Recorded on April 28, 2021.

Divorce in China

About the event:
When Chinese couples divorce, why do women frequently lose the house and child custody? Why do judges often ignore women’s stories of domestic violence or other wrongs that have driven them to seek divorce? In his new book Divorce in China, Hong Kong University Law Professor He Xin says the answer lies in the intense pressure on judges to dispose of cases swiftly and avoid decisions that might trigger social backlash. That means frequently conforming to cultural biases against women, even when the law might support a more equitable outcome. Professor He will share his findings from observing more than 50 divorce trials and conducting interviews over more than a decade.

About the speaker:
HE Xin is a professor of law at Hong Kong University. He is a pioneer in studying China’s legal systems from a socio-legal perspective. Much of his research has focused on Chinese judicial reforms and family laws. He obtained his LLB and LLM from Peking University, and his JSM and JSD degrees from Stanford University, where he was an Asia-Pacific Scholar. Before joining HKU, he was professor and director of the Chinese and Comparative Law Center at School of Law, City University of Hong Kong. He has also been a visiting professor at NYU School of Law and the University of Illinois. His 2017 monograph Embedded Courts: Judicial Decision Making in China with Kwai Hang Ng won the Distinguished Book Award from the Asian Law & Society Association. He was awarded the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship of Hong Kong in 2019.