consolidate the basic status of the first-level discipline of Marxist theory, strengthen the construction of Marxism-related disciplines in various disciplines of philosophy and social sciences, implement the innovation plan for the construction system of ideological and political theory courses in colleges and universities, develop socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, and enrich the development of Marxist philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism.

We strive to build an all-round, all-field, all-factor philosophy and social science system, accelerate the improvement of disciplines with supporting role in philosophy and social science, focus on the layout of a number of disciplines with significant impact on civilization inheritance and closely related to economic and social development, develop emerging disciplines and cross-disciplines with important practical significance, and support endangered disciplines and cold disciplines with important cultural value and inheritance significance. Strengthen the planning of textbook construction, establish and improve the mechanism of textbook editing and review in colleges and universities, innovate the institutional mechanism of textbook preparation, promotion and use, and mobilize the enthusiasm of scholars, schools and publishing institutions.

The “Opinions” pointed out that we should accelerate the construction of the academic system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics.

• Stay rooted in China, highlight the characteristics of the times, establish an international perspective, inherit and carry forward the excellent Chinese traditional culture, actively absorb and learn from foreign beneficial theoretical perspectives and academic achievements, integrate various resources, and constantly promote knowledge innovation, theoretical innovation, methodological innovation, enhance the ability and level of academic originality, and promote the Chineseization of academic theory.
• We will establish institutional mechanisms to stimulate the vitality of scientific research, implement policies to reform the management of financial research projects and funds in the social sciences, coordinate and manage important talents, important positions, major research plans, major research projects, and major fund allocations, strengthen the construction of academic communities, philosophical and social science infrastructure and information technology, and encourage social funds to support scientific research through donations and the establishment of academic foundations.
• We will build an academic evaluation system with its own characteristics, adhere to the correct academic orientation, take academic quality, social impact and practical effects as the measurement criteria, establish a system for scientific research credit management and publication of evaluation results, establish a sound classification and evaluation mechanism, set up a scientific assessment cycle, and guide teaching and research staff to dedicate themselves to research and forge fine products.

The Opinions point out that the construction of a discourse system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics should be accelerated.

• Deepen the theoretical interpretation of the Party’s theoretical innovations, the core ideas of the Party’s theoretical innovations, the key discourse reflected in the field of various disciplines.
• Promote the transformation of philosophical and social science research results to decision-making and consultation, education and teaching, better serve the society and the public, and carry out various forms of popularization activities.
• Insist on using Chinese theory to explain Chinese practice, using Chinese practice to sublimate Chinese theory, innovating the expression of foreign discourse, and enhancing international discourse power.

The “Opinions” pointed out that the construction of a full range, echelon articulation of philosophy and social science talent team.

• Deepen the reform of the institutional mechanism for the development of talent, standardize and improve the title evaluation system, post employment system, to increase the value of knowledge as the guide, improve the income distribution incentive mechanism.
• Promote the formation of high-quality, rigorous learning, focus on integrity, the excellent academic style of responsibility, to create a clean, mutual learning, positive academic ecology, education and guidance of philosophy and social science workers to establish good academic ethics, comply with academic norms.

The “Opinions” stressed the need to strengthen and improve the leadership of the Party on the work of philosophy and social sciences. Party committees (party groups) at all levels should place the work of philosophy and social science in an important position, strengthen political leadership and work guidance, and solve practical problems in a timely manner. Coordinate the coordinated development of various types of think tanks, and vigorously improve the level of think tank construction. Leading cadres should treat philosophy and social science with a scientific attitude, respect the hard work and research results of philosophy and social science workers, take the initiative to deal with experts and scholars, make friends, conscientiously implement the Party’s intellectual policy, and strengthen the use of outstanding talents in philosophy and social science. Strengthen the relevant areas of legislation, increase publicity, and create a good atmosphere of respect for academics, respect for talent, reverence for science, the pursuit of truth.

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The General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the “National Plan for the Development of Philosophy and Social Sciences in the 14th Five-Year Plan”.

