Thesis title

'International Law Profession in the Party-State China in the Cold War Times' [provisional title]

Supervisors

Professor Gerry Simpson and Dr Devika Hovell

Research interests

History and Politics of International Law, International Environmental Law, Constitutional Theory, Sociology of Law, Global Governance

Jinyang Xu is a PhD candidate in Law at LSE. Her current research explores the interplay between Chinese international lawyers, institutions and the state in Chinese modern history from 1949 to 1989, and how this process has shaped the contemporary Chinese approach towards public international law. She will answer two specific questions. The first question is what was the role of Chinese lawyers in helping frame the PRC’s approach to international law in the first 40 years of the PRC’s history. The sub-question of the first question is how did the interaction between social actors (professionals) and social conditions (institutions and the state) affect political decisions about international law in early PRC history. The second question is how did the PRC’s approach to international law in the first 40 years of its history affect and inform its approach to international law in the decades that followed.

Awards/scholarships

LSE Department of Law Studentship (2023-2027)

China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship (2022-2023)

Dean’s Graduate Award, NYU School of Law (2021)

Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi Scholarship, Peking University Law School (2017)

First-Class Scholarship for Academic Performance, Peking University Law School (2016)