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

New Issue of Hong Kong Law Journal (Vol. 54, Part 1 of 2024)

HONG KONG LAW JOURNAL

Vol. 54, Part 1 of 2024

Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Eric C Ip

Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Julius Yam

Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Obituary

In Memoriam: Professor Julius Yam (1992-2024), Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Hong Kong Law Journal 

Cora Chan and Hualing Fu...1

Articles

Transfiguring the Landscape — Morality, Courts and Justice 

Kemal Bokhary...5

The Asymmetric Evolution of the Basic Laws of Hong Kong and Macao

Wanli Wang...13

Macau and Hong Kong: Convergence or Divergence? An Analysis of the 2023 Macau National Security Law

Han Zhu...53

Junk Food Control Standards Based on the Protection of Rights to Food: Study About Issues in Hong Kong/Macau and International Experience

Ting Zhou, Jingwen Chen and Qiuning Luan...65

Breaking Dilemmas: The Need for an International Liability Regime for Commercial Spaceflight

Jie Long and Wenzhen Chen...85

The Reform of Civil Online Litigation in China: Development and Predicaments

Xingmei Zhang and Jieren Hu...109

The Current Debate and Future Development of Dual-Class Share Structures in China

Min Yan...133

Pharmaceutical Patent Protection in the China-US Phase One Trade Agreement: China’s Perspective

Na Zhang and Li Liu...157

Narrow and Problematic Interpretation of an Arbitration Agreement’s Scope under Chinese Law: The Missing Pro-Arbitration Presumptive Rule

Tietie Zhang...179

From “Line Appraisal” to “Case-Process Ratio”: Will the New Case Quality Assessment System Facilitate the Changing Role of Chinese Prosecutor?

Peter CH Chan and Wanqiang Wu...203

The Accountability of Non-charitable Donation-based Crowdfunding Platforms in China

Dejian Li and Hui Jing...231

Data Governance in China’s Digital Market Economy

Sijuade Animashaun...253

Book Review

Shucheng Wang, Law as an Instrument: Sources of Chinese Law for Authoritarian Legality

Samuli Seppänen...285

Han Zhu on Macau and Hong Kong: Convergence or Divergence? An Analysis of the 2023 Macau National Security Law (HKLJ)

"Macau and Hong Kong: Convergence or Divergence? An Analysis of the 2023 Macau National Security Law"
Han Zhu
Hong Kong Law Journal, Vol. 54, Part 1 of 2024, pp.53 - 63

Abstract: On 18 May 2023, the Macau Legislative Assembly passed amendments to the Law on Safeguarding National Security (MANSL), drawing heavily on the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL). This article examines the major modifications made to the MANSL in reference to the HKNSL, and demonstrates that the revised MANSL has deviated from its pro-liberal, narrowly defined precursor. The two distinct paradigms of national security legislation in Hong Kong and Macau reveal the increasingly muddled and complex constitutional relationship between the central authority and the two Special Administrative Regions.

Please click here to view the full article on SSRN.

Han Zhu on Rights Movement, Civil Disobedience and Civil Unrest (new book chapter)

"Rights Movement, Civil Disobedience and Civil Unrest"
Han Zhu
in Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law in Greater China, ed. by Ngoc Son Bui, Stuart Hargreaves, and Ryan Mitchell (Routledge, Dec 29 2022), Chapter 13, pp. 204-220

Abstract: This chapter aims to explore how the differences in constitutional systems have shaped social movements in the three regions by applying the mainstream social movement theory—the political opportunity and process theory—to the field of constitutional law. According to the political opportunity theory, the structure of political opportunities embedded in a society may have a significant impact on a social movement's development by inspiring or discouraging movement mobilization. Social movements in post-1989 China are characterised by Rights movements, which refer to a wide variety of actions by citizens to defend their civil or political rights through legal activism or other mobilisation tactics. The changing structure of legal opportunities inspired the emergence of weiquan movements, along with various resistance movements, in the mid-1990s. Weiquan activism was initiated by common citizens in both urban and rural areas.

Han Zhu's Comparative Study of the Oath-Taking Controversies in Hong Kong and Taiwan (new book chapter)

"Democratic Legitimacy vs. Rule of Law: A Comparative Study of Oath-Taking Controversies in Hong Kong and Taiwan"

Han Zhu

in Democracy and Rule of Law in China's Shadow, edited by Brian Christopher Jones, UK: Hart Publishing, April 2021.

