The 14th Chinese National Round of Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition were held in the Zhongguancun Campus of Beijing Institute of Technology from December 23rd to 24th, 2017. A total of 12 teams coming from 9 universities such as China University of Political Science and Law, Zhongnan University of Economy and Law, East China University of Political Science and Law were all competing in the match. Professor HUANG Jiefang, assistant professor LIANG Wenwen and ZHAO Rui of the Institute of International Law are the coaches of Wuhan University Teams. Postgraduates WANG Lingbo, YING Yaohui, NI Yangzhi, YU Xiaoya, LI Jueqiu, SHA Meng, LIU Daopeng, CHEN Jiangnan and undergraduates ZHOU Mengyao and GUO Yanlin formed two teams to participate in the competition. After two days of intense competition, one of our teams won the first prize (2nd place) and the other the second prize (4th place). Meanwhile, the first team also won "Best Overall Memorial" and "Best Memorial of the Applicant". Oralist from the first team YING Yaohui won "Best Oralist of the Applicant". WANG Lingbo, LI Jueqiu and ZHOU Mengyao won "Excellent Oralist". Besides, coaches of the teams won "Best Direction Award" and "Best Direction Award of Memorial".

The Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition was an annual worldwide moot court competition started by the International Institute of Space Law in 1992 and is regarded as one of the highest-level moot court competitions of the world for the Judges of international final are current judges of the International Court of Justice. Chinese Institute of Space Law started to organize the national round and has successfully held 14 rounds since 2003. After years of efforts, as an important component of the system of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, the national round held by the Chinese Institute of Space Law has become the most active single-country division and China's one of the most influential brand of legal English moot court competition of large-scale. In the meantime, this competition was also strongly supported by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the Department of Treaty and Law of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Judges of this competition are Deputy-Director of Public International Law Division of the Department of Treaty and Law of Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Liang, the Dean of Department of Law of Hong Kong University Professor ZHAO Yun and Professor ZHAO Haifeng from National Judges College.

The simulated case of this competition involved the most cutting-edge legal problems of international space law. Under the careful guidance of coaches, our team members prepared and studied steadfastly. While mastering a lot of basic knowledge of international law, they carefully analyzed relevant legal provisions and facts through lots of reading and research. Besides, the horizon of team members has been widely broadened, the capabilities of teamwork, legal research and oral English have been effectively exercised as well, provide valuable experience of future research and practice in related fields. In the future, our team will continue to learn from past lessons and unite together to strive for next level. (Contributor: NI Yangzhi; Editor: ZHAO Rui)