First, the entire group took part in the International Conference on "New Developments in Sino-German Legal Methodology" in Zhenjiang on 9 and 10 September 2023, organized by the Faculty of Law of Jiangsu University and the journal "Jurisprudence" of the China University of Political Science and Law Beijing (CUPL; Beijing).

The event brought together over 130 legal scholars from China and Germany to discuss new developments in Sino-German legal methodology. Almost 100 renowned professors from China took part in the opening event, including Professor Xianzhong Sun, member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, Professor Yongqin Su from National Chengchi University in Taiwan, and Professor Weihong Xing, President of Jiangsu University.

The conference program included a total of almost 50 academic presentations by German and Chinese professors and young academics in the field of legal methodology in Germany and China. The conference was held bilingually in German and Chinese and the presentations were translated simultaneously.

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The rich program of the conference was divided into the main conference on general questions of legal methodology, supplemented by sub-conferences on civil law, criminal law and constitutional law, in which experts and academics from various fields discussed legal methodology. The many parallels between German and Chinese legal methodology were discussed, but the differences were also made clear. The conference also showed how legal methodology is applied in different political and social systems. Both sides agreed that a fruitful exchange in the field of legal methodology is also possible in the future and that Germany and China can learn from each other.

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In the main forum on the morning of 9. September 2023, Professor M?llers presented "The Necessity of a Legal Metamethodology: Legal Theoretical and Legal Pragmatic Considerations", Professor Guoying Shu (CUPL) spoke on the "Savigny Situation" and the reception of legal methodology, Professor Hilgendorf on the philosophy of colloquial language in legal methodology, Professor Chengxin Peng (Dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University) on subjective and objective interpretation in the application of law, Professor Qingyu Zhu (Nanjing University) on truth and method in legal doctrine and Professor Hongfei Xie (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) on dynamic systems in Chinese civil law.

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In the afternoon, the sub-conference on civil law dealt with a wide range of topics on the application of legal methods in Germany and China. These included the application of economic methods in corporate law (Professor Kort), the concretization of general clauses on strict liability (Professor Jinqiang Ye, Nanjing University), the integration of basic socialist values into the interpretation of the Civil Code (Professor Xinjun Fang, Suzhou University) and methodology in civil procedure law (Dr. Korves). In the second part of the sub-forum, young Chinese academics who are currently working on their doctorates in Germany, such as Sizhuang Sun (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t München), also gave lectures on the application of the external rules of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

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Parallel to the civil law forum, the criminal law part of the conference examined numerous methodological issues in criminal law. For example, Professor Genlin Liang (Peking University) spoke on the construction of the structure of the offence, Professor Quan Fang (Macau University of Science and Technology) on the reasoning of judges in criminal law judgments, Professor Wa?mer on the influence of constitutional law on criminal law, Professor Putzke on the influence of the reality of life and law, Dr. Wachter on the influence of European Union law on the interpretation of national criminal law and Professor Shan Chen on the coincidence principle as a criminal law methodology.

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The second day of the conference (September 10, 2023) began again with a general block of topics on Sino-German legal methodology. From a German perspective, Professor Gsell presented the limits of the development of law beyond the wording, taking into account the requirements of European Union law. The Chinese speakers presented, among other things, the approach to court cases from a comparative law perspective (Professor Guangning Sun, Shandong University), the development of case law theory in China (Professor Bei Yang, University of Foreign Economic and Trade) and the "Chinese questions" on legal methodology (Dr. Ye Guo, Peking Normal University).

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From a constitutional law perspective, presentations included the structure of the methodological system of Chinese constitutional theory (Professor Zhongxia Li, Renmin University), the concretization of legislation as a means of implementing the constitution (Professor Kai Wang, Beihang University) and the redundancy of legal sources and self-reference of the constitution (Dr. Wei Feng, CUPL). Like the main forum, all sub-conferences were rounded off by a discussion block.

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Professor Yongqin Su from the National Chengchi University in Taiwan concluded the conference with a dialog forum on legal methodology with a lecture on "Where is Chinese jurisprudence heading? - The creation of a new dimension of social science jurisprudence in the mainland's legal system through the AI of practical legal doctrine". In the subsequent panel discussion, Professor M?llers, Professor Jun Feng, Professor Zhongxia Li (both Renmin University), Professor Wa?mer and Professor Hao Li (ZUEL, Wuhan) spoke about the future of jurisprudence under the influence of artificial intelligence.

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Following this, the entire travel group took part in the "Sino-German Symposium on Legal Education and Legal Methodology" at the Macau University of Science and Technology on September 13. At this symposium, all members of the delegation from the University of Augsburg gave keynote speeches and the participants discussed legal education and legal methodology in depth.

The English-language conference began with Professor M?llers' keynote speech on "The Importance of Language Models such as ChatGPT in Legal Education and Legal Methodology". The various systems of legal education were then examined. Professor Wang Jiang, Vice President of the Northwest University of Political Science and Law (Xi'an), presented the education in mainland China and Professor Bi Jingwei, Macau University of Science and Technology, presented the education in Macau. Professor Gsell spoke about the structure and current reform discussions surrounding legal education in Germany, while Professor Kort presented the "Law and Economics" degree program, a new concept combining business and legal education at the University of Augsburg. The program was rounded off with lectures by Professor Wa?mer on "Finding Justice through the Use of AI" and Assistant Professor Wong Weng Kuok on the influence of social sciences on legal doctrine.

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The second part of the conference included presentations on the topics of legal training in procedural law (Dr. Korves), case resolution and exam techniques (Dr. Merwald), the course of studies and practical training (Dr. Wolf), legal research (Dr. Manhardt), the habilitation as a special German path to professorship (Dr. Wachter) and foreign-language legal training at German universities (Professor Shen).

Both lecture blocks were rounded off by summarizing and further comments as well as an interactive discussion between lecturers, conference participants and students.

During the conference, Professor M?llers, on behalf of the Faculty of Law at the University of Augsburg, and Professor Quan Fang, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Macau University of Science and Technology, signed a cooperation agreement in a ceremony attended by around 150 professors and students from Macau University of Science and Technology.

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