This Thursday, Harvard Law Professor Bill Alford will travel to Washington to testify at the first hearing of the newly established Congressional-Executive Commission on the People’s Republic of China. Created last year to monitor human rights and legal developments in China, the committee has nine Senators, nine Representatives, and five senior officials from the Bush administration. The commission is chaired by Montana Senator Max Baucus and Representative Douglas Bereuter of Nebraska.

Alford, the director of the Law School’s East Asian Legal Studies Program, is considered one of the nation’s foremost experts on China. In 2000, he was the keynote speaker at the 50th anniversary celebration of the People ‘s Republic of China ‘s first law school. He has also been honored for his efforts to introduce the Special Olympics in China. Alford, a professor at Harvard Law School since 1990, also holds honorary professorships at Remnin University in Beijing and Zhejiang University in Hangzou.