On November 9, 2016, the 2nd International Law Salon, co-organized by the Wuhan University Law School, the National High-end Think Tank Wuhan University Institute of International Law, and the Wuhan University Law School Student Union, whose theme was“Face to face talk with the Masters of International Law” – “The Legal Life of International Law Scholars”. In the conference, Professor Yang Guohua from Tsinghua University Law School, Mr. Xu Guojian, Managing Partner of Bangxin Yang Zhongjian Zhonghui Law Firm, Ms. Lin Linling, Director of Asia Pacific Legal Affairs of Owens Corning, Professor Fu Yulin from Peking University Law School, and Department of Foreign Affairs and Law Counselor Sun Jin and Ms. Gao Xiaoli, the chief judge of the First Circuit Court of the Supreme Court, and other six prominent figures in the field of international law acted as guests were invited to take part in. Professor Feng Guo, Dean of the Law School of Wuhan University, Ms. Huang Li, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Law, and Dr. Deng Zhaohui, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Law, also attended the salon. This salon was presided over by Professor Yang Guohua.
At the beginning of the event, Deputy Secretary Huang Li introduced the keynote speakers, and the student representatives presented flowers to the guests. This salon officially kicked off.
Online and offline chance to answer questions
As the host, Professor Yang Guohua first shared his understanding of the theme of the salon was to communicate but not just listen to the suggestions from the teachers. Therefore, the aim was to realize a mutual interactive communication, Professor Yang also proposed a novel way of communication via WeChat face-to-face group.
Subsequently, Professor Yang entrusted the students to share the resumes of the guests in the WeChat group, so that everyone has a preliminary understanding of the legal life of the guests. Then, Professor Yang selected from the online questioning of the students, and the guests interacted and discussed the problem in the way of answering questions and sharing experiences. The guests on the stage answered and explained their own experiences and their own life experiences.
First of all, Xu Guojian reviewed his career and career. Speaking of career choices, he said that the original intention of choosing a lawyer industry was to provide financial support for his academic research, but he did not give up his interest and pursuit of academic research in his career as a lawyer. When it comes to foreign language learning, he said that he learnt Japanese and French in the early years. German was the necessity for he had to go to Germany for further study. English and German are the most widely used languages in his work. Later, Mrs. Wu Linling, who studied English literature at the undergraduate time, told us that her non-legal undergraduate course will not only hinder the study of law, but also promote it. It is precisely because of the advantage of English major which enables her have a chance to get into the field of international law. Learning and research can be more flexible. When it comes to the balance between life and work, she affirms the importance of free control of time, but does not deny the hardships of being a lawyer in the past. Instead, she regards it as a fortune and believes that she has benefited a lot.
Next, Professor Fu Yulin explained why the employment rate of legal majors is not high from another perspective. He thinks we should separate the law graduates with the outstanding ones which means the employment problems are not for the later group. Professor Fu's humor made a burst of applause. Then Professor Fu mentioned what we call literature, history and philosophy although do not have direct effect on our work, but they are very useful to improve people's emotional intelligence and make people live happily. Finally, Professor Fu put forward her own unique views on how women balance work and family and how to judge the views of jurists. Professor Fu’s clear and grounded response made everyone present at the scene convinced.
Next, Mr. Sun Jin, Counselor of the Department of Law and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave a positive answer to the question of whether foreign languages are important to international law. He encouraged the students of Wuhan University Law School to have an international perspective and regard the excellent foreign language ability as the basic requirement of their own quality. We should use international language as a tool to go to the outside world. Finally, Mrs. Gao Xiaoli, the presiding judge of the Supreme Court of the Supreme Court, answered her questions about how to become a Supreme Court judge and what is the quality requirement for judges, and suggested that everyone lay a solid foundation for learning. Have excellent professional qualities and constantly develop their ability to study and solve problems.
Teacher-student interaction
After several teachers answered some questions from the students and shared their feelings about life, Professor Yang Guohua selected two questions to organize teachers and classmates to start a group discussion.
The first question is that “Are literature, history and philosophy useful for work” proposed by Ma Xiangyu, a 16th-level undergraduate student of Law School. For this problem, Fu Yulin believes that the knowledge of literature, history and philosophy may not have a direct effect and help on a person's work, but it will affect a person's vision, personality and values, thus affecting one's outlook on life. The accumulation of knowledge is very useful for life; Gao Xiaoli believes that legal work is inseparable from language expression. A document, even if it is just a record, can reflect a person's language level and literary quality from its quality; Xu Guojian said that lawyers need to deal with people with different cultural backgrounds and knowledge structures.The cultural literacy will be clearly reflected in this and affect his communication and communication with others, so the knowledge of literature, history and philosophy is also very important for a lawyer; Mr. Wu Linling believes that legal workers will be exposed to all aspects of their daily work. The affairs, so diverse subject knowledge and profound cultural literacy are very useful for dealing with complicated matters; Sun Jin added that the undergraduate stage is the only stage for students to have the time to read the novels and the big works. Everyone cherish this time.
The host Yang Guohua also expressed his views. Professor Yang believes that to answer the question of whether it is useful, the first question should be asked, what kind of work this person is engaged in, and the content of the work determines whether iterature, history and philosophy are useful. Law school students will mostly engage in legal-related work after graduation, and all need to deal with people. From this point of view, the knowledge of literature, history and philosophy should have a direct effect on one person, rather than the indirect role of Professor Fu.
Later, the six teachers admitted that they were very passionate about their work and that they were happy and fulfilled. Professor Fu Yulin encouraged the students to try boldly and experience more and find what they really are good at and love. Judge Gao Xiaoli said that as a judge, she will gain a sense of accomplishment and pride in every important judgment; Sun Jin The Counsellor’s two work experiences in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs show that as a staff member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his sense of responsibility on behalf of the country’s image and safeguarding national interests has earned him a precious sense of honor.
The discussion of the two issues was over, the host Yang Guohua invited the guests to share their feelings of life to the students.
Essential summary and sublimation
After the talks of the guests, the deputy director Deng Zhaohui of the International Law Institute made a wonderful summary: First, he hopes that these international legal elites who are active in the international law arena show the charm of international law to the students of Wuhan University Law School, so that there are more students choose international law as their majors; second, to meet more international legal talents, or engage in teaching and research work, or engage in foreign-related legal affairs, or serve as judges, to experience international vision and the world, to achieve a new realm.
Finally, the microphone was handed over to Dean Feng Guo. Dean Feng first expressed his gratitude to the guests who came to the busy schedule. He praised the face-to-face communication really reached its goal. With teachers answering questions and puzzles, the students were very happy to receive satisfactory answers. President Feng mentioned two key sentences: First, "the horizon determines the height." To open up the horizon, we must not only seek truth from the book, but also deal with the elites of the industry and understand what is the height of legal life and strive to practice it. Second, "find your own value at work to enjoy the fun of work." It is a pleasure for a legal person to make an outstanding contribution to his field. In the end, President Feng put forward his wish that everyone will become a responsible person and be brave in the family, the society, and the country.
Everyone shared the harvest of the salon and expressed their gratitude to all the teachers for their unquestionable enlightenment. The sentiments of the predecessors to life, the pursuit of career, and the love of international law have opened the eyes of the young law scholars. They are witty and sincere, and the words and sentences are really taught. The charm of international law motivates the legal person to stand firm and look to the future. We believe that there will be more young people who find their own way to the broad international stage. They also expect the international jurisprudence to meet with the Wuhan University Law School to guide the young people of law.
(Text / Meng Bin and Xia Boyu)
