PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- This January and February not only marked the 30th anniversary of vice premier Deng Xiaoping's historic visit to Washington, D.C., as part of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. It also commemorated the beginnings of an academic partnership between China and Temple University in Philadelphia, when the U.S. institution presented Deng Xiaoping with an honorary doctorate of laws degree on that Jan. 31.
The university was among the first American universities to become engaged with China after ties were re-established, and the only to so honor the vice premier, who called the award "not only a personal honor, but a token of the friendship and esteem of the American people for the Chinese people." A few months earlier, Shih Yang-hsien and Lu Te-yu, had arrived at Temple to conduct genetic research, becoming the first mainland Chinese ever to pursue scientific studies in the U.S. in an exchange program. Later on, Temple Professors Niu Manjiang, Duan Kailin, and Joseph Schmuckler carried out academic exchange in China.
Deng died in 1997, the same year as the Sino-U.S. summit, during which former presidents Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton confirmed their two countries' common interest in developing legal and judicial reform efforts that promoted rule of law, seen as crucial to China's full participation in the growing global marketplace. Such goodwill exchanges paved the way for long-term U.S. academic recognition of China and its leaders in a meaningful way.
Also in 1997, the Chinese government, aware of Temple's presence in Asia because of the university's well-established Tokyo campus and its reputation in international law, invited Temple Law School to open a program in Beijing that would help the country establish rule of law. Two years later, Temple Law welcomed the first students to its Beijing Master of Laws (LL.M.) program, becoming the first -- and still only -- U.S. law school to offer such a program.
The program, now in its 10th year, is carried out in conjunction with Tsinghua University. LL.M. students are legal professionals in both the public and private sectors, with nearly half of the class being judges, government officials, legislative drafters, prosecutors, and law professors. The other half of the class is comprised of commercial lawyers and recent law school graduates.
"Temple views the rule of law program and its related endeavors as an important contribution to the development of the Chinese legal system. Taken step by step in collaboration with government and university partners in the U.S. and China, it is seen by all involved as productive, respectful and innovative. We hope that our continued legal dialogue will only strengthen and grow as China's role in the global economy increases," said JoAnne A. Epps, dean, Temple Law School.
Temple University is a comprehensive, state-affiliated university based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with over 34,000 students. At present, there are nearly 400 students and scholars from the People's Republic of China at Temple.