Abstract: Five hundred years ago, the subjects of the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon swore the oath of allegiance to their king: “We who are as good as you swear to you who are no better than we, to accept you as our king and sovereign lord, provided you observe all our liberties and laws; but if not, not.” In Hong Kong and Taiwan today, the ancient tradition of oath-taking still give rise to heated disputes surrounding the issues of national identity and regime legitimacy. This book chapter traces the series of events surrounding oath-taking disputes in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It considers the differences in relevant laws and judicial decisions in the two regions, and analyses the factors contributing to the contrast. Underlying the oath-taking controversies is the question, closely related to the right to self-determination/secession, of whether and how a constitutional and legal system can accommodate activities and claims opposing the very foundation upon which the existing constitutional framework operates. Responses from the authorities aimed at tackling the oath-taking issue may range from political negotiation to forceful suppression, which largely reveals the degree of authoritarian or democratic inclinations of a regime. This comparative study demonstrates that the way in which the oath-taking disputes have been handled in Hong Kong has exacerbated the inherent tension between democratic legitimacy and legality in this city. Chapter available from SSRN.

New Issue of Hong Kong Law Journal (Part 1 of 2019)

HONG KONG LAW JOURNAL

Vol. 49, Part 1 of 2019

Editor-in-Chief: Professor Rick Glofcheski

Associate Editor: Professor Albert Chen

Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell

Articles
Regulating Working Hours in Hong Kong: Towards Temporal Autonomy Mimi Zou and Kelly Leung	1
Going Global: An International Profile of Legal Research in Hong Kong’s Law Schools Stephen Thomson	29
China Law
Article V(1)(b) of the New York Convention in China: Applying the Due Process Defense without the Doctrine of Due Process Lei Zhu and Yongping Xiao	57
Impact of Certain Merger Control Provisions on Hostile Takeover Activities in China Ewa Kruszewska	91
“The Belt and Road” and Cross-Border Judicial Cooperation Zheng Sophia Tang	121
Qing Judicial Interpretation of “Coercion” and “Deceit” in the Context of Suicide Geoffrey MacCormack	153
Symposium: 20 Years of the Basic Law
Introduction  Po Jen Yap	183
Separation of Powers in Hong Kong: Inching Towards a More Flexible Judicial Interpretation  Danny Gittings	187
Twenty Years of the Basic Law: Continuity and Changes in the Geoffrey Ma Court   Po Jen Yap	209
Dualism in the Basic Law: The First 20 Years  Michael Ramsden	239
Proportionality after Hysan: Fair Balance, Manifestly without Reasonable Foundation and Wednesbury Unreasonableness  Johannes Chan	265
Constitutional Finance: The Role of the Hong Kong Basic Law during the Global Financial Crisis  Eric C Ip	295
Subsidiarity, Authority and Constitutional Experimentalism in Hong Kong Yu Xingzhong	315
Round Three of Hong Kong’s Constitutional Game: From Semi-Democracy to Semi-Authoritarianism  Benny YT Tai	335
Revisiting Legislative Interpretations in China and the Implications for Hong Kong Yang Xiaonan and Fu Hualing	357
The Oath-taking Cases and the NPCSC Interpretation of 2016: Interface of Common Law and Chinese Law Han Zhu and Albert HY Chen	381

Click here to read the abstract of each article. Hong Kong Law Journal is published by Sweet & Maxwell. Full text is available on Westlaw.

Han Zhu and Albert Chen on The Oath-taking Cases and the NPCSC Interpretation of 2016 (HKLJ)

"The Oath-taking Cases and the NPCSC Interpretation of 2016: Interface of Common Law and Chinese Law"

Han Zhu (PhD 2016) and Albert HY Chen

Hong Kong Law Journal

Vol 49, Part 1 of 2019, p 381

Abstract: The oath-taking cases involving the disqualification of six Legislative Councillors in Hong Kong and the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) Interpretation in 2016 on oath taking were highly controversial. This article traces the origins of the oath-taking law in Hong Kong to its English roots and explains the difference today between the consequences of failure to comply with the oath-taking requirements by Hong Kong legislators on the one hand and by British Members of Parliament on the other hand. It analyses the distinction between interpretation, supplementation and amendment of the Basic Law in the context of NPCSC interpretations. It also considers the circumstances in which an NPCSC interpretation should have retrospective effect.

Han Zhu on Beijing’s “Rule of Law” Strategy for Governing Hong Kong (China Perspective)

"Beijing’s 'Rule of Law' Strategy for Governing Hong Kong: Legalisation without Democratisation?"

Han Zhu (PhD 2016)

China Perspectives

2019, Issue 1, pp 22-33

Abstract: This paper examines the evolution of legal strategies that the central government has used in managing Hong Kong affairs in the past three decades. It demonstrates that the Beijing government appears to have successfully employed the tactic of “legalisation without democratisation” to neutralise political resistance, to resolve thorny issues, and to stifle pro-independence voices. However, as Beijing’s legal strategies for Hong Kong have become more hands-on and assertive, the flaws and instrumentalism of Chinese-style “rule of law” have become increasingly salient, giving rise to deepening conflicts with the Hong Kong common law system. Legalisation without democratisation has given rise to a worrying trend of rising authoritarian legalism in Hong Kong.