LEGAL AND REGULATORY MODEL FOR THE AUDIT PROFESSION： THE UK AND CHINESE MODELS COMPARED

The article discusses whether the UK＇s liberal regulatory model for the audit profession could benefit China as it continues its reform towards a western-inspired liberal market economy. China has already carried out substantial reforms.＂ the disaffiliation programme, audit industry consolidation, and the diffusion of international audit norms. However, substantial deficiencies in the Chinese audit profession remain, and corporate audit continues to lack credibility. Adopting a system modelled on that used in the UK could resolve these issues. However, if China chose to adopt the UK＇s liberal regulatory model, it would not only require economic reform, but also structural reform to its political system. This would include removing conflicts of interest between the audit profession and companies controlled by public authorities; the development of an independent self-regulatory system accountable to the judiciary; corporate democratisation; the development of private enforcement and the introduction of an independent judicial system.     

THE LAWS,POLICIES, AND POLITICS OF REGULATING LEAD POLLUTION IN CHINA

This article examines the politics, laws and policies related to regulating lead pollution from lead-acid battery related manufacturing facilities in China. Particularly, this paper examines how China＇s Ministry of Environmental Protection （MEP） was able to force the temporary closure of nearly 90 percent of lead-battery manufacturing facilities within a period of months in 2011, after years of enforcement failures. The authors analyze the extent to which the Government＇s response to address lead pollution was based on laws and policies that can be systematically and consistently deployed by MEP as needed, or whether such measures are reliant on political will from outside MEP. Additionally, the authors are concerned with the extent to which China ＇s governance response to lead pollution primarily addresses environmental and public health issues; or rather it primarily addresses political and economic development issues, and whether this difference is significant. The article makes suggestions for how China can improve its environmental enforcement, and in so doing, contributes to a growing field of scholarship that examines environmental governance issues in the context of developing countries.     

LEGAL EDUCATION IN CHINA： ACHIEVEMENTS,PROBLEMS AND THE FUTURE （1949-2013）

China＇s legal education had been experiencing a rather tough way of growing up after founding of PRC and did has achieved some achievements in the early days, but the following destruction period of nearly 20 years almost ruined all of them. Since the reform and opening up, China＇s legal education had been rapidly recovering and developing, there had been an unprecedented thriving scene. After constantly summing up experience, reforming and adjustment, China＇s legal education gradually stepped into independent and scientific development mode. But with the same time, behind the prosperity scene, China＇s legal education is problematic both in quantity and in quality. In quantity, the biggest problem of china＇s legal education is its imbalanced development, lies both in regional distribution and in their charging authorities. In quality, there are four serious problems which affect its healthy development： lack of professional education idea; lack of elite education idea; lack of legal ethics education and lack of professional skill education. In the future, China＇s legal education should put more efforts on resolving these problems, that is to say, more efforts should be put on the quantitative balance. Meanwhile, concerning its quality, measures will have to be taken for bringing it back to the essential attributes of legal education, only by so doing can China＇s legal education be incorporated into the mainstream of global legal education culture     

CONTENTS

This essay applies Polanyi＇s theory of ＂double movements＂, with an emphasis on mutual transformation between state and society, to analyze China＇s staterebuilding since the economic reform and challenges it faces in the future. This paper argues that since the economic reform and before the recent turn of state governance, state-rebuilding in China has been driven by one single movement： marketization. However, since entering the 21 st century, state-rebuilding has to be undertaken in the tension between a double movement of marketization and self-protection of society which move in two different directions. To respond such a challenge, China must restructure the relationships among state, market, and society.     

China＇s Labor Contract Law and the liberalization of global markets： Will employees＇ rights equate to employers＇ nightmares？

Lower labor costs and realization of profits have been key components in the expansion of the global market. As we continue to witness the prolific liberalization of the global market, it is essential that we remember the importance of human capital. Workers play a paramount role in the realization of continued and sustained global market growth. Paradoxically, sustained growth in the global market is also fueled by the absence of workers＇ rights and the resulting reduction of labor costs. Thus, multi-national companies and workers employed by multi-national companies, have encountered a seeming contradiction of workplace realities. From a capitalistic economic perspective, it is necessary for multi-national companies to compete for market share and realize profits. However, in order to promote social harmony and ensure against large-scale social unrest, workers must be given basic rights ensuring economic security and workplace justice. China has enacted the Labor Contract Law to address challenges surrounding these issues. This paper will discuss the efficacy of China＇s embracing the rule of law so as to effectively enforce the Labor Contract Law. The paper will also give an overview of the concepts forming the foundation of the rule of law. Further, the paper will offer a brief comparative analysis of the United States＇ use of the rule of law in relation to resolving post-slavery labor issues. Finally, the paper will recommend a model system for use by China in enforcing the Labor Contract Law.     

