This course is intended to provide students with an overview of the historical foundations of Chinese law as well as an introduction to the present legal system in the People's Republic of China. The first part of the course will survey classical legal theory, the administration of justice during the Qing dynasty and late Qing-Republican legal reforms. The second part will analyze the development of current PRC legal institutions (including the role of the judiciary and legal professionals) and then focus on key areas of recent PRC legislation: dispute resolution, the criminal process, family law and the status of women, and political rights. As a conclusion, comparisons will be drawn with the legal systems in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore--what is uniquely Chinese about their development?