On November 26, 2018, the People’s Daily published a list of 100 persons who have made outstanding contributions to the reform and opening-up in China in the past 40 years. Among the 100 persons in the list is Professor Wang Jiafu, a CASS member and a former director and life-time research fellow of CASS Law Institute. The greatest contribution made by Professor Wang Jiafu and his research group to the development of the rule of law in China was the idea of “a law-based state”, which concerns the basic mode of state governance; Professor Wang Jiafu was the first person who put forward the idea of construction of the legal system of socialist market economy, which become the theoretical basis of the legislative work in China after the reform and opening-up; he called for and promoted the drafting of the Chinese Civil Code, and participated in the drafting and adoption of the General Principles of the Civil Law, the Company Law, the Contract Law, the Property Law and many other important civil and commercial laws in China; he has twice given lectures on the legal system to the state leaders at the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; he was the winner of “the special contribution prize” for “excellent legal research achievements” awarded on occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the reform and opening-up; and he has also been awarded the title of Excellent Senior Jurist in China. He is recognized as “a banner in the Chinese law circle”.