Chinese Law and Politics Blog

Position: China Analyst, Eurasia Group

The Eurasia Group is seeking an experienced and motivated analyst of Chinese political affairs, to be located in the firm's New York or Washington, DC offices.

Position: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Commercial Officer, US Embassy (Beijing)

The U.S. government is looking to fill the position of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Commercial Officer in China for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  

The position requires knowledge of all fields of IPR and international agreements governing IPR, including IPR office operation and administration, IPR training, and adherence to IPR standards of protection and enforcement.  As an IPR Commercial Officer, the incumbent will act as a resource on China's intellectual property regime for other U.S. Government agencies. 

For more information, see the full job posting on the USA Jobs website. 

NPC To Consider Electoral Reforms Giving Rural Residents Greater Voice

Chinese legislative authorities have proposed reforming the electoral law governing the allocation of seats in local and national legislative bodies in an effort to redress discrimination against rural residents, according to a spokesman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) quoted in a March 4 Xinhua article (English, Chinese). 

The PRC Election Law for National and Local People's Congresses establishes a 4:1 urban-rural ratio in electoral representation for national and provincial-level legislative bodies.  Rural legislative deputies to national and provincial bodies consequently represent four times as many constituents as their urban counterparts, leaving migrant and rural interests underrepresented.  [For more analysis, see this post from Don Clarke's China Law Prof Blog].  This reflects a broader pattern of institutional discrimination against migrant and rural residents on the basis of their hukou (household registration) status.  [For more analysis, see this topic paper (English, Chinese) of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.]

NPC spokesman Jiang Enzhu noted China's increasing urbanization created a need to amend the electoral law in order to gradually ensure equal representation for urban and rural residents.  He stated that the NPC standing committee had proposed that the reforms be included in the NPC legislative plan for 2008.  However, he noted that "it is up to the 11th NPC Standing Committee, to be elected at the upcoming session, to make final decision" as to whether to include such reforms.

Position: Yale-China Association Law Fellow

The Yale-China Association is pleased to invite applications for its 2008-2009 Law Fellows Program.  The program places young U.S.-trained attorneys at Chinese universities as visiting professors.  Fellows spend one academic year in residence at a Chinese law school, teaching classes in areas of their own expertise and contributing to clinical education programs at the host institution.  During the 2008-09 academic year, Yale-China will send two Law Fellows to China. One will be placed at the Hunan University School of Law in Changsha, Hunan, and will have the opportunity to help develop the school's new clinical legal education program. The other Fellow will be placed at a law school in the Pearl River Delta region of China.

Anyone with a J.D. from an accredited U.S. law school and two years experience in legal practice is eligible to apply.  Preference will be given to those candidates who speak Chinese, are familiar with China, and have teaching and/or clinical law experience. Fellows will receive intensive Chinese-language instruction during the summer 2008 in Beijing and continued Chinese-language instruction during their residency. Round-trip airfare to China, on-campus housing, health insurance, and a stipend are provided as part of the package.

Application Deadline: March 20, 2008.

For more information, please visit the Yale-China website.