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS,ACADEMIC DEBATES AND LEGAL PRACTICES ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW IN CHINA： 2000--2013

A special system of constitutional review, namely National People＇s Congress Review Model （the NPC Review Model） has been established since the 1982 Constitution. However, this system was criticized for its inactivity and has never been actually activated. After 2000, there are lots of efforts try to improve the system of constitutional review of China, the results of the Qi Yuling case （2001） and the Luoyang seed case （2003） demonstrated that the U.S.-style of constitutional review is not and will not be accepted by the political system of China, while the results of the Sun Zhigang case （2003） and the Tang Fuzhen case （2009） proved that the existing NPC Review model cannot work very well if political leaders refuse to reform it. However, the experiences of the New Model of Parliamentary Sovereignty which was developed from Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canberra （the Australian Capital Territory）, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China after 1980s, showed that a third way to protect human rights in a liberal democracy and to coordinate the relationship between legislature and court in a system of constitutional review. I believe the third way provides a good case for China to reform the existing constitutional review system without abandon its cherished tradition of the system of people ＇s congress.     

The impact of mining rights on the local communities in Limpopo Province, South Africa： A comparative study

The paper aims to give an account of the substance and support the development of community based organizations in balancing their interests against the interests of the mining industries. It further examines the issue of the protection of social and economic right in the context of the globalization of the activities of multinational mining and petroleum companies, as illustrated by different instances of increasing state withdrawal and with regard to specific African countries. In Africa, economic liberalization has been accompanied by a programmed redefining of the role of the state withdrawal from certain areas： planning, production and social reform, a reorientation of state intervention from certain other areas, redistribution, regulation and mediation etc, with a view of promoting a particular type of growth strategy based on promotion of private economic interests. This process has led to the delegitimation and weakening of states which were already characterized by fiscal crises, notably in countries under structural adjustment. While the process of reconceptualisation of the role of the state is not specific to Africa, its impact has been particularly significant with regard to the possibility of implementing developmental strategies designed to protect social and economic rights.     

Transforming China poverty crisis： Challenges and issues

This paper describes the economic conditions of urban and rural poverty in China. The examination of this problem deconstructs into three components and this explains why this problem is China＇s premier economic problem, despite its recent economic progress into a world ranked industrial economic power. Here, this paper examines the period of 1985 to 2008, a period of almost exponential growth. Even though during this period millions escaped from poverty levels of income, this was only part of the positive results. There were social negatives as well, and the main one was that economic inequality became worse, as the impoverished, as well as being affected by the current financial situation that has overcome the Chinese labor market, has put them into competition with the better off who are in the same economic predicament. As China merges into forms of economic globalization, any external blow will cause sharp fluctuations within the Chinese economy, as reflected within the labor market. Unemployment imposes direct impacts on incomes, and may give rise to social instability. As a result, job growth should be at the top of the macro-control agenda.     

THE HEDGEHOG DILEMMA IN THE COURT-MEDIA RELATIONSHIP IN CHINA

This paper explains why Schopenhauer＇s ＂Hedgehog Dilemma＂ may be the most apposite metaphor for the relationship between the courts and the media. Whatever they get from each other, the media＇s role representing the public and the court＇s role representing justice are both essential to modern democracy. Therefore, their relationship has attracted attention, not just in legal and media professions, but also in public and government debate. In the last two decades, China ＇s highest court has issued judicial interpretations and guidelines to regulate the activities of the media and the court, which has brought the topic to a new level of discussion. As a drafter of these official documents, the author will comment on development in this field and their interaction with values inherent to democracy.     

