Knut Benjamin Pißler named Vice-Director at the Sino-German Institute for Law in Nanjing
As of October 2023, Knut Benjamin Pißler, Head of the Institute’s Centre of Expertise on China and Korea, will commence a two-year position as Vice-Director at the Sino-German Institute for Law in Nanjing, where he will also assume lecture position sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes, DAAD).
Hosting German and Chinese university students since 1988, the Sino-German Institute for Law is a joint project operated by the University of Göttingen and the University of Nanjing. The academic cooperation is unique in the People's Republic of China in terms of the degree of institutionalization, continuity and nationwide acceptance. Chinese students complete two years of instruction in German law in Nanjing before studying for a further year at the University of Göttingen, where they write a master’s thesis. Upon successful completion of the program, students earn a Master of Laws degree from both the University of Göttingen and the University of Nanjing. A similarly structured double master's program, "Chinese Law and Comparative Law", is based at the University of Göttingen and aims at German-speaking students of law and sinology.
The Hamburg Max Planck Institute is linked to the Nanjing Institute through their joint publication of the Journal of Chinese Law. Pißler, who until now has been involved with the Journal as a member of its academic board, will take on the role of managing editor as part of the posting. A further task that Pißler will assume at the Sino-German Institute for Law is instructing Chinese students in German civil law. While in Nanjing, Pißler will also continue his research on Chinese law. “After 20 years of conducting research on Chinese law as head of the Hamburg Centre of Expertise, the lectureship will put me in an ideal spot – on-site in China – to better understand political and societal changes, which of course also affect legal scholarship,” says Pißler.
Prof. Dr. Knut Benjamin Pißler, M.A. (Sinologie), has been employed at the Institute since 2002. He studied law at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and studied law as well as sinology at the University Hamburg, where he earned his doctorate in 2003. In 2013 he was awarded his post-doctoral degree (Habilitation) by the Law Faculty at the University of Göttingen, and in 2017 he was named professor of Chinese law. Pißler has previously spent a total of four years studying and performing research in Nanjing. His most recent stay was in 2017 when he taught civil procedure as part of a short-term lectureship.
Image: © Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
