A delegation from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) led by Professor Way Kuo, CityU President, discussed the enhancement of academic exchange and collaboration with the National Judges College during a visit to The Supreme People’s Court of The People’s Republic of China in early January.

In addition, Professor Kuo was invited by Hengshui High School in Hebei Province to deliver a talk during the trip. The talk was titled “A reliability look at energy development”.

Members of the delegation included Professor Lin Feng, Associate Dean of the School of Law (SLW), Dr David Cheng Xing, Associate Vice-President (Global Services), and Dr Guan Wenwei, Assistant Professor of SLW.

CityU entered into an agreement with the National Judges College under the Supreme People’s Court in 2008. The aim has been to develop professionals within the judicial sector in China and encourage an international vision.

CityU offers three programmes for Chinese judges: the Master of Laws Programme for Chinese Judges, Doctor of Juridical Science Programme for Chinese Senior Judges and the Advanced Programme for Chinese Senior Judges. More than 500 Chinese judges have studied at CityU over the past few years.

“The judicial systems in Hong Kong and on the mainland are both unique, but we can certainly share a lot of knowledge and experience. Graduates from the programmes for the Chinese judges enhance communication and promote mutual understanding,” says Professor Geraint Howells, Dean of SLW.

At a meeting on 4 January, CityU’s delegation and Mr Zhou Qiang, President of the Supreme People’s Court, agreed on deepening collaboration on case studies and “big data” research as well as on important issues on reform within the Chinese judiciary. They also discussed academic exchanges and opportunities for CityU’s overseas students not majoring in law to conduct work placements at China’s courts.

Also in attendance were Mr Hu Yunteng, President of Supreme People's Court's 1st Circuit Court and Grand Justice of the second rank, Mr Huang Yongwei, President of the National Judges College, Mr Qian Xiaochen, Vice-Chairperson of Information Bureau of Supreme People’s Court, Mr Wang Shumei, Vice-President of the Civil  Adjudication Tribunal No. 4, Mr Zhou Jiahai, Vice-Chairperson of Research Office of Supreme People’s Court, Mr Li Xiaomin, Vice-President of National Judges College, and judicial professionals at the Supreme People’s Court and National Judges College.

Hengshui High School in Hebei Province where Professor Kuo was invited to give the talk is one of the top high schools in the province, and is commonly regarded as the best managed. Many graduates from the school have been admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University over the years. They have also pursued further studies at CityU.

In his talk, which was well received by the highly engaged students in attendance, Professor Kuo pointed out that energy was a daily necessity and explained how the term “rainbow energies” referred to hydropower, fossil (coal, oil and natural gas), nuclear, wind, solar, biofuel and others (geothermal, ocean energy and marsh gas).

“There are pros and cons for each of these energies. When we develop energies, we need to consider three factors: resources, reliability and sustainability, and economic advancement. We must strike a balance between them,” he said.