The case of Wu Ying, a rags-to-riches billionaire convicted of "fundraising fraud" and sentenced to death, attracted a great deal of attention in China - this time, because a substantial element of popular opinion was against her death sentence. As the Los Angeles Times reports,

Critics of the death sentence, some of them prominent businessmen, had denounced it as a step backward for China's largely state-controlled legal system. Many claimed that Wu’s fundraising strategy was no different from that of most Chinese entrepreneurs and that the ruling would have a chilling effect on privat

I've been asked to announce an upcoming symposium on "China and the Human" on April 19th at City University of New York. It's being held in conjunction with the publication of a double issue of Social Text on the same theme. As the symposium is sponsored in part by Emory Law School and the double issue is co-edited by law professor and Chinese law scholar Teemu Ruskola, I'm sure there will be something of interest there for law types.

Here's the full announcement.

I have received the following announcement:

Taipei law firm Winkler Partners is looking for an intern for the summer of 2012 (c. June to August).

You will need to be currently enrolled in law school for us to get work authorization.

The basic qualifications include good analytic, research, and writing skills. We will try to pair you with an intern from a Taiwanese law school.

You do not need to know any Chinese for this position although it would be helpful.

Your duties would include curating social media sites, writing updates on legal topics, and light case work for 15-20 hours per week. The pay i

Here's an English translation of the revised Criminal Procedure Law, courtesy of the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

I have posted twice before on the revisions, with links to Chinese and English texts of the old law, the revised law, and the resolution setting forth the revisions. Here are the links:

• March 20th post
• March 18th post

It is a sign of the absurd and cruel vendetta that the Chinese government has carried out against Gao Zhisheng (高智晟) that his being seen alive should be headline news. After all, he has been in the custody, acknowledged or not, of that same government more or less constantly since February 2009. He was last seen alive by family members in April 2010.

His wife now reports that his father father-in-law and brother were able to visit him in prison on March 24. His brother has confirmed the meeting. Here's the Radio Free Asia report.

[March 30 correction indicated above.]

Anyone who spends much time in Beijing knows that in the last few years, it's been harder and harder to find a cab. The reason is much less hard to find: more Beijingers are able to afford cabs, and the rate, fixed by law, has not been changed since 2006. Yes, 2006! And this despite the fact that fuel costs have risen from 5.09 yuan/liter to 8.33 yuan/liter. Moreover, the rate for sitting still in traffic hasn't changed, either, even though taxis spend a lot more time sitting still in traffic now than they did in 2006. So: demand up, supply down.

The Beijing government has taken a few steps to fix the problem