中共中央办公厅印发《国家“十四五”时期哲学社会科学发展规划》

2022-04-27 19:18 Source: Xinhua News Agency

Beijing, April 27 (Xinhua) — Recently, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued the “National Plan for the Development of Philosophy and Social Sciences in the 14th Five-Year Plan” (hereinafter referred to as “the Plan”), which focuses on implementing the strategic task of accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics proposed by the Party Central Committee, and making an overall plan for the “14th Five-Year Plan The “14th Five-Year Plan” period of philosophical and social science development to make a general plan.

[Glossary:

• “The Four Consciousnesses” sige yishi 四個意識  enhance political integrity, develop a better understanding of the general picture, follow the core leadership of the Central Committee, and act consistently with CPC Central Committee policy.
• “The Four Self-confidences” sige zixin  四個自信“confident in our chosen path, confident in our guiding theories, confident in our political system, and confident in our culture.”
• “The Two Safeguards” liangge weihu 兩個維護 “‘Safeguard the core position of the Xi Jinping-led Party Central Committee and at the core position of the whole party’ and ‘Safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee and centralized and unified leadership’”  End Glossary]

The Plan requires that the work of philosophy and social science should be guided by Xi Jinping’s socialist thought with Chinese characteristics in the new era, enhance the “Four Consciousness“, firm “Four Self-confidences“, and achieve “Two Safeguards“, adhere to the basis of China, learn from foreign, digging history, grasp the contemporary, care for humanity, facing the future, to accelerate the construction of philosophy of social science with Chinese characteristics as the theme, to enhance the academic originality of the main line, to strengthen the discipline system, academic system, the construction of the discourse system as support, to major projects, key projects, important platform as traction, to institutional reform and innovation. We will strive to build a philosophy and social science of Chinese characteristics with excellent disciplinary layout, solid academic foundation, high scientific research level, strong service capability and great international influence, and provide strong ideological and intellectual support for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country.

The Plan specifies that the work of philosophy and social sciences must adhere to the overall leadership of the Party, the implementation of the Party’s leadership to all aspects of the work; adhere to the principle that “literature and the arts serve the people and serve socialism“, the “may a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend” approach, establish a people-centered research orientation; it promotes the development of content and enhances the sustainable development capacity of philosophy and social sciences. It upholds integrity and innovation, strengthening the subjectivity and originality of philosophy and social sciences. It advocates for overall coordination, forming a unified leadership, division of labor and cooperation, and a scientific and efficient pattern of work in philosophy and social sciences.

The ‘Plan’ emphasizes the practical role of Marxism in guiding philosophy and social sciences. It calls for the in-depth implementation of Marxist theoretical research and construction projects, deepening the research and interpretation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forming a theoretical and academic support system for the Party’s innovative theories. It emphasizes the integration of the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and continues to promote the sinicization and modernization of Marxism in China, developing contemporary Chinese Marxism and Marxism of the 21st century.”

“The ‘Plan’ points out that we must accelerate the construction of the disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. Following the requirements of highlighting strengths, expanding fields, filling gaps, and improving the system, we promote the solid development of foundational disciplines, the outstanding advantages of key disciplines, the innovative development of emerging and interdisciplinary disciplines, and the succession of less popular disciplines.

• We aim to create a disciplinary system with Chinese characteristics and universal significance.
• We innovate the academic theoretical system, academic research organization system, academic platform support system, and academic evaluation system, enhancing the subjectivity, originality, localization, and competitiveness of philosophy and social sciences in our country.
• We adhere to the starting point and foothold of constructing academic discourse based on Chinese traditions, Chinese practices, and Chinese issues.
• We extract distinctive academic concepts with Chinese characteristics and global influence, accelerate the internationalization of Chinese academic research, deepen cultural exchanges, and form a broad vision and framework for Chinese academic research by drawing on the strengths of others.

