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For 92-year-old Han Depei, success started at 67, and he still teaches PhD students. Han, a professor of law at Wuhan University in Central China's Hubei Province, established China's first international law research institute and Asia's first environmental law research institute. He has compiled "Private International Law," China's first textbook of this kind for institutions of higher learning. He is also a founder of China's environmental law. Because of these achievements, Han has been hailed as a leading authority in the country's private international law studies. He has been listed in the Chinese Encyclopedia as one of China's top 10 jurisprudents. His biography has been included in the Distinguished Men of Achievement, published in Britain, and Who's Who in the World published in the United States. Because of his unique experiences, Han became a success late in life, said Hou Jiechang, president of Wuhan University. Scholar's Growth Han was born into a poor family in Rugao County in East China's Jiangsu Province. His mother died when he was eight. It was the hard times that created diligence and independence in him. "At 15, when I passed the entrance exam to a local teachers' school that offered free education, board and lodging, I no longer asked for a penny from my family," Han recalled calmly on a sofa in his spacious home at Wuhan University. In 1930, Han passed the entrance examination to the Department of History and Politics at Zhejiang University where he stayed for only half a year before moving to Central University, because the authorities decided to merge the department with Central University in Nanjing. "At Central University, I decided to study law after attending the lectures of a law professor," Han said. The professor was Xie Guansheng, dean of the university's Department of Law. When he lectured on the complicated subject, he never relied on notes and what he said was logical and easy to understand. "His lectures were so popular that the classroom was often overcrowded and many students had to listen outside the windows," Han said. Upon graduation from Central University in 1934, Han worked as an editor of the university newspaper and journal. Five years later, he passed a national examination and was selected to study overseas. "It was the most difficult examination for government-financed study overseas. Many people sat for it but only 24 examinees passed nationwide. I was the only one in private international law to pass the exam," Han said. Han went to Canada in 1940, studying at the University of Toronto. Two years later, he received his master's degree in law and went to the United States, doing research in jurisprudence in the School of Law at Harvard University. With the end of World War II in 1945, Han returned to China and taught at Wuhan University. Two years later, Han became dean of the Department of Law. He was then 36 years old. Dissatisfied with the Kuomintang government's corruption and autocratic rule, however, Han wrote articles such as the "Rule of Law We Need" and "Requisition of the Property of the Powerful and Rich in Foreign Countries" to expose the crime the government committed in suppressing democracy and plundering State property. "The articles were published in the widely-circulated Observer magazine," Han said. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Han was placed in a leading post at Wuhan University, taking charge of its teaching affairs. Thanks to his outstanding work, the university's teaching was acclaimed by the Ministry of Education. Revival of Research But his serious and down-to-the-earth work style offended some of the university's authorities. When the radical "Anti-Rightist Movement" started in 1957, Han was deprived of his post and made to work in the countryside. One scorching summer, he suffered from heatstroke and almost died in the fields. It was not until the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) when Han was rehabilitated. In 1979, Wuhan University decided to re-establish the Department of Law, which had been dissolved in the late 1950s. Han took charge of the department's re-establishment. "After many years of political turmoil, my mother Yin Zhao wanted him to be just a teacher," said Han Tie, Han's eldest son. "Personally, my father disliked administrative work. But he fully understood the importance of law to China after many years of political turmoil and accepted the invitation." After less than one-year's preparation, the department formally enrolled undergraduate students in law and postgraduates in international law in 1980. In addition to teaching, Han attached great importance to research. In 1980, he founded the university's International Law Research Institute and became its first director. The first international law research body in the country's institutions of higher learning, it is the only institute of its kind in the country to enroll doctorate degree candidates. "In the early 1980s I went to many parts of the world to conduct academic exchanges and found many countries attached more and more importance to environmental protection. I realized that it would be terrible if China ignored environmental protection while engaging in economic construction," Han said. Environmental Law Han began his work on environmental law which later became a course in the country's institutions of higher learning and an independent discipline of the law. To promote the development of environmental law, Han held there should be a special research institute and that top-notch personnel in the field should be trained. In 1980, he went to Beijing and suggested to the central authorities that an environmental law research institute be set up. With the support of both ministries and Wuhan University, the institute was set up at the university in 1981, becoming Asia's first research institute specializing in environmental law studies. In 1986, Han took charge of the compiling of China's first Environmental Protection Law Textbook. Published by the Beijing-based Legal Press, it is still used in China's institutions of higher learning. Because of Han's contribution to environmental law, he was elected president of the Environmental Resource Law Research Society (ERLRS) of the China Law Society in 1999. "The China Law Society has 16 professional societies. The only one outside Beijing is the ERLRS at Wuhan University," said Cai Shouqiu, former director of the Environmental Law Research Institute of Wuhan University. With his profound knowledge of law, Han has helped his clients solve many foreign-related disputes, saving them from hefty losses. The most famous case was in 1981 when China abruptly adjusted its national economic plan, which made the performance of several major foreign-related contracts signed during the late "cultural revolution" impossible. The decision resulted in legal disputes which concerned the import of five large sets of equipment, between Chinese firms and firms in Japan and the then Federal Republic of Germany. "The foreign sides demanded full compensation for their economic losses including indirect economic losses incurred from their refusal to accept orders for goods from any third country because they had signed contracts with China. The compensation claim was in the billions of US dollars," Han said. "The major parts of their claims, particularly those relating to the indirect losses, were totally against international practices and Chinese law," Han said. Han successfully helped the Chinese firms cut the hefty claims down to an acceptable amount. Law Education At 92, Han still cares for the country's law education. "That is because he has an unfulfilled dream," Han Tie said. While studying at Central University in the 1930s, he aspired to become as great a jurisprudent in the world as Oppenheim, Pound or Duguit. But as he wasted too much time for political reasons, his achievements are far from what he expected of himself. "So he hopes his students can become world-famous jurisprudents to make contributions to jurisprudence the world over," Han Tie said.