A Wonderful Visit to China

I recently had the honor of being an invited scholar at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), one of China’s premier universities located in Beijing. CUPL has long been a very important partner for UC Davis School of Law.

My host in Beijing was Professor Xiaojuan Zhu, Director of the Commercial Law Institute of the Civil Commercial and Economic (CCE) Law School of CUPL. Professor Zhu, a leading business law and e-commerce expert in China, was a visiting scholar at UC Davis School of Law in 2018. Together with Associate Dean for International Programs Beth Greenwood, Professor Zhu had arranged a full schedule for my short trip.

Professor Zhu was an incredibly gracious host who had arranged to make the most out of my first trip to Beijing. I began my first day in Beijing at a superb dinner with Professor Zhu and several masters and Ph.D. students, one of whom had spent time at UC Davis at a study-abroad program in partnership with CUPL that we have hosted for many years. I had the opportunity to speak about the strength of our LL.M. program, and the depth and breadth of our business law curriculum which was of particular interest to many of the students.

My second day was packed with exciting activities. Professor Zhu and two postgraduate students, Suli Gao and Wencheng Cui, accompanied me on a morning trip to the Great Wall, followed by a fabulous lunch at a Shanghai-style restaurant near the lovely Changping campus of CUPL. The Great Wall is truly spectacular and as impressive as I had imagined. We were very lucky to have beautiful weather, and I was happy to be accompanied by the terrific students who asked me insightful questions about our LL.M. programs at UC Davis School of Law. Later in the day we toured the Changping campus of CUPL, and then visited the Ming Tombs of Changping.  In the evening, we had a memorable dinner at Quanjude, famously known for its Peking Roast Duck. It was a memorable meal. We were joined by Professor Mei Liu and Vice Professor Lewei Cai, both dear friends of UC Davis School of Law, who have been visiting scholars at the law school.

On my third day, Professor Zhu and several students gave me a tour of the Summer Palace in Beijing. The Summer Palace was once a retreat for Beijing’s royalty, and it’s now a collection of lakes, gardens and palaces. It was relaxing to walk among nature and tranquility while talking about corporate law and research. I then spent the afternoon giving a lecture on “Women and Mergers and Acquisitions” at the CUPL famous expert forum. I was impressed by the learned faculty that I met at the forum as well as the thoughtful students attending the forum. We look forward to having some of the terrific Ph.D. students at CUPL as visiting scholars at UC Davis in the following year, and I had a chance to meet with one of them after the talk.  After a quick and tasty dinner with Professor of Law Jinxi Wang, who has long collaborated with scholars at UC Davis and is a dear friend of the School of Law, I then headed off to give a second lecture that day at Peking University. I spoke on “Women and M&A” at Peking University to corporate law faculty and students, and was honored by their warm welcome and the strength of the students’ and faculty’s engagement with my presentation.

 

On my fourth day, two of the students accompanied me to the Imperial Palace where we toured the palace grounds. One can barely do justice to the grounds in one morning, and I look forward to future visits. Later in the day we had lunch at a Beijing-style restaurant where we tried a variety of wonderful local dishes. I was impressed by the quality and variety of the fabulous food in Beijing, and my hosts were so gracious in having me try all types of food. Later that day I had the great honor of meeting Dean Fei Yu, Dean of the CCE Law School at CUPL, and Dr. Jingjing Yan, Director of the school’s Foreign Affairs Office. Dean Yu, Director Yan and Professor Zhu and I had an in-depth conversation about further cooperation between our two law schools. I am very excited about the prospects of further scholarly engagement between our faculties and about further student exchanges and the facilitation of CCE Law School students as LL.M. students at UC Davis.

The afternoon was followed by a lecture to the students and faculty at CCE Law School on Women and M&A. My lecture was followed by commentary by two faculty members at CCE law school. It was a successful event, with more than a 100 people in attendance. I came away impressed by the robust and thoughtful debate with the students and the faculty at CCE Law School. Overall, the exciting day made me very hopeful for future cooperation between our two world-class law schools.

All in all, it was clear that UC Davis has deep connections in Beijing that are continuing to grow. The warmth, hospitality and enthusiasm of our friends in China was energizing. I look forward to future trips to China.