The ‘Plan’ proposes strengthening the construction of new-type think tanks with Chinese characteristics. Efforts should be made to build a group of think tanks that have significant influence on decision-making, society, and international affairs. These new think tanks will provide support for promoting scientific, democratic, and law-based decision-making, advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities, driving high-quality economic and social development, and enhancing the country’s soft power.

The ‘Plan’ also emphasizes the importance of strengthening the construction of talent teams in philosophy and social sciences in the new era. Adhering to the Party’s leadership over talent, we implement a holistic development strategy for philosophy and social sciences centered on nurturing talents. We aim to build a comprehensive, well-connected, structurally sound, and professionally outstanding talent system in philosophy and social sciences.”

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General Office of the CPC Central Committee General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Strengthening Legal Education and Legal Theory Research in the New Era

2023-02-26 18:30 Source: Xinhua News Agency

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) — Recently, the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued “Opinions on Strengthening Legal Education and Legal Theory Research in the New Era” and issued a notice requiring all regions and departments to seriously implement it in conjunction with the actual situation.

The full text of the Opinions on Strengthening Legal Education and Legal Theory Research in the New Era is as follows:

Legal education and legal theory research bears the glorious mission of training high-quality rule by law talents and providing scientific theoretical support for the construction of China’s rule by law, and has an important position and role in promoting the comprehensive rule of law. In order to strengthen legal education and legal theory research in the new era, the following views are put forward.

I. General requirements

(A) Guiding Ideology. Adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era as the guide, earnestly study and propaganda to implement the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the rule of law, carry forward the great spirit of the founding of the Party, a deep understanding of the “two established” decisive significance, enhance the “Four Consciousness “and “Four Self-confidence” and “Two Safeguards”, unswervingly follow the road of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the combination of rule by law and rule by morality, adhere to the direction of socialist schooling, improve the rule of law We will also strengthen research on socialist rule of law theory with Chinese characteristics, enhance the capacity and level of legal research, accelerate the construction of a discipline system, academic system and discourse system of legal science with Chinese characteristics, and provide strong talent guarantee and theoretical support for building a socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics, building a socialist rule of law state, and promoting the comprehensive construction of a socialist modern state on the track of rule of law.

(B) Working Principles.

• Adhere to and strengthen the overall leadership of the Party, ensure that legal education and legal theory research always along the correct political direction.
• Adhere to the Center, act according to the overall situation, the legal education and legal theory research in the Party and the State work in the overall planning and promotion.
• Adhere to the moral education, moral and legal training, and strive to cultivate more rule of law talents with firm ideals and beliefs, strong family sentiments, and solid jurisprudential roots.
• Adhere to the law of law discipline development and the law of talent growth, classification construction and management of law schools.
• Insist on combining the Marxist theory of the rule of law with the specific reality of China and China’s excellent traditional legal culture, sum up the laws of socialist rule of law practice with Chinese characteristics, draw on the beneficial achievements of the world’s rule of law civilization, and promote the high-quality development of legal education and legal theory research.

(C) Main objectives

• By 2025, the regional layout and discipline layout of law schools will be more balanced, the management and guidance system of legal education will be more perfect, the quality of personnel training will be steadily improved, the shortcomings of talents in key areas will be accelerated, the field of legal theory research will be continuously expanded, the research capacity will be continuously improved, the basic theory research and applied countermeasure research will be more prosperous, and the research on socialist rule of law theory with Chinese characteristics will be further innovated and developed.
• By 2035, in line with the basic construction of the rule of law state, rule of law government and rule of law society, a number of first-class law schools with Chinese characteristics will be built, a number of law experts and scholars with international influence will be created, a large number of high-quality rule of law talents with both virtues and talents will have been trained, a law discipline system, academic system and discourse system with distinctive Chinese characteristics will be built, and a scientific, reasonable structure, systematic and efficient legal system will have been formed.
• The universities will continue to train a large number of high quality legal experts and scholars with moral and talent, build a legal discipline system, academic system and discourse system with distinctive Chinese characteristics, and form a legal education system and legal theory research system with scientific content, reasonable structure, complete system and high efficiency.

