As a child, Zou Zhihan's idea of the law was related to legal aid. "I sometimes saw legal aid volunteers advising and helping the people who had hearing disabilities in my community. It could have been the beginning of my relationship with our legal system－constantly improving, with occasional ups and downs, pressing firmly forward."

Zou, now a law student at Wuhan University in the capital of Central China's Hubei province, still believes that the future of Chinese law is to "better serve the community and the country".

She is part of the next generation of law professionals well-placed to tap the heritage and resources of one of the country's top law schools, which marked the 111th anniversary of the establishment of its law education and the 40th year of the resumption of the classes on its grounds late last month.

During the celebrations, luminaries from the legal sector at home and abroad－law academics, officials, professionals, alumni and guests－together looked back on the school's stellar achievements over the past four decades as it prepared students and stakeholders for the opportunities ahead.

The university is one of the top-ranked colleges in China, with its law graduates filling leading positions in the domestic and international fields. Representatives from more than 50 major institutions and organs, including the elite Peking and Tsinghua universities and Renmin University of China, as well as the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, also attended the event.

In his welcome speech for the anniversary, Wuhan University President Dou Xiankang said: "Legal education has always been a core field of our university and it plays a key role in the modern rule of law in the country amid globalization, with teachers and students carrying forward a spirit of self-improvement and innovation to help open new chapters in the sector."

The university's law school traces its roots to 1908, becoming an important part of tertiary education in the seminal years of education that followed. It restarted its law classes in 1979, along with the resumption of the national college entrance exams.

The school has since topped educational rankings, placing second in the latest local listings and the top 100 globally. It boasts nearly 20,000 graduates spanning the past four decades, with more than 2,000 current students, including over 1,000 master's, 400 doctoral and 100 international candidates.

At the anniversary event, Zhang Wenxian, member of the Party committee of the China Law Society and director of the academic committee, pointed to the role of the university's law school in the upgrading, innovation and integration of traditional and emerging fields and disciplines toward the country's development in the new era.

Global connections

The law school also attaches great significance to international learning and exchange, maintaining close ties and collaborations with major institutions, including the University of Gottingen in Germany, Northeastern University in the United States and the University of Sheffield in Britain.

Every year, Wuhan University itself sends about 100 undergraduate, master's and doctoral students abroad for studies and exchange programs. The school also hosts an average of more than 30 major lectures a year conducted by legal scholars and specialists from across the world.

Kennedy Gastorn, secretary-general of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, a global governmental group for international law and cooperation in legal matters, said his organization and the university maintain important ties, including many leadership positions played by its alumni.

"The resumption of legal education at Wuhan University took place in a cradle of optimism and marked a true turning point in the scholastic history of China," Gastorn said, with the standards of its students in international law setting "a benchmark for other institutions of higher learning".

Gastorn also highlighted the law school's efforts in promoting Asian-African solidarity in areas such as customary international law and international cyberspace law, and expressed the hope that the university and his organization would further strengthen cooperation on all issues of common concern.

"We in AALCO are committed in reaching out to the next generation of international lawyers and scholars from Wuhan University," he said.

Looking to the future

At the recent East Lake Forum on International Laws in Wuhan, the university also inked a cooperation agreement with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Chinese Society of International Law, aimed at improving China's global influence and voice in the field.

The three parties are expected to strengthen the sharing of information resources, academic exchanges, and work toward combining legal practice and theoretical research.

Focus will also be given to Chinese enterprises "going out", including their involvement in economic and trade investment policies and legal environments, dispute prevention and resolution, intellectual property protection and other key issues under the Belt and Road Initiative global development drive.

At the forum, themed "the future of science and technology and international law", plenary session host and Chinese Society of International Law head, Huang Jin, said the development of international law must progress "in tandem" with technology.

The Chinese legal sector has an important role to play in law-based development amid the new areas and challenges of the digital age, such as big data and artificial intelligence, forum participants heard.

The mining of huge amounts of digital information and the increasing use of AI in daily life alone can pose fresh challenges in the legal field, such as personal data protection, in turn fueling the need for the rule of law and legal practitioners to keep up with these nascent fields, according to forum speakers.

Liu Deliang, law professor at Beijing Normal University, said the legal protection of personal data remains paramount in the digital age.

"Obtaining, analyzing, and using data toward economic development and the improvement of people's lives ... form the main thrust of our big data strategy and its realization," he said.

In that context, China is poised to become "an equal participant and even a leader in the subject of international law", said Wang Chunhui, head of the Digital Economy Research Institute for the World Silk Road Forum under the UN.

The country must be involved in building the rules of the international community for the digital economy, Wang said.

Wuhan University undergraduate Yu Binbin acknowledged the "huge responsibility" of the members of her generation in the rule of law for the country's continued development.

Feng Guo, dean of the law school, said the perseverance and pursuit for a law-based society amid the achievements of reform and opening-up of the past decades will not be forgotten.

"We must continue to fully train and nurture new talent to rise to the challenges … at the same time looking back on our traditions and roots to help provide Chinese wisdom for the world," Feng said.