Xiangyi received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago, an MSc in Politics of China from SOAS University of London, and a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was awarded the 2025 Surrency Prize by the American Society for Legal History. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Contemporary China, Law and History Review, and China Law and Society Review. Prior to joining the University of Hong Kong as a Global Academic Fellow, she served as a Social Sciences Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago.
HKU Legal Scholarship Blog
Follow the research activities and scholarship of the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Welcome the new Global Academic Fellow Dr Xiangyi Ren!
Monday, August 17, 2026
Welcome the new Global Academic Fellow Dr Marianne Von Blomberg!
Her research focuses on social credit systems and related forms of assessment-based governance in China and beyond, as well as on techno-orientalism in media and policy discourse. In her current work, she expands her work on regulation and governance to include processes of technical standardization as key sites where regulatory logics are developed and negotiated.
She completed her PhD at the University of Cologne, funded by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. The project investigated how evolving social credit systems strengthen, weaken and transform the law in China and is grounded in three years of fieldwork and analyses of official documents. Her focus on modes of public regulation and their transformation has led her to observe the processes and fora of technical standardization in her postdoctoral work.
Beyond research, Marianne contributes to public and policy-facing engagement on PRC law in Europe through advising EU officials, teaching, and serving as the editor of the blog of the European Chinese Law Studies Association (ecls.eu), and co-organizing its conferences and summer schools. Marianne holds an LL.M. from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and a BA in Communication and Cultural Studies from Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen. She has been a visiting scholar at the City University of Hong Kong School of Law and has professional experience with several news outlets, the Jingling Law Firm (criminal defense), the Volkswagen Group, and the German Embassy in Ottawa.
Friday, August 14, 2026
Benjamin Chen et al on Mitigating the Judicial Human–AI Fairness Gap (Journal of Legal Analysis)
"Mitigating the judicial human–AI fairness gap"
Benjamin Chen, Yoan Hermstrüwer, Pascal Langenbach, Alexander Stremitzer, Kevin Tobia
Journal of Legal Analysis, Volume 18, Issue 1, 2026, Pages 207–242
Published online: July 2026
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Craig Purshouse on Rethinking negligence liability for ‘pure psychiatric damage’: an analogy with assault (Legal Studies)
Craig Purshouse
Legal Studies
Published online: July 2026
Abstract: Orthodox accounts of negligence liability for ‘pure psychiatric damage’ view it as protecting the claimants’ interest in their psychiatric health and often attack English law’s restrictive duty of care rules for inadequately safeguarding this right. This paper challenges this widespread consensus by presenting and evaluating an alternative explanatory rationale. Drawing an analogy between the ‘paradigm case’ of primary victims and the tort of assault, the crux of the argument is that the interest protected in ‘accident’ cases is in avoiding anticipated immediate physical violence but the law sometimes extends the protection of this right to secondary victims in order to preserve the law’s legitimacy. From this perspective, several intractable doctrinal problems that have long troubled adherents to the orthodox view become explicable.
Monday, August 10, 2026
New book by Julius Yam on Judging for Democracy (Cambridge University Press)
Julius Yam
Cambridge University Press
Published in July 2026
276 pp.
Friday, August 7, 2026
Trevor Wan on Anchoring Proportionality in China (International Journal of Constitutional Law)
Trevor Wan
International Journal of Constitutional Law
Published online: July 2026
Abstract: Proportionality, the lingua franca of rights adjudication across the globe, is not a lost cause in China. It has attained a modest jurisprudential, epistemic, and discursive presence, with proportionality-resembling formulations scattered across statutes and judicial decisions. An opportunity structure has emerged in favor of proportionality’s expansion into the domain of personality rights adjudication under the Civil Code of 2021—a “surrogate” of constitutional rights review. This opportunity structure is enabled by a semi-autonomous private law sphere lodged within China’s dual state, the structure of the Civil Code, which delegates to judges the authority to adopt a stable criterion to assess the scope of personality right provisions and their limits, and the proactive agency of prominent publicists and judges who have advocated for, and experimented with, proportionality in real cases. Despite such impetus, anchoring proportionality remains constrained by two “micro-level” obstacles in everyday judicial praxis, which are the sheer size of the judiciary and truncated judgment-writing practice. Ultimately, the fate of proportionality in China hinges on the extent to which the party-state tolerates the evolution of its private law in a rights-protective direction, which in turn bespeaks the future of the Chinese legal system.