Second, adhere to the correct political direction

(D) Adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as the fundamental guide. In-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the rule of law, adhere to the Xi Jinping Thought on the rule of law to occupy a full range of legal education and legal theory research positions, education to guide the majority of teachers and students of law schools and legal theorists to become firm believers in Xi Jinping Thought on the rule of law, its active propagators and exemplary practitioners. Give full play to the role of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law Research Center (Institute) and theoretical research institutions in the rule of law sector, in-depth research and interpretation of the major original contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and constantly enrich the development of socialist theory of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics. Thoroughly promote the theoretical interpretation, academic expression and systematic construction of Xi Jinping thought on the rule of law, and promote the transformation of theoretical research results into curriculum, teaching materials and teaching systems. Coordinate and integrate research forces and resources, actively launch high-quality research results, and fully demonstrate the distinctive Chinese, practical and contemporary characteristics of Xi Jinping thought on the rule of law.

Comprehensively promote Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law into teaching materials, into the classroom and into students’ minds, create a compulsory core course on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law for law majors, encourage conditional higher education schools to open relevant compulsory and elective courses, jointly open courses related to the rule of law practice of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law with rule of law departments, create special course modules on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and carry out good education on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law for all students. Strengthen the training of teachers of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. Make good use of reading materials such as “Learning Outline of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law”, “Learning Questions and Answers on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law” and “Chronology of the Events of the Chinese Communist Party in the Century of Rule of Law”.

(E) Adhere to and strengthen the overall leadership of the Party. Stressing the Party’s leadership is the fundamental guarantee of socialist rule of law, fully implement the Party’s basic theory, basic line and basic strategy, guide the majority of law school teachers and students and legal theorists to consciously strengthen the Party’s leadership consciousness, improve the institutional mechanism of the Party’s leadership of legal education and legal theory research, and implement the Party’s leadership to all aspects of the whole process of legal education and legal theory research.

We will steadfastly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the organic unity of the Party’s leadership, the people’s sovereignty and the rule of law, guide the majority of law school teachers and students and legal theorists to take a clear and firm stance on issues of principle and major rights and wrongs, and resolutely oppose and resist the Western “constitutional governance” and “the struggle among the three powers” 三权鼎立 . We will resolutely oppose and resist such erroneous views as “constitutional governance”, “struggle among the three powers” and “independence of the judiciary”. Fully implement the Party’s education policy, insist on nurturing people to serve the Party and the state. Focus on cultivating builders and the next generation of successors for the socialist rule of law. Insist on using the Party’s innovative theories to lead theoretical research in law, study and grasp the Party’s glorious history and historical experience in leading the construction of the rule of law, educate and guide the majority of legal theorists to strive to be advocates of advanced ideas, pioneers of academic research, leaders of social trends, and firm supporters of the Party’s rule. Law schools and research institutes party organizations should strictly implement the main responsibility of party management, and effectively keep the direction, manage the position and build a good team.

(F) Strengthen ideological and political formation. Take politics as a fundamental requirement, educate and guide the majority of law teachers and theoreticians to improve political sensitivity and political discernment, strictly adhere to political discipline and political rules, political standards and political requirements throughout the legal education and legal theory research work.

• Ideological and political work is carried out throughout the whole process of legal education and teaching:
• Strengthening education on ideals and beliefs and core socialist values,
• Strengthening education on patriotism, collectivism and socialism,
• Promoting the construction of the ideological and political courses of law, organically integrating ideological and political education into the curriculum, classroom teaching, textbook construction, faculty construction, theoretical research and other aspects of personnel training,
• Educating and guiding teachers and students to be faithful admirers, conscientious abiders and firm defenders of socialist rule of law.

We will deeply grasp the political nature of legal theory research in the new era, consciously focus on major theoretical and practical issues such as building a socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics, building a socialist rule of law state, and comprehensively promoting the rule of law in all aspects of the country’s work, and build a strong position for Marxist rule of law theory.

