The new Juris Master Degree: China’s tightrope between theory-oriented and practice-oriented legal education

ABSTRACT Traditional Chinese legal education is academic-oriented, which is often criticised for not preparing students for practice adequately. In order to accelerate the rebirth of the Chinese legal profession, a new practice-oriented legal qualification, the Juris Master, was created by the Chinese State. However, since its inception, the Juris Master has been beset with problems. This article analyses the major problems in the Juris Master in terms of educational goals, the teaching content and teaching methods and the management of faculties, and examines their causes from the political, cultural, and social perspectives. In response to these problems, this article suggests solutions in four aspects: competence-based educational goals, problem-based learning methods, an integrative international curriculum, and part-time faculty employment systems.