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
HKU Law Welcomes Prof. Michael Tsimplis
Professor Michael (Mikis) Tsimplis has been with the Faculty of Law since July 2026. Before joining HKU Mikis worked for CityU (2018-2026). Before 2018 Mikis worked in various academic and leadership positions for the University of Southampton and before that for the UK Natural Environment Research Council. He has taught various courses, including Admiralty Law, Admiralty Enforcement, Charterparties, Bills of Lading, Energy and Environment Law, Law of International Sales, Legal Concepts, Insurance Law, Private International Law, Commercial Contracts, Legal Concepts Law of the Marine Environment in academic and professional courses around the world. Mikis undertakes research in marine, maritime, commercial, and environmental law as well as keeping an interest in oceanography and environmental science. He has led and contributed to various international and interdisciplinary projects and has published mainly in law, oceanography and sea level rise, with extensive interdisciplinary collaborations. He has been involved in the quality assessment and accreditation of university departments and the evaluation of research proposals for national and international bodies.
Monday, August 3, 2026
Ryan Whalen et al on Measuring Human Contribution in AI-Assisted Content Generation
"Measuring Human Contribution in AI-Assisted Content Generation"
Yueqi Xie, Tao Qi, Jingwei Yi, Xiyuan Yang, Ryan Whalen, Junming Huang, Qian Ding, Yu Xie, Xing Xie, Fangzhao Wu
ACL Anthology
Published online: July 2026
Abstract: With the growing prevalence of generative AI, an increasing amount of content is no longer exclusively generated by humans but by generative AI models with human guidance. This shift presents notable challenges for the delineation of originality due to the varying degrees of human contribution in AI-assisted works. This study raises the research question of measuring human contribution in AI-assisted content generation and introduces a framework to address this question that is grounded in information theory. By calculating mutual information between human input and AI-assisted output relative to self-information of AI-assisted output, we quantify the proportional information contribution of humans in content generation. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed measure effectively discriminates between varying degrees of human contribution across multiple creative domains. To further enhance real-world applicability, we extend the framework to estimate the minimal necessary human contribution for any text without requiring human input and validate its effectiveness. We hope that this work lays a foundation for measuring human contributions in AI-assisted content generation in the era of generative AI.
Friday, July 31, 2026
Benjamin Chen and Xinyu Xie on The Alignment Target Problem: Divergent Moral Judgments of Humans, AI Systems, and Their Designers (FAccT '26)
"The Alignment Target Problem: Divergent Moral Judgments of Humans, AI Systems, and Their Designers"
Benjamin Chen, Xinyu Xie (PhD Candidate)
ACM FAccT '26
Published online: June 2026
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Congratulations to Professor Ying Xia and Professor Ying Zhu!
Congratulations to Prof. Ying Xia and Prof. Ying Zhu on their promotion to Associate Professor!
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Congratulations to HKU Law Student Finalists in Law Reform Essay Competition 2026
- Hui Chun Tak, Chezkel (Bachelor of Social Sciences (Government and Laws) and Bachelor of Laws (Year 4)),
- Jennifer Peng Jiayi (Bachelor of Laws (Year 2)),
- Shan Siyuan (Bachelor of Laws (Year 2)),
- Wang Zhiyu (Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Year 3)),
- Xiong Xiao Meng, Lauren (Bachelor of Social Sciences (Government and Laws) and Bachelor of Laws (Year 3)) and
- Yu Tung Ching (Postgraduate Certificate in Laws)
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
RGC Awards $5 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2026/27
Congratulations to our eight colleagues who were successful in the 2026-2027 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). Seven General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to evaluate the Infrastructure Consultation in the Asia Pacific; to explore Human-AI Interaction in Legal Processes; to regulate Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms in China; to assess how can AI help Debt Mediation; to analyse Damage in Hong Kong's Law of Negligence; to examine the role of corporate law in advancing ESG in China; to evaluate the structured issues of FILs and identifying ways to minimize FILs’ impact on citizens’ rights. One Early Career Scheme (ECS) project was funded to evaluate the Necessity and Feasibility of a Sentencing Council in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:
GRF:
Professor Shahla Ali
Infrastructure Consultation in the Asia Pacific, HK$827,180
Professor Benjamin Chen
Artificially Enhanced Justice: An Exploration of Human-AI Interaction in Legal Processes, HK$777,600
Professor Hui Jing
Regulating Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms in China: Challenges and Future Directions, HK$633,900
Professor John Liu
Can Artificial Intelligence Help Debt Mediation? A Field Experiment, HK$650,000
Professor Craig Purshouse
Damage in Hong Kong's Law of Negligence, HK$147,500
Professor James Zeng
Corporate Law and ESG in China, HK$816,000
Dr. Han Zhu
Rule of Law or Rule of Values? A Critical Comparative Analysis of Foreign Influence Laws, HK$549,240
