Tim Webster, a professor of law, has dedicated many years to exploring the law, sociology, and politics of East Asia's World War II reparations movements -- which are still ongoing 75 years after the war’s end. Why are the last surviving war victims in Asia and their families still pursuing claims for reparations? Professor Webster will give an overview of the major legal cases, settlement agreements, international treaties, efforts by civil society organizations, and political negotiations to allocate liability for World War II.
Katherine Wilhelm: USALI's New Executive Director
China Law & Policy Podcast: Frank Upham - Our Man in Wuhan
On May 29, 2019 Elizabeth Lynch interviewed NYU Law Professor Frank Upham in observance of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. The interview details how in 1989 Professor Upham was a researcher at Wuhan University faculty of law and as a result witnessed the pro-democracy protests that were also occurring in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province. Listen / Read Transcript of the Podcast here.
Professor Frank Upham and Shitong Qiao of USALI Discuss Property Rights in China
On Thursday, October 31, 2013 Professor Cohen sat down with Professor Frank Upham, Wilf Family Professor of Property Law and USALI co-director at the NYU School of Law, and Mr. Shitong Qiao, USALI Research Scholar and J.S.D. Candidate at Yale Law School, to discuss their views on contemporary Chinese property rights topics and property law in general.
During the lunch, Professor Upham described how he became interested in Chinese property rights. The turn toward China marks his latest focus of inquiry in a career-long interest in law and society, particularly the extent to which global practice can help us rethink existing theory on the relationship between property rights and the law. Having studied many diverse regions, including Japan, Cambodia and China, he is now working on a book that investigates the evolution of property law across many regions, beginning with the enclosure movement in England in the sixteenth century.
Mr. Shitong Qiao, who is now in his fourth year in Yale’s J.S.D. program, introduced his fieldwork in Shenzhen, the birthplace of China's market economy and urban land use reform. Mr. Qiao advised the Shenzhen municipal government on land reform and urbanization during his one-year fieldwork there. His research on small properties in Shenzhen has been accepted by the Canadian Journal of Law and Society and as a book chapter to be published by Cambridge University Press. He also detailed his approach toward studying Chinese property rights, which combines law and economic theories with on-the-ground observation and participation.
In addition, Professor Upham and Mr. Qiao discussed their ongoing collaboration, a project that examines the evolution of land rights in a rapidly changing world. In answering questions from the audience, both speakers proposed an integrated and dynamic approach to understanding property rights in China, which emphasizes the crucial roles of community-building and the establishment of political power for all stakeholders involved in the process of owning and transferring land.