THE EVOLUTION OF POLICY AND LAW FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA

This article examines the evolution of politics and laws related to sustainable development in China. Sustainable development has been positioned as an economic development strategy many years ago. However, in earlier times, it bore a heavy tint of national strategy, followed by a kind of soft sustainable development with a technological orientation. The recent decade has seen China on track for strong sustainable development. At the present, China is around the turning point of the ＂Environmental Kuznets Curve,＂ where both domestic and international multiple pressures are forcing the whole country to make new choices for its dimension of sustainable development strategy. Although sustainable development has been recognized by the legal field of environmental resources, it is still not yet fully integrated into other areas of law. The period from weak to strong sustainable transition is accompanied by another transition, more significant in China, from industrial civilization to ecological civilization. Compared to weak sustainable development, the complex and contradictory character of strength has brought more challenges. Sustainable development of dualism and compromise, which corresponds with the actual needs in China, is an important theoretical basis and practical standards for implementing the scientific view of development. Finally, it concludes by noting that ecological civilization is attempting to solve the problems from a more broad perspective, and to pay more attention to public participation, at the same time to cover the shortage of environmental legislation.     

CHINA＇S LATEST MARRIAGE LAW AMENDMENT AND FAMILY PROPERTY： TRADITION AND MODERNITY

China＇s latest Marriage Law amendment illustrates how tradition contributes to China＇s modernity. Traditionally, a house was a necessity for a marriage in China. This is because in ancient China, marriage secured the continuation of the family line and provision for ancestors. In modern China, the one child policy and soaring housing prices collectively force the ＂three families＂ to buy a house for the new couple. However, what happens when the couple divorces？ Shall the house then be considered community property？ The 2011 Judicial Interpretation of the Supreme People ＂s Court of Several Issues on the Application of the Marriage Law of the People＇s Republic of China, provides that where real estate is purchased by the parents of one party, and after the party＇s marriage is registered under the party＇s name, such real estate shall be deemed as a gift given by the parents to the party and the party＇s personal property. This interpretation represents a compromise between tradition and modernity.
The article will firstly introduce the marriage system in ancient China, illustrating that under the doctrine ofli, the real purpose of marriage was to be a bond of love between two （families of differenO surnames. Retrospectively, this secured observance of ancestral rituals in the ancestral temple, and prospectively, continuation of the family line. The house was a necessity for marriage because one of the six ceremonies required for marriage under li was the procession, and then welcome of the bride at the groom ＂s home. （Other ceremonies involved a matchmaker securing a proposal, matching auspicious birthdates, exchanging gifts between the bride＇s and groom＇s families, setting an auspicious wedding date, honoring ancestors and deities, and having an elaborate banquet）.
The article will then analyze the marriage law in the of Republic of China, in which even the post-dynasty marriage law adopted the western marriage system, the strong resistance of the old tradition forced the law-     

DATA ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONALIZATION OF LEGAL WORKERS IN CHINA

Since the reform and opening up, the legal profession in China has changed dramatically. In terms of both quantity and quality, the legal profession has stepped into a new phase. A tendency towards widespread litigation and more professionals.＂ judges, lawyers and law students, can be clearly evidenced. Along with the development of the legal profession, other types of legal workers including business arbitrators, grassroots paralegal service workers （grassroots paralegals）, and mediators have experienced great changes. To a certain extent, they have become more marginalized than before. The development of the legal profession is extremely unbalanced. Whether in terms of the number of lawyers or the income generated by lawyers, the inter-provincial gap in China is huge. The development of the legal profession also brings out the issue of judicial corruption. From the number of letters and visits related to lawsuits and the National People＇s Congress deputies ＇votes on the reports of the Supreme People＇s Court and the Supreme People＇s Procuratorate, the level of legal corruption can be noted. This＂ problem has become a crucial challenge to the reputation of the legal profession and the judicial creditability of the country. The same amount of attention should be paid to judicial corruption as to the quality of legal services.     

Retirement pensions and gender： The Spanish case from the European perspective

The European Union in its task of coordinating the different social protection systems recommends member countries to take steps to prevent economic imbalances caused by ageing populations. Spain and other European countries-such as Sweden, Italy or Germany, follow the trends marked by the European Union with regard to pensions. In recent years, these countries have carried out reforms to be entitled to benefits, increase the proportionality between contributions and benefits and introduce formulas similar to private funded systems. These reforms will lead to retirement pensions linked to contributions becoming an airtight system, thus excluding the most vulnerable workers from them. This work aims to show that this type of restrictive measures despite being formulated in a neutral way, fail to correct-and actually increase-the differences between women and men in employment, since women are more affected by unstable working conditions than men. Lower wages for women and higher incidences of their careers being interrupted to attend to family duties will make access for women to retirement pensions even harder. The shortfalls in the protection of retirement pensions contrast sharply with a common European employment policy which aims to raise the employment rate of women. Having examined the incidence of this type of reforms from a gender perspective, the final aim of the work will be to show whether the European directive against discrimination regarding Social Security, headed by Directive 79/7 and displayed in the European Court of Justice＇s case law, constitutes an adequate regulatory tool to neutralize those reforms which lead to indirect discrimination.     

IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTER OF THE SEPARATE ACCOUNT OF THE INVESTMENT-LINKED INSURANCE PRODUCTS IN CHINA FROM THEORETICAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW PERSPECTIVES--A PERMANENT SOLUTION FOR ISSUES OF PRESENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS REGARDING THE ADMINISTRATION OF SUCH PRODUCTS

A brand new life insurance product, which is known as investment- linked insurance （ILl）, was first introduced in China in 2000 by the China Ping, an insurance company in Shanghai after the ILl was approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission （CIRC）. Due to the reduction of the interest rate on ordinary term deposits that began in 2000, ILI products spread quickly nationwide over a two-to-three year period. ILIs became popular with insurers, because they shift asset management risks to the insured and provide relief for the reverse spread problem facing the insurance companies. They became popular with insureds, because they offer an alternative to investments with a potentially higher yield. Although the market share of investment-linked insurance products in China has been noticeably increasing, laws and regulations regarding the administration of the ILI did not seem to correspond to the rapid growth of sales. In addition to the very limited number of articles in insurance law, the only two existing regulations that address the related supervisory issues are the ＂Tentative measures for the Administration of Investment-Linked Insurance＂ announced by the CIRC in 2000, and the ＂Measures Regulating the Information Disclosure of New Types of Insurance Products＂ enacted by the CIRC in 2009. Unfortunately, both Measures are inadequate to resolve complex supervisory problems such as asymmetry of information, suitability, or other standard settings for the conduct of ILl business. This paper argues that the root of their inadequacy lies in the failure of these measures to identify the character of the separate account in each ILl policy and its distinction from the life insurance policy to which it attaches. Without distinguishing the nature of the separate account from traditional ＂insurance ＂, it is virtually impossible to ascertain the category of the contract formed between each policyholder and insurer with respect to each such account and to determine which laws and regulations. On t     

RENMIN UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP SERIES （REVIEW 2014） ON ZHANG TAISU AND HIS NEW CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ON CHINA＇S ECONOMIC DECLINE IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

On 25 April 2014, the second Renmin University International Virtual Workshop （RUIVW）, also the inaugural Renmin-Duke Law Workshop, was held in the Renmin Law School. Professor Zhang Taisu from Duke Law School delivered a talk based on his latest work ＂Kinship, Property, and Agricultural Capitalism in Pre-Industrial China and England.＂ By comparing the two types of land transactions, the dian in China and the mortgage in England, Zhang analyzed the cultural norms leading to the differences of the above property rights and its influence on China＇s macroeconomic decline （referred to ＂decline＂）. Scholar participants spoke highly of Zhang＇s work and raised several questions on it. Gao Yangguang emphasized on the distinguished differences between the psychological needs of social groups behind the above property rights and therefore doubted their comparability in this regard. Guo Rui, the host of this workshop, commented on Zhang＇s work from company law perspective. Jiang Dong discussed the definition of ＂capitalism＂ and its role in the causation to decline. Xiong Bingwan put forward another prospective sub-connections between cultural norms and economic outcomes. You Chenjun suggested evaluation the decline from social functions of the property transactions beyond the economic level by giving the example of tan qi, a unique kind of contract in Ming and Qing China. Pan Weijiang, from Beihang University Law School, compared the concept culture in Zhang＇s work to ＂social structure＂ and suggested more explanation for the impact of the Confucian on it.     

