From the judicial system to non-Communist parties and migrant workers, visitors from Yale University were given a crash course on all things China yesterday.

 

The 100-strong delegation, the largest ever from the university to visit, was granted access to some of the country's top officials, including ones from the Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Delegates also met with Jiang Zhenghua, chairman of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

 

A faculty member asked him whether he thought the recent appointment of Wan Gang, a non-Communist party member, as minister of science and technology, would herald a new era in Chinese politics.

 

Jiang said that the appointment of non-Communist party members to key positions was only the beginning, and that further progress will be made as China's democratic parties gain a greater political voice.

 

Andrew Verstein, a JD (juris doctor) candidate at Yale Law School who asked about non-Communist parties' role in government, said it was helpful to hear first-hand from people involved in the system.

 

"In America, there are people who say China is a country with little democracy and others who say it is becoming more developed and more democratic," Verstein, who will work with an NGO in Beijing this summer, said.

 

"So it is a great pleasure to know that the Chinese political system has expertise. I thought it might be here, but now I really know."

 

Claire Axley, an architecture master's student, asked about migrant workers in Chinese cities.

 

"I learned so much," she said. "I didn't know much about non-Communist parties in China and how they function in the government."

 

Having visited China a year ago, Axley this time said she wanted to engage more local people.

 

"I want to know what Chinese people think about the growth and their concerns."

 

A separate group met with Wan E'xiang, grand justice and vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, as well as other judicial members including senior judge Jiang Huiling.

 

Yale law academics and students probed court officials on China's legal system, law reforms and the death penalty.

 

The death penalty in the US is a hot topic that has been long debated by Americans.

 

Judicial officials told them the death penalty in China was "always in discussion" among decision makers and that there could be a "long debate for a long time".

 

The Supreme People's Court now has the final say on death penalty rulings after lower courts were stripped of the power to hand down capital punishments earlier this year.

 

The Yale delegates will today visit Peking and Tsinghua universities, before traveling to Xi'an and Shanghai.

 

(China Daily May 18, 2007)