Fullerton : Student Group Leaving Today on Trip to China

Catherine Dilley spent Thursday night packing and reviewing her travel itinerary--one she and her fellow students from Western State University College of Law will strictly adhere to when they leave for China today.

To promote a better understanding of international business transactions between China and the United States, Dilley and 11 other students will spend about five weeks studying Chinese law in Peking through a new program at the Fullerton and San Diego campuses of the college.

Although the agenda calls for tours of courts, law offices, a prison, custom houses and other government facilities, Dilley and the rest of the group received warning that wandering off on their own through the streets of Peking is not permitted.

“They expect you to act as a group,” said Dilley, a third-year law student from Irvine who expects to forgo the conveniences of home during her stay at Beijing University.

Explaining that their travel itinerary had to be submitted in advance, she said, “We’ll be pretty controlled . . . . If one person wants to see the Great Wall, everybody has to go over to see the Great Wall. All our tours are organized.”

Dilley, who is interested in international law, said she hopes to learn how business people think in China.

“In Europe, they want a day of entertainment before they do anything. In America, they want to get to business right away,” she said.

William B. Lawless, Western State University president, said increased trade relations with China was one incentive for the program--the second law-school-in-China summer program in the country, he said. “It’s both an academic and ‘how-to-do-it’ program,” said Lawless, who will join some of the students for a tour in mid-June.

The students will learn about the workings of a major export company, the history of the Chinese legal system and Chinese international trade regulations. They also will be able to communicate with factory owners and business leaders through an interpreter, Dilley said.

“I’m looking forward to finding great differences--not comfort,” she said.