Sun Yat-sen

After the first semester ended some law students took us to the Purple Mountain in Nanjing.  While there we saw the Sun Yat-sen memorial.

"Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China ("Nationalist China"). As the foremost pioneer of Republic of China, Sun is referred to as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China (ROC), and the "forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China. Sun played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the years leading up to the Double Ten Revolution. He was appointed to serve as president of the Provisional Republic of China, when it was founded in 1912. He later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT), serving as its first leader. Sun was a uniting figure inpost-Imperial China, and remains unique among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered amongst the people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

We learned that the Chinese people hold Sun Yat-sen in high regard, somewhat like how we honor George Washington.  Interestingly those in Taiwan revere him in the same way and many travel to Nanjing and his memorial. Nanjing was the capitol of China until the current regime came to power in the late 1940's and moved the capitol to Beijing.

Here we are with our wonderful guides who are all post law degree graduate students at Nanjing University. Unlike in America, students begin studying law their first year at the university.  After earning a law degree, many continue to earn graduate degrees.  It was particularly interesting to learn the opinions of these students as they showed us sites with great political and historical significance.

At the bottom of the memorial, determined to make the climb.

A view from the top.  We were not allowed to take pictures of the actual memorial.  It is is somewhat like the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

The same day we hosted an American party for other Chinese students at our apartment.  These students were on one or the other moot teams I assisted earlier.  We had a fun time with American food and games. We even found some root beer to serve. The highlight of our experiences in China is our association with students.  They have been very kind and helpful to us and we enjoy our time with them both in and out of the classroom.    

International Arbitration Moot in Beijing

We would like to post more often, but we often have difficulty accessing Blogger.

After Marilyn and I traveled to Shanghai with a moot court team as reported in our last post, I was asked to help with an international commercial law arbitration moot.  This moot was also held in English, otherwise I would have been useless.  The team needed a faculty adviser to accompany them to Beijing, and I was fortunate to be that person.  I spent an enjoyable week in Beijing with eight students learning much.  Four of the students participated in the arbitration presentations, two teams of two, and four students were researchers with one of those being our treasurer and administrator. Unfortunately, Marilyn needed to stay in Nanjing to teach her classes.

The competition, except for the championship round, was held at the building that houses the national Chinese arbitration association.  This competition was the Chinese preliminary round to the the world-wide Willem Vis international commercial arbitration moot competition. Teams from all over the world, including the United States, compete in this competition.  The final world-wide competition is held in Vienna, Austria, and there is also an Asian competition held in Hong Kong.  The winner of the Beijing competition will go to Vienna to compete and the second place team will go to Hong Kong to compete. We will not be going to Vienna or Hong Kong.

The arbitration panels were mostly Chinese arbitrators and attorneys with a few arbitrators from other countries.  The chairman of the panel that judged the final round was a professor from Sweden. 

Arbitration is becoming a more popular form of dispute resolution and I expect international commercial arbitration will become increasing popular and competent arbitrators and attorneys will also be in greater demand.  China is determined to be a world player in this field and is committed to constant improvement with a goal of being a venue of choice for international commercial arbitration.  

The arbitration building in Beijing where all but the final round was held.

Our team with one of the arbitration panel members who is from Hong Kong.

Mental work is of course hard work requiring adequate nourishment and in Beijing we found what was needed to keep up our strength.  I was very fortunate to have these students as guides.  We went to restaurants that were wonderful and that I doubt many tourists would ever find.