Today we attended a lecture about Chinese Competition Law. As well as being informative about competition law, this lecture gave us a basic introduction to Chinese economics and the Chinese market. Living in such a global world, it was interesting to see to differences between China and Australia and how the two markets manage to compliment each other.

Our seminars at Ko Guan teach us much more than just the law of China. They are teaching us how China fits into the world, and how the world fits into China. Ko Guan Law School was named after its benefactor and offers many prestigious and generous scholarships each year. Many of these scholarships are open to international students, so if any student from the University of Adelaide is interested, they should have a look at the details on the Ko Guan Law School website.

After lunch, we were treated to a comprehensive tour of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University campus. The tour began in the old library building. A beautiful building located in the heart of campus that has been reappropriated into a museum exploring the rich and vibrant history of the highly-esteemed university. The museum highlighted the achievements of the university itself and of past alumni.

Later, we attended the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum. The museum derives  its namesake from a prestigious alumni of Jiao Tong and key aeronautical-scientist.That evening, a group of students visited of the charming old streets of Shanghai and found a delightful Chinese restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we unexpectedly stumbled upon the birth place of Chinese communism, a humble stone building in the old streets of Shanghai. Ironically, it was surrounded by luxury western shops catering to international and local consumers. This contradiction illustrates the unique way China aims to balance a long history of socialism within a largely capitalist world, which was also a major theme from today’s lecture on Chinese Competition Law.

Sinead O’Shaughnessy, Stephanie Roger and Louis Guglietti