Seeing Tradition in Modernity: Yang Honglie's Historiography of China's Legal System Britta Büermann The 8th East Asia Research Salon Seeing Tradition in Modernity: Yang Honglie's Historiography of China's Legal System Britta Büermann Abstract: In the 1930s the eminent legal historian Yang Honglie 楊鴻烈(1903-1977) tried to balance modern Western and traditional Chinese concepts in order to establish a new Chinese legal system (法系 faxi). In the process of transferring Western legal concepts and embedding them in China’s history, Yang developed his own understanding of these concepts. By searching for forerunners in China’s history he argued against the idea of the West as the only possible judicial paradigm, and instead looked for indigenous traditions to be re-interpreted in order to suit the purpose of his ideology. In my dissertation project, I research Yang Honglie’s understanding of concepts such as the principle of equality or an independent judiciary and how he put them into a Chinese context; and his overall vision for the future of China’s legal system. Britta Büermann studied Chinese Studies at the University of Würzburg. In 2006 and 2008, respectively, she spent a semester at Beijing University, and in 2009, she became a junior lecturer at the Department of East Asian Studies of Georg-AugustUniversity Göttingen, where she is responsible for research and education in the field of Chinese Law. She is also currently working on her PhD thesis on property law in traditional China. Young researchers  Intellectual exchange The 8th East Asia Research Salon Program Time, Place June 22, 2015, 6 pm, KWZ, Conference Room, 0.701 Heinrich - Düker - Weg 14, 37073 Göttingen Commentators Prof. Dr. Peter- Tobias Stoll (Department of International Economic Law and Environmental Law Sino German Institute for Legal Studies) Dr. Julia C. Schneider ( Department of East Asian Studies) Program Presentation of research project (max. 20 minutes) Comments (max. 10 minutes) Discussion Spirited debate  The Salon Present your research project Presenting your PhD and/or research efforts to your peers and faculty members will give you valuable feedback and support your research with additional ideas. It introduces you to a network that can be very helpful with your career and future research projects. Contact The East Asia Research Salon welcomes new participants and the opportunity to initiate and develop mutual research projects. Please feel free to contact us! Centre for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS), Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14, 37073 Göttingen Katja Pessl, [email protected], +49 551 39 21280