Third, reform and improve the system of law schools

(G) Optimize the pattern development of law schools to meet the country’s needs. To serve the overall development of the country:

• Adapt to the regional demands for rule of law personnel as fundamental, adjust and optimize the regional layout of law schools, coordinate the national law disciplines and degree authorization point settings, and promote the balanced development of regional law education.
• Improve the access system for legal education, improve the early warning mechanism for the quality of law-related disciplines, and smoothly and orderly withdraw the institutions with inadequate schooling conditions, persistently low faculty levels and poor education quality.
• Establish a quality assessment system for law education, improve the assessment index system, and carry out the evaluation of undergraduate law education teaching in higher education schools based on the evaluation of existing law disciplines, and optimize the layout of law disciplines through measures such as deadline for rectification and withdrawal.
• Accelerate the construction of “double first-class”, encourage law schools to highlight their characteristics and form a differentiated development pattern. It also actively supports the development of law schools in the western region of China, further optimizes the layout of law degree authorization points, increases the policy inclination in terms of enrollment scale, teachers, funding and employment, etc., and carries out a good counterpart support for law education in the country to achieve a reasonable allocation of law education resources.

(H) Improve the management and guidance system of law schools. Improve the management system of legal education, strengthen the Central Office of the rule of law on the macro guidance of legal education, strengthen the State Council education department and the judicial administrative departments of higher education guidance of legal education work. Promote the reform and development of law schools, play a good key political and legal institutions in legal education and legal theory research in the backbone of the demonstration role. Rule of law departments should increase support for law schools, actively provide quality practical teaching resources, and do a good job in the organic connection between legal profession and law education. Take advantage of the role of the Higher School Law Teaching Steering Committee, the Law Discipline Review Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, the National Steering Committee for Graduate Law Degree Education, the National Steering Committee for Judicial Vocational Education Teaching and other expert committees, increase the proportion of members with experience in rule of law practice, optimize the composition of the staff, and improve the level of guidance and management of legal education.

Fourth, accelerate the improvement of the legal education system

(I) Optimize the systematization of various legal disciplines.

• Improve the system of law disciplines and majors, and build a new mechanism for the construction of disciplines and majors combining independent and guided settings.
• Based on China’s actual situation, promote jurisprudence, legal history and other basic disciplines, as well as constitutional law and administrative law, criminal law, civil and commercial law, litigation law, economic law, environmental and resource protection law, international law, military law and other updated disciplinary connotations, better integrated into the practice of the comprehensive rule of law.
• Adapt to the new requirements of rule of law construction, strengthen the construction of disciplines such as legislation, cultural jurisprudence, education jurisprudence, national security jurisprudence and interregional jurisprudence, and accelerate the development of new disciplines such as social governance jurisprudence, science and technology jurisprudence, digital jurisprudence, climate jurisprudence and ocean jurisprudence.
• Adhere to the organic unity of rule by law and rule by rules, and strengthen the discipline construction of discipline inspection and supervision, party regulations.
• Promote the development of cross-fertilization between law and economics, sociology, political science, psychology, statistics, management, anthropology, network engineering and natural science, etc., and cultivate high-quality and composite talents in rule of law.
• Improve the setting of disciplines and specialties related to foreign-related law, support the institutions of higher education that can carry out independent audit of degree authorization to set up international law-related first-level disciplines or master’s degree categories according to the procedures, support the institutions of higher education with doctoral degree authorization points in law to set up international law-related second-level disciplines according to the procedures, and accelerate the cultivation of foreign-related rule of law talents with international vision and proficiency in international and national laws

(J) Improve the teaching system of law.