LAWMAKING IN CHINA： DEVELOPMENT,ISSUES AND RETHINKING

Since the Reform and Opening period commenced, lawmaking in China has made great achievements, constructed a lawmaMng institution composed of constitution, laws, administrative and local rules and regulations as the source of law, and a legal system composed of constitutional and related law, administrative law, criminal law, civil and commercial law, economic law, social law, and procedure law. However, lawmaking in China faces new issues needing resolution. This paper focuses on the relation of lawmaking between the National People＇s Congress （PC） and its Standing Committee （SC）, between the NPC and the administrative and local organs. Because most laws are enacted by the SC with a small number of elites, but not the NPC with a large number of deputies, the challenge lies in how to represent the people and ensure the people＇s character of the laws. As the administrative and local organs enact the rules and regulations, how can their conformation to the Constitution and laws be ensured？ Is it enough to only depend on an original deliberative mechanism？ China needs to create and develop new mechanisms to resolve these issues.     

DROMOCRATIC TELETOPY AND STATUS OF MAN

Dromologic research of ＂man＇s status in the world＂ shows that manhis perception, his language as well as his thinking is substantially changed by the speed of information translation. This paper critically analyses the theory of French cultural critic, city planner and philosopher Paul Virilio. Virilio＇s texts which deal with the impact of speed on the contemporary world. The development of means of transport used by people for the purpose of movement-from horse carts, railways and cars to planes, culminated by the arrival of digitalized audio-visual hypertext, the last ＂vehicle＇＂ that replaces its drivers ＂physical movement by total inertia. How does that historical succession starting with metabolic vehicles such as a horse, ships, railways, cars planes to the latest ways of tele-transfer, tele- presence and audio-visual vehicles, influence our present-day concept of the world？ What are the social cultural political and economic consequences resulting from continuous acceleration of social processes, from inertia of absolute speed？ Can increasing the speed of our technologies lead up to the irreversible immobilization of social players？ Does our effort to represent the reality depend on the kind of media and on speed？ The study analyses Virilio ＇s texts and it presents the interpretation of the main propositions of his dromology.     

TOPICAL ISSUES IN CROSS BORDER DISCOVERY： RECONCILING PERSONAL DATA REGULATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES

This article will consider the following questions： What is the current state of the European data privacy and transfer regime？ What are the challenges the regime is facing and what are the modifications being considered to address them？ What role can the Sedona Conference play in reconciling personal data regulations and cross border discovery？ We will explore the following critical issues： 1. The position taken by the European Commission （EC） in its proposed General Data Protection Regulation （2012） that the current regime, as embodied in the European Union （EU） Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, has not fully achieved the harmonization of its member state＇s legal systems that was originally envisioned; 2. How the regime can adapt to the challenges and be driven by dynamic legal, technological and economic environments？ The paper will conclude by examining key provisions of the EC＇s proposed regulation within the context of the Sedona Conference＇s International Principles and offer recommendations on implementation.     

BUYER＇S REMEDIES AND CURE BY SELLER A STUDY OF THE HARMONIZATION OF EUROPEAN SALES LAW FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COMPARATIVE PRIVATE LAW

The development of e-commerce and the desire for the development of the integrate inner-market leads to a high regulatory need, the European legislators finally seek to the approach of harmonizing the contract law and draft out the Proposal for a Common European Sales Law （CESL）. However, this regulatory instrument is still faced with heavy criticism and the unknown fate in the future. This paper will analyze the commercial transactions in Europe from the perspective of comparative private law under the framework of CESL, Contracts for the International Sale of Goods （CISG） and German provisions on sales contract and hope to provide reference for the participants or those who have potential investment intention on the European market.     

SHARIAH GOVERNANCE IN ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTION： AN APPRAISAL

With the fast and huge growth and development of Islamic financial institutions, after only four decades, their operation is in the need of continuous improvement and effort of enhancement. Islamic financial system is a combination of innovation and tradition, of ancient values and a vibrant forward-looking design, that says much about the current state of confidence around the world and about the state of the financial services industry, and its potential to contribute not only to the Islamic, but to the non-Islamic world. The base line for any discussion of Islamic financial services is their obvious commercial success. People want them. It is true that Islamic finance is still small compared with the whole global financial system, but the sector is growing fast, as it is illustrated by the fact that total assets in Islamic banks in the world increased by an average of 24% a year. Nor is the market restricted to the Islamic world. Freddie Mac, the US mortgage lending corporation, has been offering mortgage backed- securities as a financing option to the Muslim community in the United States. In London, Europe＇s first stand-alone Islamic bank opened its doors for business in September 2005. Before that, one of the UK＇s biggest retail banks had announced the launch of a Shariah compatible account, claiming that it would make Islamic banking ＂mainstream ＂.