Class Participation

Students are required to participate in weekly class seminar discussions and reflective activities.

Criteria upon which class participation is assessed are: students’ preparation, understanding of the materials, depth of arguments, presentation skills, and legal research (detailed explanations are provided on the iLearn site of the unit).

Estimated Student Workload (outside class time): on average, 2 - 2.5 hours per week from Week 1 to Week 13.

Presentation

Students will need to make an oral presentation in class on 4 or 5 October 2017 (Week 8) or on 11 or 12 October 2017 (Week 9).  The order in which students will make their respective presentation (including the date, i.e. Week 8 or Week 9) will be determined by a draw to be conducted in class in Week 7.  Students can use PowerPoint slides (not compulsory) to assist presentations.

Each student will need to submit a research topic and an abstract (for his/her presentation and Assignment) to the unit convenors via email by 7 August 2017.  Students are strongly encouraged to submit the proposed topic and an abstract to the unit convenors as soon as possible.  Each student will be informed whether his/her proposed topic is approved so that he/she can start to conduct research and prepare a verbal presentation to be made in class in Week 8 or Week 9.

Criteria upon which presentation is assessed are: students’ preparation, understanding of the materials, depth of arguments and critique, presentation skills, and legal research (detailed explanations are provided on the iLearn site of this Unit).

Marks on the Presentation will be released via Gradebook on iLearn in or before Week 10.    

No extensions of time will be granted in relation to the making of the presentation.  Students who have not made the presentation in class in Week 8 or Week 9 will be awarded a mark of 0 (ZERO) for the presentation, except for cases in which an application for disruption to studies is made and approved.

Estimated Student Workload (outside class time): on average, 2.5 - 3 hours per week from Week 1 to the date of Class Presentation in Week 8 or Week 9. 

Assignment

Students will be required to submit an Assignment (excluding footnotes and bibliography: 3,800-4,000 words).

The topics will, as described under Presentation above, be chosen by the students (subject to the convenors' approval).  

The Assignment is research based.

Criteria upon which assignment is assessed are: the contents, structure, presentation, and referencing (footnoting and bibliography) of the assignments which show the students’ understanding of the materials, the depth of arguments and critique, the thoroughness of legal research, and adequacy of referencing (detailed explanations are provided on the iLearn site of this Unit).

Footnotes and bibliography (in Australian Guide to Legal Citation (3rd ed) style) are required.

Students must hand in the Assignment before 4:00 p.m. on 6 November 2017  via Turnitin on the iLearn site of this unit.

Do NOT submit via TURNITIN more than once.  The Assignment must be submitted through Turnitin as per instructions provided in the Assignment Instructions (available on the iLearn site of this unit). It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that work is submitted correctly prior to the due date. No hard copies of assessments will be accepted and only Turnitin records will be taken as records of submission. Multiple submissions via Turnitin are NOT POSSIBLE in this unit. Originality reports are NOT made available to students to view and check their work. Please refer to these instructions on how to submit your assignment through Turnitin. Should you have questions about Turnitin or experience issues submitting through the system, you must inform your unit coordinator immediately. If the issue is technical in nature, you may also lodge OneHelp Ticket or refer to the IT help page. It is the responsibility of the student to retain a copy of any work submitted. Students must produce these documents upon request. Copies should be retained until the end of the grade appeal period each term. In the event that a student is asked to produce another copy of work submitted and is unable to do so, they may be awarded zero (0) for that particular assessment task.

In view of the time given to students to complete the Assignment, no extensions of time will be granted for submission of the Assignment.  There will be a deduction of 10% of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late (for example, 25 hours late in submission – 20% penalty). For example, if the Assignment is worth 50 marks, a student is 23 hours late in submission and (before penalty) this student's mark is 40, the penalty will be a deduction of 5 marks (50 marks x 10% = 5 marks) (i.e. this student will obtain 35 marks for the Assignment).  This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for disruption to studies is made and approved.  

Estimated Student Workload (outside class time): on average 4 - 5 hours from Week 1 to 6 November 2017. 

Classes

The unit is comprised of one 3 hour seminar per week.

The timetable for classes can be found on the University website at: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/.  