• Focus on the cultivation of ideological and moral qualities, combined with social practice, and actively carry out education on ideals and beliefs, education on the excellent Chinese traditional legal culture, vigorously promote the spirit of socialism and the rule of law, improve the legal professional ethics and professional ethics education mechanism, cultivate students to uphold the rule of law, defend justice, and abide by the professional character of conscience.
• Adapting to the needs of multi-level and multi-discipline rule of law talents, supporting the development of legal professional education, consolidating undergraduate legal education, and upgrading postgraduate legal education.
• Improve the basic requirements for doctoral and master’s degrees in the first-level disciplines of law, the basic requirements for law degrees, and the national standards for teaching quality of law undergraduate programs.
• Update the teaching standards for law-related majors in vocational education. With the support of rule of law working departments, establish a mechanism for articulating law degree graduate education and legal professional qualification, study and explore the reform of law degree graduate entrance examination, and carry out pilot work on certification of training quality of law degree graduate training units to improve training quality. Universities should update and improve the curriculum system of law specialties, and promoted the construction of theoretical teaching courses and practical teaching courses of law specialties as a whole.
• Adapt to the new requirements of “Internet + education” and innovate education and teaching methods and means.
• Strengthen the practical teaching of law, deepen the collaborative education, and promote the in-depth connection between law schools and rule of law departments in the development of talent training programs, curriculum construction, textbook construction, student internship and practical training.
• Establish a system for rule of law departments and legal service institutions to accept law students for internship and practical training, explore the possibility of law students serving as internship assistants to judges and prosecutors, and actively expand the channels for law students to intern in international organizations.
• Build a number of off-campus law practice teaching bases.
• According to the actual needs of ethnic areas, cultivate rule of law talents who master both the national common language and minority languages and scripts.

(K) Improve the system of law teaching materials. Adhere to the Xi Jinping thought of the rule of law as the leader, by grasping the core teaching materials, compile the main teaching materials, the development of new forms of teaching materials, etc., to build a system of legal teaching materials with Chinese characteristics. We will make good use of teaching materials such as “Introduction to Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law”, consolidate the core position of key teaching materials of the Marxist theory research and construction project in the system of legal teaching materials, organize timely updates and revisions, expand the coverage and enhance the influence of key teaching materials of the Marxist theory research and construction project in legal studies. Promote the construction of Chinese jurisprudence teaching materials series to fully reflect the development achievements of the comprehensive rule of law. Strictly qualify the personnel for writing law textbooks, strengthen the grading and classification audit of textbooks, and keep the political and academic hurdles well.

(L) Strengthen the formation of law teachers. Highlight the political standards, the implementation of the fundamental task of moral education, promote the reform of the construction of the law faculty, to create a strong political stance, deep roots in law, familiar with China’s national conditions, knowledge of international rules of high-level full-time and part-time teachers. Insist on educating the educator first, take teacher moral and teacher style as the first standard to evaluate the quality of the teaching team, as the primary requirement for teacher recruitment and introduction, title evaluation, post employment, mentor selection, merit award, tenure assessment, project declaration, etc., strengthen daily education management supervision, strengthen ideological and political quality inspection, strengthen rule of law and discipline education, educate and guide the majority of law teachers to strive to become teachers with the four good things [ ideal beliefs, moral sentiments, solid knowledge and a loving heart — from Xi Jinping’s 2014 speech at Beijing Normal University on the eve of Teachers’ Day 四有好老师是指有理想信念、有道德情操、有扎实学识、有仁爱之心的“四有”好老师。出自2014年第30个教师节前夕，习近平总书记考察北京师范大学时勉励广大师生的讲话。]

Establish and improve the assessment system of law teachers with teaching and research work performance as the main guide, increase the weight of teaching performance and teaching research of law teachers in the evaluation of various types of evaluation, establish a teacher evaluation and title promotion system in line with the characteristics of law disciplines, make efforts to eliminate the tendency of only marks, only promotion, only diplomas, only papers, only hats, promote the “spirit of the bench The “spirit of the bench”, incentives to guide law teachers to focus on teaching, teaching and educating people. Promote bilateral exchanges of personnel between law schools, research institutes and rule of law work departments, increase the efforts of law teachers, researchers and staff of law departments of higher education schools to attach themselves to rule of law work departments, and explore the establishment of a system for outstanding practical experts of rule of law work departments to teach in higher education schools and to conduct research in think tanks on the basis of the relevant policy provisions such as part-time positions of leading party and government cadres, and implement a mutual employment program for personnel. Give full play to the role of the national training base for law teachers. Optimize the structure of the law faculty, and form an echelon of law faculty and academic innovation teams according to the requirements of the construction of the legal theory system, discipline system and curriculum system.

