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As 2025 draws to a close, Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School reflects on a year of academic engagement marked by its 80th anniversary, including the 5th Forum on China’s National Institutions Studies and the Forum on the Rule of Law and Reform (2025), held in Hangzhou on November 8, 2025.

Guided by the China Law Society and hosted by Zhejiang University, the forum was co-organized by Guanghua Law School of Zhejiang University, the Institute for National Institutions Studies of Zhejiang University, the Beijing Institute of Zhejiang University, and the Institute of Social Science of Zhejiang University, with strong support from the Ministry of Education, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, the Zhejiang High People’s Court, the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Procuratorate, the Zhejiang Federation of Social Sciences, and other institutions. The forum focused on “Theoretical and Practical Innovations in Advancing the Rule of Law and the Development of an Autonomous Knowledge System in Chinese Jurisprudence.”

This forum was an integral part of the academic series celebrating the 80th anniversary of Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School (the law discipline). Gao Mingxuan, recipient of the National Honorary Title “People’s Educator” and an outstanding alumnus of Zhejiang University, sent a congratulatory letter.

Opening remarks were delivered by Jing Hanchao, Member of the Leading Party Members Group of the China Law Society and Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Law Society; Wang Chengguo, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, and President of the Zhejiang Law Society; Ren Shaobo, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang University Committee; Zhang Wenxian, Convener of the Law Discipline Group of the Social Sciences Committee of the Ministry of Education and President of the China Society for Legal Education of the China Law Society; Xu Xianming, Deputy Director of the Advisory Committee of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and Chair of the Steering Committee for Legal Education under the Ministry of Education; Hu Yunteng, Deputy Director of the Advisory Committee of the Supreme People’s Court and President of the China Society for Case Law Studies of the China Law Society; Wang Richun, Director-General of the Department of Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education; Li Zhanguo, President of the Zhejiang High People’s Court and President of the China Commercial Law Research Association; Lin Yiying, Procurator-General of the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Procuratorate; and Fan Qingyu, Secretary of the Leading Party Members Group and Vice Chairperson of the Zhejiang Federation of Social Sciences. Liang Liming, President of the China Society of the Law of the Sea and former Secretary of the Leading Party Members Group and Vice Chair of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Congress, and Huang Huikang, senior diplomat and Distinguished Professor at Wuhan University, also attended. Leaders present unveiled several major achievements. The opening ceremony was chaired by Zhou Jianghong, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Zhejiang University Committee and Vice President of Zhejiang University.

In recent years, Zhejiang University has actively explored pathways toward the modernization of China’s national institutions and governance. Centered on advancing comprehensive law-based governance, the University has provided intellectual support for the modernization of national governance. New Era China’s National Institutions and the Modernization of Governance and the Research Series on National Institutions Building and the Modernization of National Governance are two major publications focusing on national institutions studies. Ren Shaobo, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang University Committee, and Zhang Wenxian, Convener of the Law Discipline Group of the Social Sciences Committee of the Ministry of Education and President of the China Society for Legal Education of the China Law Society, jointly unveiled the new book releases.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, Zhejiang University has identified “building an autonomous knowledge system in Chinese jurisprudence” as the central task for the development of its law discipline. The release of Zhejiang University’s Exploration of an Autonomous Knowledge System in Chinese Jurisprudence not only showcases Guanghua Law School’s accumulated academic strengths but also offers a “Zhejiang University approach” for advancing the development of an autonomous knowledge system in Chinese jurisprudence nationwide. The launch ceremony was unveiled by Liang Liming, President of the China Society of the Law of the Sea and former Secretary of the Leading Party Members Group and Vice Chair of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Congress, and Huang Huikang, senior diplomat and Distinguished Professor at Wuhan University.

The launch ceremony for a series of achievements in legal theory research and legal education practice—New Era China’s National Institutions and the Modernization of Governance, the Research Series on National Institutions Building and the Modernization of National Governance, Zhejiang University’s Exploration of an Autonomous Knowledge System in Chinese Jurisprudence, and the Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School Agent Platform 2.0—was chaired by Zheng Chunyan, Secretary of the CPC Committee of Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School.

Keynote speeches were delivered by Li Lin (Member of the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Level I Professor; Vice Chair of the Academic Committee of the China Law Society; President of the Jurisprudence Research Association of the China Law Society), Hu Jianmiao (Level I Professor, Party School of the CPC Central Committee/National Academy of Governance), Huang Wenyi (Wu Yuzhang Chair Professor, Renmin University of China; Editor-in-Chief of China Legal Science), Wang Guiguo (Senior Professor of Humanities, Zhejiang University; Director, Institute for International Strategy and Law, Zhejiang University), Fu Hualing (Dean, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong), Guo Li (Dean, Peking University Law School), Cui Guobin (Dean, Tsinghua University School of Law), Wang Liming (Level I Professor, Renmin University of China), Mo Jihong (Member of the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Director, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Dean, School of Law, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), and Song Hualin (Dean, Nankai University Law School). The keynote session was co-chaired by Sun Xiaoxia (Dunhe Chair Professor, Zhejiang University; Director, Zhejiang University Institute of Digital Rule of Law) and Fan Jiuli (Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President, Northwest University of Political Science and Law; Vice President of the China Law Society).

Marking the fifth anniversary of the proposal of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and in a year when the implementation cycle of the “One Plan and Two Outlines” for advancing the rule of law reaches its conclusion while planning for the 15th Five-Year Plan is underway, Zhejiang University hosted the 5th Forum on China’s National Institutions Studies and the Forum on the Rule of Law and Reform (2025). Legal education and jurisprudential research carry the important mission of cultivating high-caliber rule-of-law professionals and providing robust theoretical support for building a rule-of-law China, and therefore play an important role in advancing comprehensive law-based governance. The forum brought together presidents and leaders from renowned universities at home and abroad, deans of law schools, scholars, experts from judicial and legal practice departments, and a wide community of alumni. Centered on the theme “Theoretical and Practical Innovations in Advancing the Rule of Law and the Development of an Autonomous Knowledge System in Chinese Jurisprudence,” participants engaged in in-depth discussions on key issues including reforming legal education in the digital era, advancing socialist rule-of-law practices, and building an autonomous knowledge system in Chinese jurisprudence, contributing insights to the development of a rule-of-law China during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

As 2025 comes to a close, Guanghua Law School will take its 80th anniversary as a new starting point and continue advancing digital innovation in legal education and the development of an autonomous knowledge system in Chinese jurisprudence.