News Network (correspondents: Feng Qianran) Professor Huang Meiling was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for her great contribution to China-Italy exchanges in the field of law.
June 2nd, witnessed the ceremony for the awarding of the Italian National Medal at the Embassy of the Republic of Italy. On behalf of the Italian government, the new Italian ambassador Massimo Ambrosetti presented the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy and a Certificate of Honor signed by the President of Italy to Prof. Huang Meiling, Dean of the Law and Economics school at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL), in recognition of her contribution to the promotion of China-Italy exchanges in the field of law.
It is said in the award speech that Prof. Huang has made a decisive contribution to the academic exchanges between China and Italy, especially in the field of law. She has paid special attention to the studies of Roman law and its influence on the codification of laws in China and the rest of the world. She has also made contributions to the foundation of the numerous projects strengthening the dialogue and exchanges between Chinese legal culture and Rome legal tradition. In 2017, Prof. Huang successfully advocated the foundation of the Center for China-Italy Legal Studies at the University of Rome. In 2019, she promoted the foundation of the School of Economics and Law, jointly founded by University of Rome and ZUEL. And after being executive dean of the school, she translated the newly promulgated Civil Code of the People's Republic of China into Italian, under the guidance of Oliviero Dilliberto. Now this first Italian edition has been presented to Sergio Mattarella, President of Republic of Italy. Based on all the contributions mentioned above, Prof. Huang was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy.
Prof. Huang obtained her PhD in Roman law from University of Rome Tor Vergata in 2013. She has long devoted herself to the study of Roman law and comparative law, and then has achieved a series of creative achievements. She isa visiting professor at Sapienza University of Rome, the first Chinese scholar to obtain a senior title of Roman law in Europe, who has participated in a number of international major scientific research projects of the European Research Commission. For her efforts, the China’s first Sino-foreign cooperative educational institution in the field of law and economics jointly built by our school and the Sapienza University of Rome was approved by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2022.
In her acceptance speech, Prof. Huang said that “It is a great honor to receive this medal from Ambassador Massimo Ambrosetti on Italy’s National Day, which was awarded by the Italian President two years ago. To be more specific, I accept this honor on behalf of the teachers and colleagues of ZUEL and the Sapienza University of Rome who have been committed to the cultural and educational exchanges between China and Italy for a long time and have been supporting us with full heart in the field of law recently. As cultural ambassadors, they have made great contribution to non-official exchanges and stay true to the mission of cultural communication.
Prof. Yao Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and Vice President of our school, and Prof. Xu Diyu, assistant to the President and the head of the International Exchange Department, attended the awarding ceremony.
The “Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy” is one of the highest honors awarded by the Republic of Italy to those who have made outstanding contributions to promoting friendly relations between Italy and other countries in such fields as literature, art, economy, cultural exchanges, and so on, after the request of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the selection of “Star of Italy” committee.