Attendance at the seminar is required and a roll will be taken each week. Students are advised to prepare in advance for the seminar. The week-by-week list of the topics to be covered is set out below.  All material inclusive of lecture notes, work to be undertaken in class (reflective activities and discussion forum), videos, reports and/or newspaper reports will be posted on iLearn.

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

Required Texts and Materials

• Textbook: Patricia Blazey and Kay-Wah Chan, Commercial Law of the People’s Republic of China (Sydney, Thomson Lawbook, 2012). It can be purchased from the Macquarie University Coop Bookshop.
• Materials that students are required to bring to classes (as specified in the Seminar Instructions on the iLearn site). These materials are available on the Internet or through database(s) subscribed by the Macquarie University Library (details to be specified in the Seminar Instructions on the iLearn site).

Recommended Texts and/or Materials

• Patricia Blazey and Kay-Wah Chan (ed), The Chinese Commercial Legal System (Sydney, Thomson Lawbook, 2008). It can be purchased from the Macquarie University Co-op Bookshop.
• Recommended (not mandatory) readings as described in the Seminar Instructions (on the iLearn site).

Technology Used and Required

Access to the Internet is required.

There is an iLearn web site. Students have to frequently access this Unit's iLearn site (https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ/) for Notes, Seminar Instructions, announcements and detailed information regarding the unit.

The Macquarie University library’s Information and Technology Training Unit (ITTU) provides a range of computing and library research skills. 

Unit Web Page

The web page for this unit can be found on iLearn. The site contains all lecture notes, links to relevant legislation and links to other useful sites. It contains extracts from relevant articles and reports.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

The weekly class is a 3-hour seminar. As assessment includes class participation, students will be expected to complete the required reading prior to class and to contribute to class discussions. Detailed seminar instructions are available on this Unit's iLearn site.

To pass the Unit, students need an overall mark of 50%.

SEMINARS (ACCG970 S2, 2017)

The main changes since the last offering of this Unit (S1, 2017) are:

1. Bilateral Trade Agreements and Property Law have been added as topics to be covered.
2. There are adjustments in the order of the topics for the seminars.
3. Students' Class Presentation is after the mid-tern break.

Research and Practice

1. This unit uses research by Macquarie University researchers:

• Patricia Blazey and Xiangbai He, "China’s Past, Present and Future approach to Climate Change" in S. Miyazawa et al. (eds) East Asia’s Renewed Respect for the Rule of  Law in the 21st Century: The Future of Legal and Judicial Landscapes in East Asia (Brill, 2015) 213-242.  
• Patricia Blazey, "Will China's 12th Five Year Plan Allow for Sufficient Nuclear Power to Support its Booming Economy in the Next Twenty Years" (2012) Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 21(3): 461-484.
• Kay-Wah Chan, "The Global Financial Crisis and Labor Law in China" (2012) The Chinese Economy 45(3): 24-41.
• Patricia Blazey, "Approaches to Increasing Desertification in Northern China" (2012)The Chinese Economy 45(3): 88-101.
• Patricia Blazey and Kay-Wah Chan, Commercial Law of the People's Republic of China (Sydney, Thomson Reuters, 2012).
• Patricia Blazey and Kay-Wah Chan (ed), The Chinese Commercial Legal System (Sydney, Thomson Lawbook, 2008).
• Kay-Wah Chan, "China’s Labour Law in Transition" in John Garrick (ed) Law Wealth and Power in China: Commercial Law Reforms in Context(Routledge, 2011) 163-181.
• Patricia Blazey and P Gillies, "China – Growth and Current Challenges" Business Law JournalJune 2009.
• Patricia Blazey and P Gillies, "Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in China" International Journal of Private Law November 2008.
• Patricia Blazey, "China’s Rapid Economic Growth and Resultant Negative Externalities"University of New South Wales Law Journal November 2007.

2. This unit uses research from external sources: 

    See the Required Reading List above and Class Activity Instructions.

Global and Sustainability

This unit addresses global and sustainability issues as direct areas of study and/or as necessary implications arising from the materials, assessment and academic discussion and debate in classes.  We promote sustainability by developing ability in students to research and locate information within the Chinese law discipline.  We aim to provide students with an opportunity to obtain skills which will benefit them throughout their career.  The global contexts of this unit are found in the contents of the unit (as it is a Chinese Trade and Investment Law unit), including the contents of the seminars and its assessments tasks.