V. Innovation and development of legal theory research system

(M) Strengthen the theoretical foundations of law research.

• Strengthen the study of the basic principles of Marxist jurisprudence, based on the classic works of Marxism, strengthen the refinement of legal theory, interpretation, and constantly improve the Marxist theoretical system of the rule of law.
• Insist on the research and interpretation of Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law as the primary task, strengthen the research on the original concepts, judgments, categories and theories of Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, and strengthen the research on the major significance, core meaning, rich connotation and practical requirements of Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law.
• Focusing closely on the practice of comprehensive rule of law in the new era, we will strengthen the research on legal theories rooted in Chinese culture, based on Chinese national conditions and solving Chinese problems, summarize and refine the concepts, ideas and theories of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics that are subjective, original and marked, write papers on the motherland, and not be a “porter” of Western theories and so build an independent legal knowledge system of China.
• Grasp the interdisciplinary characteristics of the study of Party regulations, coordinate basic and applied research, and provide strong doctrinal support for strengthening the construction of the Party regulations system and ruling the Party according to rules and regulations.
• Strengthen the study of the history of the legal system of the Chinese New Democratic Revolution, especially the history of the legal system of the revolutionary base areas, inherit the red rule of law gene, continue the red lineage of the rule of law.
• Promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s excellent traditional legal culture, and support the development of legal disciplines with important cultural value and heritage significance.
• Strengthen research on foreign law and comparative law, reasonably draw on beneficial foreign experience, and serve to promote the practice of comprehensive rule of law.
• Strengthen the role of the National Social Science Foundation and ministerial-level law research projects to promote the Chineseization and modernization of Marxist theory of the rule of law.
• Create a number of national key research bases for basic theories of law, increase support for basic theories of law research, and study and explore mechanisms for social forces to support basic theories of law research.

(N) Strengthen the comprehensive rule of law practice research. Based on the establishment of a sound national governance urgently needed to meet the people’s growing needs for a better life create the necessary legal system, around the rule of law construction of major planning, key reforms, important initiatives, etc., to carry out forward-looking, targeted, reserve legal policy research, the full use of the power of the rule of law to serve the Chinese modernization.

• Actively respond to the new requirements and expectations of the people, systematically study the outstanding issues in the field of legislation, law enforcement, justice and law-abiding that are strongly reflected by the people in the rule of law, and put forward countermeasures and proposals. Strengthen research on the role of grass-roots legislative contact points in the development of the whole process of people’s democracy and the function of the legislative “express train”.
• Focus on the complete, accurate and comprehensive implementation of the new development concept, accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, and striving to promote high-quality development, we will strengthen research on the rule of law to guarantee the major national development strategies, strengthen research on national security, scientific and technological innovation, public health, biosecurity, ecological civilization, risk prevention, great power diplomacy and other key areas of rule of law practice, and strengthen research on the supply of legal systems for new technologies, new industries and new application areas.
• Build a high-end think for the tank of rule of law with distinctive Chinese features, institutional innovation and leading development. Build a good use of the national research base on foreign-related rule of law.

(O) Improve the scientific research assessment and evaluation system.

