New Dialogue with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

During a two-day symposium in 2012 in Munich, scientists from the Max Planck Society and CASS met to identify common interests in the fields of private and criminal law, society, history, as well as law and economics, and to explore whether and how joint cooperation could be structured in these areas to the satisfaction of both sides.

The cooperation between the Max Planck Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) already enjoys a solid foundation in the field of natural sciences: in 2014, the two sides can celebrate forty years of successful collaborative ties. Currently, efforts are underway to extend the collaboration with China to include legal, social- and cultural-scientific areas of research. An appropriate partner is the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), which covers a broad range of topics and has access to an influential network. The latter consideration is an especially important precondition for a wide-reaching cooperation.

To date, German-Chinese contacts in the area of the Human Sciences Section of the Max Planck Society have been focussed on individual contacts with selected Chinese partners, particularly at universities and specialist legal institutions.

In view of the rapid developments which extend to every area of social life in China, the humanities, social and legal sciences are becoming increasingly important, and institutions such as CASS have an ever-greater interest in dialogue and collaboration with foreign partners.

In a two-day symposium taking place in Munich, scientists from the Max Planck Society and CASS are meeting to identify common interests in the fields of private and criminal law, society, history, as well as law and economics, and to explore whether and how joint cooperation could be structured in these areas to the satisfaction of both sides.

The meeting is being chaired by MPG Vice President Professor Wolfgang Schön. In addition, the Max Planck Society is also represented by a number of prominent Directors including Jürgen Basedow (Heidelberg), Peter van der Veer (Göttingen), Christopher Hann (Halle/Saale), Jürgen Renn (Berlin) and Josef Drexl (Munich).