Lawrence C. Foster

China’s Social Credit System: Being Trustworthy is Glorious, Being Untrustworthy Is Disgraceful!

China is building a national Social Credit System. What is it, how does it work, and what is its purpose? As is often the case in China, the initial, experimental efforts to build a Social Credit System have been taking place at the local level at least since 2014, before the system becomes a national program. The concept is also being expanded to include a Corporate Social Credit System. At present, at the local level, there is a great variety as to how the system works, e.

Hot Topics in Chinese (PRC) Property Law

The real estate market in China has been “hot” since the beginning of the century! Professor Lawrence Foster will discuss a range of hot real estate topics including the forced evictions in January 2017 of tens of thousands immigrants and the poor (collectively known as the 低端人口 (lit. “the low-end population”) in Beijing; the use of eminent domain in China to take land from the poor and give it to the rich; building new islands in the South China Sea; the long march from private property, to state-owned property, and back to private property; attempts to rein in soaring housing prices (including the push for more rental housing and is there a bubble); and more!

Changing Trends in Chinese Investment in the U.S.

Chinese foreign investment around the world continues to break records every year. What is happening with Chinese investment in the U.S., in Hawaii? What are the future trends? Are there any political or legal barriers? For example, what happened to the lawsuit against President Obama after he blocked the sale of an Oregon wind farm site to a Chinese buyer, citing national security concerns? Professor Lawrence Foster will address these questions.

China Dream: Rule of Law – Reality or Dream?

China’s government, legal scholars, and public have been discussing the role of the rule of law in China almost since the founding of the PRC in 1949. What progress has been made over the decades and what hope is there for the rule of law in China? The term has been enshrined in China’s constitution for some time, but, like the U.S. constitution, sometimes what happens in the constitution stays in the constitution; defining and realizing a constitutional right can take a long time.

Reflections on Eight Years in China: Economic, Social, and Legal Change at Warp Speed

China has a long, rich history of relatively slow change. Since 1978 however, the pace of change has increased dramatically, and especially since the mid-1980s when the government’s opening policies really began to have their effect. Professor Foster will address some of the more significant changes he witnessed in China between 2005 and 2013, including the rise of the middle class, significant developments in China’s legal system, the rise of social media, and urbanization.