The launching of the Development Report on the Rule of Law in China No. 16 (Blue Book on the Rule of Law in China (2018) and the Blue Book on the Rule of Law in Sichuan Province (2018), jointly sponsored by CASS Law Institutes and by Social Science Academic Press, was held in Beijing on March 22, 2018.

The launching of the books was presided over by Professor Chen Su, Director of CASS Law Institute and Acting Director of CASS Institute of International Law, and attended by over 100 scholars and experts from various parts of the country. At the opening ceremony, Professor Li Lin, a CASS member and the Vice Chairman of China Law Society, and Professor Xie Shouguang, President of Social Sciences Academic Press, each gave an opening speech. In his speech, Professor Li Lin pointed out that the publication of the blue books is of great theoretical value and practical significance to the implementation of the spirit of the first, second and third plenary sessions of the CPC Central Committee, the decisions of this year’s sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, and the new Constitutional amendments, and to the construction of the rule of law in China.

Professor Tian He, Editor-in-Chief of the Blue Book on the Rule of Law in China and Head of the CASS Center for the Study of National Index of the Rule of Law, gave a keynote speech on “The Rule of Law in China: Development in 2017 and Prospect in 2018”; Mr. Yang Tianzong, Vice Secretary-General of the Party Committee of Sichuan Province: gave a keynote speech on “The Rule of Law in Sichuan Province: Development in 2017 and Prospect in 2018”; Professor Lu Yanbin, Executive Editor-in-Chief of the Blue Book on the Rule of Law in China and Head of the Department of Survey and Investigation of National Situation of the Rule of Law of CASS Law Institute, gave a keynote speech on “the Rule of Law Index in China in 2017”; Professor Li Yanjie, an associate research fellow of CASS Law Institute, gave a keynote speech on “the Investigation of Local Rule of Law in China”; Professor Liu Xiaomei, Deputy Head Librarian of CASS Law Library, gave a keynote speech on “Legislation in China in 2017”; Professor Liao Fan, Head of Research Coordination and International Cooperation of CASS Institute of International Law, gave a keynote speech on “the Development of the Rule of Law in the Field of Internet Finance in China in 2017”; and Professor Yang Yanchao, an associate research fellow of CASS Law Institute, gave a keynote speech on “the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Reform of the Intellectual Property Law”.