With the generous support of the Center for Chinese Studies, I conducted three-plus weeks of field research in Beijing in October 2024. As detailed in my research proposal, my primary goal was to conduct semi-structured interviews with Chinese lawyers, academics, and government officials. These interviews would complement the forty-plus interviews I had conducted with U.S. counterparts in Washington, D.C. and serve as data for my dissertation project on domestic trade law and politics in China and the United States. Because I had not visited China since Thanksgiving 2019, I had secondary goals of assessing the continuing feasibility of fieldwork and establishing connections with hopefully longstanding contacts. My trip was successful on all counts.
I conducted nineteen interviews with seventeen different contacts (i.e., two of the nineteen were follow-up interviews). Five are professors at major Beijing universities and twelve are practicing international trade lawyers. Several interviewees also had previous experience working for the [government]. Through these conversations, I collected qualitative data about topics including (but not limited to) China’s domestic trade laws and its trade-remedy system; the practice, state, and development of the international trade bar; and Chinese views of its trade “wars,” economic model, and the WTO. My physical presence in China was crucial to the success of these interviews, especially given that I had no previous ties to any of my interviewees.
The trip also helped me establish a relationship with [a Beijing law school]. In addition to supporting my research-visa application, [the law school] provided a workspace and opportunities to meet various faculty and participate in workshops. And I anticipate continuing to cultivate and rely on these connections for my future research.
None of the above would have been possible without the material support of the Liu Graduate Research Fellowship, support for which I am immensely grateful!
- Lawrence J. Liu
Berkeley Law