Annual F.Y. Chang Lecture

The Annual F.Y. Chang Lecture, which honors the spirit of Chang Fuyun, is a joint program of Peking University Law School, Tsinghua University Law School and the Harvard University Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program. This lectureship brings eminent Chinese and American legal scholars and jurists both to Beida and Tsinghua to carry on F.Y. Chang’s example by sharing their knowledge, and in doing so, to advance respect for the rule of law.

In 2003, Tsinghua Law School joined as a cosponsor of the Annual Lecture, hosting the F.Y. Chang Scholars’ fifteenth anniversary celebration. Lectures now alternate between the two universities and are held every October or November.

Tsinghua hosted its first F.Y. Chang Lecture in 2004, featuring Anthony Neoh of the Hong Kong Bar. The 2005 lecture was held at Peking University, with Jiang Ping, former president of the University of Law and Politics, who gave a talk entitled Achievements and Deficiencies in China’s Legal Reforms. Professor Xu Zhangrun from Tsinghua University Law School and Mr. Ko-Yung Tung, Senior Counselor of Morrison & Foerster LLP, served as commentators. . 

The 2006 program saw Lecturer C.V. Chen, Managing Partner of Lee & Li in Taiwan, offer a provocative look at Idealism vs. Reality in Being a Lawyer: Playing the Role of God. 

In 2007, Jody Freeman, professor and director of the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Program, lectured on Environmental Protection and Global Warming Regulation in the United States: The State of Play.

In 2008, the F.Y. Chang Foundation celebrated the 20th anniversary of the F.Y. Chang  Scholars program, and the Annual Lecture was delivered by US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at a symposium held in Washington, DC.

The 2009 F.Y. Chang Lecture was delivered by Ms. Xin Chunying, the Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, at Tsinghua Law School. This was a milestone as it marked the first time that the Lecture was delivered by a former F.Y. Chang Scholar.

The 2010 F.Y. Chang Lecture was delivered by Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, former US Trade Representative and currently serving as Senior International Partner of WIlmerHale, a Washington, DC-based law firm. Ambassador Barshefsky spoke on, “The Politics of Trade and Globalization.”

The 2011 F.Y. Chang Lecture was delivered by Professor Geoffrey Cowan, University Professor at University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, the inaugural holder of the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership and director of USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Professor Cowan’s lecture was on the topic “National Security vs. Free Speech: An American Case Study”.

Professor Cowan recently wrote a play entitled Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers. He enthralled the F.Y. Chang Lecture audience with details of the play in December. If you would like to learn more about Top Secret and the underlying issues of free press and national security.

The 2012 F.Y. Chang Lecture was delivered by Elsie Leung Oi-sie, GBM, JP. She was the Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2005 and was a member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. She headed the Department of Justice which then had a staff of 1,000. She is currently a Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee under the Standing Committee of The National People’s Congress of the PRC.

In 2013, the F.Y. Chang Lecture celebrated its 15th Anniversary. Former Foreign Minister of Taiwan, Fredrick Chien, delivered a lecture on “The Abrogation of the Unequal Treaties of China in the 1940s” and engaged in a lively Q&A session with Peking University Law students.

The 2014 F.Y. Chang Lecture was delivered by Gao Xiqing. He is the former Vice Chairman, President and Chief Investment Officer of the China Investment Corporation, one of China’s soverign wealth funds. Gao graduated from the University of International Business in Beijing with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master in Law, and he obtained a law degree in 1986 from Duke University’s Law School. He then worked as an associate at the Wall Street law firm Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon before returning to China in 1988.

The 2015 F.Y. Chang Lecture was hosted at Peking University Law School and featured William Fisher, the Wilmer Hale Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Harvard Law School. Fisher discussed the enforcement of intellectual property law and the future of digital entertainment.