Week 4: Interns and Insights
Overtime, our little intern cohort of has been slowly growing, and this week we added three new members. Their backgrounds have ranged from majoring in economics to Indonesian, and their diverse perspectives have brought new energy to our ongoing projects.
Additionally, this week, I was given a crash course on China’s legal education system through the new interns. Unlike in the U.S., where law school is a postgraduate degree, prospective Chinese lawyers major in law during their undergraduate tenure. Furthermore, while practice-oriented clinical education is still an emerging concept in China, some interns in our cohort are heavily involved in Moot Court competitions, where they competed in both English and Chinese competitions. Another similarity with U.S. legal education is their heavy emphasis on case analysis in class. I found it strange discussing Marbury v. Madison and other familiar cases on the other side of the world in a completely different language. Besides Chinese and U.S. law, they also study Roman law and German law which forms the basis for much of modern Chinese law.
Over dinner, I had a thought-provoking discussion with one of the new interns, Roleen, about his dissertation on hate crimes in China. Chinese Criminal Law does not have an explicit “hate crime” category, only the crime of “inciting ethnic hatred or ethnic discrimination,” which usually involves repeated instances or wide dissemination. Instead, intent is inferred through circumstances under more general criminal charges such as intentional injury or public order offenses which leads to a fascinating legal gray zone where it becomes difficult to prove bias motivation in a system where subjective intent is not codified. Roleen argues that there is a need for China to have a more clearly defined and comprehensive legal framework for hate crimes as China continues to become increasingly multiethnic, urbanized, and digitally connected.
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The idea of “lazy summer days” comes to mind when thinking about life outside of work this week. With temperatures reaching up to 35 degrees Celsius, my motivation to explore the city was at an all-time-low, and because of this, I spent much my time outside of work visiting the numerous shopping centers in Beijing in search of A/C and shade.
My favorite has been Sanlitun so far. While, this shopping center is not fully indoors, it has interesting architecture, making it a great spot to take photos. Additionally, it offers a wide variety of trendy restaurants ranging from traditional Chinese cuisine to western style brunch spots. Also, unlike the other malls in the area, this shopping center, while still large, is more compact making it easier to navigate and find the shops that you are interested in.
On the recommendation of our coworkers, we also decided to visit the Beijing Wildlife Park instead of the regular zoo. Although, there are no giant pandas at the wildlife park, the park lets you feed the animals and even pet some of them such as a arctic wolf puppy. Additionally, the main attraction at the Wildlife Park is a train ride through their various exhibits which we thought would be less strenuous and more suitable given the scorching heat.
My personal favorite exhibit was the red pandas. I was expecting a big glass window or some other form of separation between their habitat and the park visitors. However, their habitat was built so their walkways would directly lead to the visitor areas and above it. Some visitors were even able to pet one of them, though I think that technically, this is not allowed.
This week has been a bit slower than the last couple, but I have been enjoying the change of pace. Hoping the heat lets up a little bit next week.
Some additional photos from this week:
