History And Reality Of China's Law Education

Since Confucianism became the leading force in ideology in middle Han dynasty, China has become am imperial state with Confucianism at its center. In the tradition of governmental case dealing, China has failed to develop an independent administration, letting along independent legal education. The ancient Chinese legal education was not able to be independent of Confucianism and imperial examinations.The invation of western powers has forced Qing Government to adopt reforms to an extent. At the same time non-governmental scholars began their individual callings and actions, requiring to learn advanced science knowledge and systems from foreign countries. Influenced by Japanese and US models, Chinese higher-education and legal education in a modern sense began and developed in a difficult social environment and took a relatively formal shape in 1930s.After the establishment of PRC, the rule of law construction and legal education in China have turned to Soviet model. From the anti-right movement in 1957 to the ten years of Cultrual Revolution, the rule of law construction in China has encountered a heavy blow and the legal education has been in a static and backward state. After the adoption of reform and open-up policy, the government has rebuilt its judicial, procecutional and public security department speedily and the legal education has entered a new stage as well. With over 20 years' development, the legal education in China may have the biggest scale in the world, though the theories are still in a ambiguous state, with some problems that may hinder the process of rule of law construction.The goal of legal education shall be to provide legal intellectuals for the state. In a world of globalization, high-quality intellectuals with multi-skills are scarce. We should increase the threshold of legal education the education quality. In the process of constructing a rule of law society, unification in constructing a rule of law country requires us to adopt a high degree unified legal education theories and to educate legal professionals with converging legal mind and theoretical quality in college education and continuing education, so as to bring in into shape a unified body of legal profession.