2018 Li Buyun Law Prize Awarded to Prof. Albert H Y Chen and Prof. William P. Alford
The 2018 Li Buyun Law Prize Award Ceremony, organized by Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law(SIFL Institute) and Guangdong University of Finance and Economics(GDUFE), was held on 8 December 2018, in a packed auditorium on the campus of GDUFE. Prof. Li Buyun, President of Sifl Institute, and Prof. Zhang Wenxian, Vice chairman of China Law Society and Director of Li Buyun Law Prize Appraisal Committee, presented the Award Certificates and Medals to the laureates, Prof. Albert H Y Chen from Hong Kong University Law School and Prof. William P. Alford from Harvard Law School, respectively.
The Award Ceremony was hosted by Prof. Yu Haifeng, President of GDUFE. To welcome the guests, Mr. Huang Xiaobo, Party Secretary of GDUFE, addressed the audience with an opening speech, followed by speeches delivered by Mr. Liang Weifa, Chairman of Guangdong Law Society, and Dr. Fu Weigang, Executive President of SIFL Institute.
Albert H Y Chen was born and grew up in Hong Kong. He began his academic career in 1984 at the University of Hong Kong. He served as Head of the Department of Law in 1993-96, and Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1996-2002. His main areas of teaching and research are constitutional law and legal philosophy. He is specialized in the Basic Law of Hong Kong and has served as a member of the Committee for the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China since 1997.
Prof. Liu Zuoxiang, special professor of Guangqi Scholar of Shanghai Normal University, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Jurisprudence and member of the evaluation committee of Li Buyun Law Prize, delivered a speech to honor the laureate. As Prof. Liu pointed out in his Awarding Speech, Prof. Chen's book "The Basic Law and Legal System of Hong Kong", published in 1986, was the first monograph in the Chinese language world to systematically expound the basic law and Hong Kong's constitution. He is not only a sitting scholar, but also contributes to the close link between academia and the legal profession, and therefore has actively engaged in the rule of law in Hong Kong. He was appointed Justice of the Peace by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2002 and later was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star in 2010.
He first encounter with Chinese law dates back to the time when Prof. Chen was studying comparative law at Harvard. Given that the Joint Declaration was signed and the Basic Law has taken shape, he realized that the future and destiny of Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland have become an inseparable community, and thus studying the legal system in the Mainland has become his new topic. In 1992, he published the book "Introduction to the Legal System of the People's Republic of China" in English, which became a textbook/reference book for the study of Chinese law courses in law schools in many English-speaking countries. Prof. Chen has established an extraordinary academic relationship with the mainland academic circles. He has published many works such as "The Spirit of the Rule of Law, Enlightenment and Modern Law", "The World of Jurisprudence" and "The World of Constitutional Law" in the Mainland.
William P. Alford is now the Vice Dean of Harvard University Law School, Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of Law and Director of the East Asian Legal Studies Program. Prof. Alford is a representative figure in the study of Chinese law in the American legal circle. He has long been the Director of the Centre for East Asian Legal Studies of Harvard University, which is the Centre of American research on Chinese law and also an important platform for legal exchanges between China and the United States.
Han Dayuan, Prof. of Law School of Renmin University of China, President of China Constitutional Research Association and Vice Director of the Appraisal Committee of Li Buyun Law Prize, delivered a speech to honor the laureate. Prof. Han Dayuan pointed out in his Awarding Speech that that Prof. Alford has been the Director of Harvard University's East Asian Legal Studies for a long time, leading, organizing and coordinating the study of East Asian law, making it an important academic institution in the global study of East Asian law. Professor Alford devotes himself to nurturing young scholars from Asia and promoting the academic vision and research ability of young scholars as well as extends the influence of East Asian legal tradition and culture on the development of world legal civilization.
Prof. Alford’s book—— To Steal A Book Is An Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization, published in 1995, is a systematic study of the intellectual property system of China. The book reflected deeply on intellectual property rights in China from the scope of history to reality and academic to policy. Prof. Alford is the founding Chair of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability which provides pro bono services on issues of disability in China, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam and several other nations. He is Lead Director and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Special Olympics International (which serves individuals with intellectual disabilities in more than 170 jurisdictions around the world). The Harvard Law School Disability Project supports the Chinese Law School in the cooperation of personnel training, curriculum system and teaching material system, actively promotes the disabled clinic project, and enriches the connotation of human rights education in China, especially in the training of teachers and students for the clinical law education of Chinese law school.
For many years, he has dedicated to the legal studies exchange between China and the United States. In the 1990s, he hosted a summer workshop on American law in Beijing as the head of the American delegation of professors. He has been a member of the United States Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and a member of the Committee on the Exchange of legal Education between the United States and China. He is also one of foreign law experts who have given speeches at the CPC Central Party School.
Prof. Alford is an active advocate and participant in the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(UNCRPD). With his care and love for human beings, he respects the concept of disabled people through academic transmission and fulfills the social responsibility of scholars. He once mentioned that his original intention to participate in the cause of disabled people was: "All men have strengths and weaknesses. Isn’t great to help people develop their strength with my humble forte ?" He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Special Olympics International, which provides services for people with intellectual disabilities in more than 180 countries. He also serves as Chairman of the Special Olympics Research and Policy Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. In 2008, Special Olympics commended Prof. Alford for his special contribution to intellectually disabled people in China. It is worth mentioning that Prof. Alford donated the stipend in full to the Special Olympics Committee in China.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of China’s economic reform. Dr. Fu Weigang, Executive President of Sifl Institute, said in his speech that Guangdong is the frontier of China's economic reform. The Award Ceremony of Li Buyun Law Prize in Guangzhou was meant to be held to pay tribute to the economic reform. The two 2018 laureates have done lots of research and work concerning the reform, which makes them per se also the participants and witnesses of the reform.
The Li Buyun Law Prize was initiated by Sifl Institute, and aims to award individuals and organizations who have made eminent contributions to Chinese legal studies, Chinese and foreign legal studies, and legal education exchange. This award is appraised and awarded once a year, honoring one Chinese prize-winner and one non-Chinese prize-winner.
