International Exchange: Director Wan Li was invited to attend the 4th Beijing-Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Lawyers’ Practical Seminar.

On November 13, 2020, the 4th Beijing-Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Lawyers’ Practical Seminar was solemnly held at the International Conference Center of Jizhuang Hotel in Emeishan City, Leshan, Sichuan Province. Zhao Zuping, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Justice; Li Jiangan, Director of the Lawyers’ Work Management Division of the Department of Justice and Secretary-General of the Provincial Lawyers Association; and Wan Li, President of the Yunnan Provincial Lawyers Association and Director of Yunnan Zhongji Law Firm, attended the meeting on behalf of the Yunnan Provincial Lawyers Association. Also attending were a total of 14 people, including lawyers who had won awards for their submissions to the seminar’s essay contest and lawyers who would be delivering speeches and exchanging ideas at the sub-forums.

The theme of this seminar is “Legal Issues in the Development of the Cultural Tourism Industry.” The event will be held in a format comprising a plenary forum and parallel sub-forums. Over 200 representatives, including leading officials and lawyers from Beijing, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces and cities, attended the meeting.

At the meeting, Wang Qiang, Deputy Director of the Sichuan Provincial Department, and Deng Hua, Vice Mayor of the Leshan Municipal Government, delivered opening remarks respectively. Drawing on the theme of this seminar, Deputy Director Wang Qiang expressed high hopes for the conference and advocated that the Bar Association and the legal profession should provide robust legal services to the cultural and tourism industry, effectively manage and mitigate legal risks within the sector, and regard assisting the cultural and tourism industry in its transformation and upgrading as a crucial task for the legal profession to promote the healthy development of the cultural and tourism sector.

The morning session will feature the main forum of this conference, which includes a development salon for the presidents of the bar associations from four provinces and cities, a ceremony to award prizes for the call for papers, and keynote speeches.

The Chairman’s Development Salon was themed “Promoting Legal Service Cooperation for the Development of Cultural and Tourism Industries and Fostering Socioeconomic Development.” Han Yinghui, Vice President of the Beijing Lawyers Association; Wan Li, President of the Yunnan Lawyers Association; Bai Min, President of the Guizhou Lawyers Association; and Cheng Shoutai, President of the Sichuan Lawyers Association, each delivered remarks and engaged in exchanges in turn.

At the salon, Chairman Wan Li began by highlighting Yunnan’s unique ethnic culture and geographic advantages, vividly illustrating our province’s favorable conditions for deeply cultivating the cultural tourism industry. He also shared practical experiences from lawyers in our province who have been involved in several major international cultural tourism projects, including the “Travel Yunnan with One Mobile Phone” smart tourism platform for integrated regional tourism, Xishuangbanna Gaozhuang Xishuangjing—the world’s largest Dai and Thai-themed complex, Fuxian Lake Guanglong Town—a highland eco-tourism city in ancient Dian, and the Paramount Kunming International Theme Park, which combines both inbound and outbound tourism initiatives, as well as the Mekong River cross-border tourism cooperation project, “Qingsheng No. 1 Wharf.” Chairman Wan Li analyzed the key focuses and priorities of these diverse cultural tourism projects, emphasizing that lawyers must possess both legal and commercial thinking, be thoroughly familiar with the transaction structures of overseas cultural tourism investments, effectively manage and mitigate legal risks, and offer an optimistic outlook for Yunnan’s cultural tourism sector. Finally, with a humorous and engaging tone, Chairman Wan Li extended a warm invitation to all lawyer friends to visit Yunnan, receiving an enthusiastic response from the audience at the meeting.

During the event, Vice President Han from the Beijing Lawyers Association shared insights on the association’s Party-building efforts and recent tax policies. Meanwhile, President Bai from the Guizhou Lawyers Association engaged in a detailed exchange on nine legal issues facing the cultural and tourism industry, including filing and review procedures and administrative law enforcement. Subsequently, Vice President Zhang Zhiyong from the Chongqing Lawyers Association also delivered a speech as a special guest. Finally, President Cheng from the Sichuan Lawyers Association, acting as the host, extended a warm welcome to lawyers and representatives from various provincial and municipal bar associations. In the keynote session, numerous experts from the Sichuan Provincial Government’s Tourism Development Center, the Tourism Investment Group, and the Cultural and Tourism Law Specialized Committee of the Lawyers Association were invited to provide in-depth yet accessible explanations on topics such as the construction of cultural and tourism legal frameworks, scenic area governance, and investment trends, thereby elevating the academic atmosphere of the forum to a climax.

In the afternoon, two sub-forums were held for this conference. The first sub-forum was themed “Legal Services for Rural Revitalization under the Context of the Civil Code,” while the second sub-forum focused on “Legal Services in Capital Markets in the Post-Pandemic Era.” Lawyers from Yunnan Minding Law Firm, Yunnan Jianguang Law Firm, and Beijing Deheng (Kunming) Law Firm all took to the stage as speakers, powerfully voicing “the voice of Yunnan” based on the realities of our province’s legal system development and lawyer training. Their contributions have enriched the academic exchange and legal research among the four provinces and cities, adding a vibrant and significant chapter to this seminar.

This session of the Beijing-Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Lawyers’ Practical Seminar, guided by new ideas and emerging circumstances, continues to innovate and actively expand upon the foundation laid by previous seminars, accumulating a substantial body of scholarly research on legal issues related to the cultural and tourism industries. Our firm’s lawyer Dai Zhicong and intern lawyer Song Yao enthusiastically registered and participated in the essay contest for this seminar.

As a major tourism province, Yunnan has drawn close attention from the provincial Party committee and government to its cultural and tourism industry. Strategic initiatives such as the “Eight Key Industries” and the “Three Cards” have elevated the cultural and tourism sector to an unprecedented level. Our lawyers not only serve the provincial Party committee and government in their major decisions and deployments for the prioritized development of the cultural and tourism industry, but also provide diverse, specialized, and robust legal support to a wide range of stakeholders—including cultural and tourism enterprises, investment companies, construction and operation entities, financial and insurance institutions, and planning and consulting service providers. In Yunnan’s cultural and tourism industry, which boasts vast potential, our lawyers continue to demonstrate the profound value of the legal profession.