Chinese Legal Education: A First-hand Account by a Canadian Law Student

In an article published in China's leading law journal,1 Professor Chen Shouyi, the Dean of the Department of Law at Peking University reviewed the last three decades of Chinese legal education. Tentative but steady progress was made after the founding of the Republic in 1949. During the anti-rightist campaign begun in 1957, however, legal institutions came under harsh official attack. Following that, Chinese legal education suffered setback after setback. In the period between 1959 and 1965, it was "on a continuously downward slope". 2 During this time, the Ministry of Justice was abolished, as were all subsidiary departments for the administration of justice. The few law courses in existence were either merged with or completely replaced by political theory courses. When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, things became even worse: