Events
Inaugural Lecture of Wei Lun Professorship in Law by Professor Lutz-Christian Wolff on “35 Years of Chinese Foreign Investment Law – Facts, Trends and Stories”
13 Jan 2015
6:00 p.m.
Lecture Theatre 5UG/F, Lee Shau Kee BuildingThe Chinese University of Hong Kong
Professor Lutz-Christian Wolff joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2005 as a founding member of the Faculty of Law. He was appointed as Professor of Law in 2008 and served as Associate Dean (Faculty Development) (2008-2010), Director of the Master of Laws Programmes in International Economic Law, Common Law and Chinese Business Law (2008-2011), and Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) and Head of the Graduate Division of Law (2010-2014) of the Faculty of Law. In September 2014, the Council of CUHK appointed Professor Wolff as Dean of the Graduate School.
Professor Wolff received his first and second doctoral degrees (Dr. iur. and Dr. iur. habil.) from The University of Passau, Germany in 1990 and 1997 respectively. He studied, worked and conducted research in Germany, Mainland China, Taiwan, and the USA before he moved to Hong Kong in 1999. He specializes in international and Chinese business law, comparative law and private international law. He is admitted to practice law in England and Wales as well as in Germany and is frequently invited to work on investment projects in the Greater China Region. Professor Wolff has published numerous books and articles on issues in his area of expertise. He has also spoken around the world on Chinese law and aspects of doing business in Mainland China.
Professor Wolff has received various CUHK awards for his outstanding teaching and research achievements, including the Research Excellence Award in 2008, the Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award in 2007 and 2011, and the University Education Award in 2013.
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The PRC Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law of 1979 was one of the first laws enacted after the decision to liberalize the Chinese economy had been taken in 1978. The PRC Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law was intended to create a reliable legal basis for foreign investment projects in Mainland China and thus ultimately to attract urgently needed foreign currency inflows and the transfer of modern technology into the country. Numerous laws and regulations have followed. Enacted at different times, at different levels and for different legislative reasons, these laws and regulations form a highly diversified legal framework that has reached a degree of complexity, which is sometimes difficult to understand even for experts in the field.
In this inaugural lecture, Professor Wolff will give an overview of the development of China’s foreign investment law system over the past decades. He will highlight trends and explain special features of this system on the basis of cases in which he was involved as advisor or which have been part of his academic work. Topics that will be addressed are, among others, the relationship between foreign investment law making and reform developments, the ambivalent nature of China’s investment law system which aims to control and facilitate investments at the same time, the problems arising out of the fragmentation of China’s foreign investment regime, the responses of investors and their local partners to the ongoing changes, and the impact of the almost dramatic increase of Chinese outbound investment projects in recent years.
