COVID-19 and Charity Law in China

Matthew Harding and Hui Jing
Video produced by Asian Law Centre, 30 July 2020

Presented by the Asian Law Centre as part of the Asian Legal Conversations - COVID-19 Series.

In this video, Professor Matthew Harding interviews Mr Hui Jing about how Chinese charities have responded to COVID-19, and the role of the Chinese government and its control over the charity sector. They also discuss the key risks associated with public donations, and the cooperation between charities and the government in the development of the charity sector in China.

PANEL MEMBERS:

Matthew Harding joined Melbourne Law School as a lecturer in 2005.  Matthew graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1998 with first class honours degrees in law and in arts. He also holds a Bachelor of Civil Law degree (with distinction) and a D.Phil from the University of Oxford. During his time as a postgraduate student in Oxford, Matthew held Chevening and Clarendon Fund Scholarships and, during 2002–3, a research fellowship funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. His D.Phil thesis was on the moral foundations of fiduciary law. Prior to undertaking postgraduate study, Matthew also worked as a solicitor for Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (now Allens) in Melbourne.

Matthew has published widely on issues in moral and political philosophy, the theory and doctrines of equity, property law, judicial practice and precedent, and the law of charity. He is the author of Charity Law and the Liberal State (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and the co-editor (with Professor Elise Bant) of Exploring Private Law (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and (with Professors Ann O'Connell and Miranda Stewart) of Not-for-Profit Law: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 2014). He is also the Co-Convener (with Professor Elise Bant) of the Melbourne Law School's Obligations Group, an editor of the Journal of Equity, and a director of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand. Matthew has been a visiting scholar at the University of Toronto, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Otago, and the University of the Western Cape.

Hui Jing is a PhD Candidate at the Asian Law Centre, Melbourne Law School. His research concentrates on the theoretical foundation of intellectual property law, trusts and non-profit law. He has a particular interest in the charitable trust and his doctoral thesis examines the improvement of charitable trust system in Mainland China.

From 2012 to 2014, Jing worked as a researcher in the Institute for International Intellectual Property of Peking University and participated in the projects of Research on Reformation of Intellectual Property System in China and Research on the Legal System of ITP Joint Innovation during this time period. Meanwhile, Jing has published several Chinese articles in the journal of Electronics Intellectual Property and the journal of Science, Technology and Law, etc.

Jing got his master degree (by research) in Intellectual Property Law from Peking University and had 5% academic performance during undergraduate study in China University of Political Science and Law. Prior to joining Melbourne Law School, Jing worked as a lawyer at the Beijing Office of Zhong Lun Law Firm.