• Adhere to the distinctive approaches needed for cultivation of human talent, dedication to learning, and service to the Party and the people, improve methods for scientific research evaluation, build an academic evaluation system in line with the characteristics of law disciplines, take academic quality, social impact, and practical effects as the measurement criteria, establish and improve the integrated scientific research integrity governance system of education, incentives, norms, supervision, rewards and punishments, insist on “zero tolerance” for academic misconduct.
• The universities shall also establish and improve the integrated system of education, incentives, norms, supervision, rewards and punishments for scientific research integrity, insist on zero tolerance for academic misconduct, improve the supervision mechanism of academic norms, implement the linkage mechanism of academic misconduct and penalties for teacher misconduct, guide teaching and research staffs to research with dedication, forge fine products, and create a clean scientific research environment.
• Promote the change of project management from quantity and process to quality and results, implement the performance classification evaluation, implement the system of representative works of scientific research results, improve the mechanism of incorporating newspaper and journal theoretical articles, teaching research results and decision-making consultation reports into academic results, incorporate participation in rule of law practice and political advice into the scientific research assessment and evaluation system, and improve the scientific research assessment and evaluation work.
• Improve the evaluation and award mechanism of legal research results, and organize the selection activities of the Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scientific Research of Higher Education Institutions (Humanities and Social Sciences), the Award for Outstanding Achievements in Chinese Law, the Dong Biwu Award for Young Legal Achievements, the Qian Dansheng Award for Legal Research Achievements, and the National Award for Legal Teaching Materials and Scientific Research Achievements.
• We will strengthen the management of academic journals of law, firmly grasp the correct direction and public opinion guidance, promote the diversification, differentiation and high-quality development of academic journals of law, support the development of academic journals of law in foreign languages, and build a long-term mechanism for the development of academic journals of law.
• Improve the evaluation index system of law journals, set scientific and reasonable evaluation indexes of practical journals, and evaluate them without academic standards such as citation rate, and take into account the contribution to the rule of law practice.

(P) Promote foreign academic exchanges and cooperation.

• Strengthen the international dissemination of Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, comprehensively demonstrate the historic achievements and historic changes in the construction of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and fully demonstrate the theoretical power, truth power and practical power of Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law.
• Strengthen foreign exchanges in law, and expand the fields and channels of foreign exchanges by conducting bilateral and multilateral cooperation and research, co-organizing academic forums, and sending visiting scholars to each other. We will play the role of platforms such as the China International Forum on the Rule of Law.
• Strengthen the foreign publicity on China’s outstanding legal research results, promote experts and scholars to make their voices heard abroad, innovate the way of expressing foreign discourse, and enhance the international communication ability of the socialist legal theory system and discourse system with Chinese characteristics.
• Be intent on summing up the experience of China’s rule of law system construction and rule of law practice, expound the excellent Chinese traditional legal culture, tell the story of Chinese rule of law, and enhance the international influence and discourse power of the socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics and rule of law theory.
• Strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation on the rule of law with the “Belt and Road” countries. Improve the mechanism of foreign law identification, promote the construction of the database of laws and regulations of major countries in the world, pay attention to the organization of collecting, screening and translating foreign legal information, and strengthen the Chinese translation of the world’s legal masterpieces and the foreign translation of the outstanding achievements of Chinese jurisprudence.

VI. Strengthening organizational leadership

(Q) Strengthen organization and implementation.

Adhere to the Party’s overall leadership of legal education and legal theory research, the Central Rule of Law Commission to strengthen the overall planning, the State Council education departments and judicial administrative departments in close collaboration with the relevant rule of law departments to form a synergy to promote the implementation of the tasks.

Party committees at all levels should strengthen organizational leadership, timely study and solve major problems, and coordinate the implementation of tasks on the ground. Rule of law departments should strengthen the supply of practice resources, practice platforms and practice opportunities, and promote the mutual integration of legal education and rule of law practice.

The Chinese Law Society should give full play to the leading function of academic groups, attract and unite the majority of legal practitioners to better serve the construction of China’s rule of law.

Organize the personnel, publicity, development and reform, finance and other departments to improve the policy assurance mechanisms, to strengthen legal education and legal theory research to create a better environment and conditions.

Law schools and research institutes party organizations should fulfill their main responsibility of running the school, and effectively promote legal education and legal theory research initiatives into practice.

Explore the establishment of a national information network platform for legal education and legal theory research resources, promote the integration of resources, achieve system integration and interconnection and sharing of resources.

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