ECS:
Professor Florence Lee
Evaluating the Necessity and Feasibility of a Sentencing Council in Hong Kong: Lessons from Comparative Perspectives, HK$599,984
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Alwin Chan on The Social Good Shortfall: Reframing Takings Doctrine for Housing-Scarce Cities (The Asian Business Lawyer)
Alwin Chan
The Asian Business Lawyer, volume 37, pp.161-206
Published in May 2026
Abstract: This article argues that takings doctrine in housing-scarce cities should be reoriented around a “social good shortfall” standard. In Hong Kong and other dense urban settings, acute housing shortages coexist with fragmented ownership, underused land, and redevelopment regimes that either defer too readily to economic development or fail to generate meaningful housing supply. Existing formulations of public use, public purpose, and public interest are too indeterminate to discipline redevelopment, yet too narrow to justify the land assembly needed to address scarcity. The article proposes that compulsory acquisition should be justified only where the current or reasonably foreseeable use of land falls materially short of a feasible alternative in delivering socially important outcomes under conditions of scarcity. Grounded in a modernized reading of Locke’s spoilage proviso, the article also develops a framework of “propriety in the taking”: a substantial evidentiary basis for acquisition, compensation exceeding bare market value while respecting autonomy, and a decision-making process insulated from capture. It further argues that takings should ordinarily proceed through private-to-private redevelopment subject to independent expert review and judicial scrutiny. Comparative analysis of Hong Kong, the United States, and Seoul shows both the limits of permissive redevelopment and the promise, and trade-offs, of mandatory social housing requirements.
Please click here to view the full article on SSRN.
Thursday, July 9, 2026
New book by Gary Meggitt: Wilkinson's Professional Conduct of Lawyers in Hong Kong Desk Edition 2026 (LexisNexis)
Wilkinson's Professional Conduct of Lawyers in Hong Kong Desk Edition 2026
Gary Meggitt
LexisNexis
Published in May 2026
1122 pp.
Wilkinson's Professional Conduct of Lawyers in Hong Kong - Desk Edition 2026 continues to incorporate the best of its previous editions, enhanced by recent developments introduced by legislation, Law Society Circulars, Bar Circulars, Law Society and Judiciary Practice Directions and numerous cases from many relevant jurisdictions. This new edition contains much new material, the most significant developments include annotations on admission to practice; confidentiality and legal professional privilege; competence;, undertakings; and disciplinary proceedings. This title will prove indispensable to law students studying the PCLL and Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination candidates.
Monday, June 22, 2026
Trevor Wan and Victor Li on A Confucian Virtue Ethics Approach to Medical Internship in Hong Kong (BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics Forum)
In examining these issues, we find that a Confucian virtue ethics approach is......
Please click here to read full text on BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics Forum.
Thursday, June 18, 2026
New book by Valeria Vázquez Guevara: Truth Commissions and International Law (Cambridge University Press)
Valeria Vázquez Guevara
Cambridge University Press
Published in June 2026
Abstract: This book examines how truth commissions construct authoritative accounts of conflict, and how they account for the plurality of accounts across affected communities. Vázquez Guevara examines three of the earliest and most influential truth commissions: Argentina (1983–1984), Chile (1990–1991), and El Salvador (1992–1993), and examines how relevant cultural objects support or counter the official account for each. In doing so, she argues that these truth commissions drew on international law to authorise their accounts of violent conflict, and that this had the consequence of privileging an internationally-authorised truth over other truths, whilst simultaneously strengthening the authority of international law over the post-conflict state. By demonstrating how truth commissions turn to international law for authority, the book shows how this produces an official account of past violence and promises of future community, which fundamentally affects how communities live together in the aftermath of violent conflict.
The book's Preface and Introduction (excerpt) can be read here and here.
- Responds to increasing world-wide interest in Truth Commissions and their legacies for post-conflict states
- Models a methodology for innovative legal, historical, and cultural analysis of international law
- Explains how international law plays a fundamental role in a Truth Commission process
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Protecting Human Creativity from AI’s Grip (Haochen Sun Profiled in HKU Bulletin)
Published in May 2026
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Kelvin Kwok on Rethinking the Antitrust-Securities Interface (American Business Law Journal)
Kelvin Kwok
American Business Law Journal, Summer 2026, pp. 151-175
Published online: May 2026
Monday, June 8, 2026
Alric Wong and Wilson Lui on Four problems in appellate review of foreign law: Evaluating the Spectrum Approach (Common Law World Review)
Common Law World Review
Published online: May 2026


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