i would like to say john thornton, cheng li and jerome cohen for this series. for bringing he weifang to the broader international audience, you are enriching the knowledge of china. thank you very much. it is fitting that he weifang should be the first person from the world of law in this series. he is somebody of incredible courage, which, incisiveness, and preach against -- prescience. i cherished member -- memories from harvard where we had a lot of discussions across the seminar cable and going to the boston symphony and, best of all, enjoying pigboat -- pick le tongue sandwiches. i want to frame my remarks today awhile -- around he weifang's writing. because of my respect for him, i want to convey the majesty of what he has done in a friendly, constructive way and push a little bit on a few points. specifically, i want to engage four respects in that will illuminate broader point about the challenges of law reform in china. he first concerns the chinese tradition. he takes great pride in his heritage, as he should, he does not see it as providing abundant