Alison W. Conner

Justice and Law in the (1980s) Movies

During the unusually open years of 1979 to 1981 in China, films depicting the wrongs of the Cultural Revolution helped people come to terms with the tragedies they had suffered during the “eleven bad years.” Few of those movies could stand up to serious viewing today, whatever they meant to audiences then, but the best examples of this “scar cinema” are powerful films worthy of continued attention. This presentation will discuss The Legend of Tianyun Mountain 天云山传奇, directed by Xie Jin (1923-2008), the greatest of China’s Third-Generation filmmakers, and Evening Rain 巴山夜雨, made by Wu Yonggang (1907-1982), the brilliant Second-Generation director of the 1934 masterpiece Goddess 神女.

Chinese Lawyers on the Silver Screen

Legal issues feature in so many American movies that they have generated an academic field of their own. Perhaps few movie characters appear as often as lawyers, and trial and courtroom scenes are staples of both serious and popular entertainment. In China, the fifth and sixth generations of filmmakers have brought contemporary Chinese films to international attention, and their themes often illustrate broad legal concerns. Yet some of the most intriguing treatments of the Chinese legal system—and lawyers—appear in movies made before 1949, during a “second golden age” of Chinese film.

Lawyers in Chinese Cinema

This talk will examine the depiction of lawyers in Chinese movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Chinese lawyers or almost-lawyers do make an appearance in more recent movies, such as The Story of Qiu Ju and Red Corner. But the modern Chinese legal profession is a much earlier creation: the first regulations on lawyers were adopted in 1912. Some twenty years later, lawyers are shown in two of the best and most famous movies of the day, Goddess (1934) and Street Angels (1937), although perhaps not in a flattering light.

A Hong Kong Update

The China Seminar welcomes back a popular speaker ever since her joining the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law in January 1995. Professor Alison W. Conner spoke to the seminar at the time of Hong Kong’s reversion to China and will no doubt bring us up to date on the many changes, including recent references to Article 23 (about legislation vis-a-vis subversion), in Hong Kong. Prior to Hawaii, Professor Conner spent eight and a half years as a member of the law faculty of the University of Hong Kong and has returned during the summers to teach in the Duke and Santa Clara programs at that university.

Hong Kong: A Post-handover Update

The China Seminar will have periodic updates of Hong Kong after the handover and welcomes Dr. Alison W. Conner, who spoke to the China Seminar on previous occasions, to speak on the subject for its February meeting. Prior to joining the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law in January 1995, Alison Conner spent eight and a half years as a member of the law faculty of the University of Hong Kong, to which she returns in summers to teach in various law programs of U.

Hong Kong: An Update on Impending Political and Institutional Changes at the July 1997 Reversion

Prior to joining the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law in January 1995, Alison W. Conner spent eight and a half years as member of the law faculty of the University of Hong Kong. This summer, Dr. Conner taught in the Hong Kong-Duke University and Santa Clara law programs at the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Conner will present an update on political, legal and institutional issues occasioned by the July 1997 reversion of Hong Kong to China.

The Hong Kong Basic Law and 1997

A member of the law faculty of the University of Hong Kong for the past eight and a half years where she taught Hong Kong and Chinese law, Alison W. Conner joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law in January 1995. Dr. Conner will present to the CHINA SEMINAR an update on Hong Kong Law and 1997. Dr. Conner has spent a total of twelve years in Asia teaching and doing research, with postings at the National University of Singapore and Nanjing University in China.