On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly as the first universal and comprehensive international document on human rights which elaborated on the provisions in the Charter of the United Nations on respecting and promoting human rights and laid the foundation for the development of the international law on human rights. On the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the China Foundation for Human Rights Development organized “the Symposium on the 70^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” on December 10, 2018.

General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the event. He spoke highly of the significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the letter and believed that “it is a document of great significance in the history of human civilization which has had a profound impact on the development of world human rights cause.” President Xi pointed out that “upholding the common value of mankind including peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, the Chinese people are willing to work with people from all over the world to safeguard the dignity and rights of people, promote the formation of more fair, reasonable, and inclusive global human rights governance, build a community of shared future for mankind, and open up a beautiful future for the world together.”2706336

The academia in China has also actively carried out publicity and research work to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among all the activities, two important academic conferences have attracted wide attention. On October 11, the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Nankai University organized the international seminar on the commemoration of the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under the theme of “the drafting process and influence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. Over 30 experts and scholars from home and abroad attended the seminar. On December 9, the Human Rights Research Center of Renmin University of China hosted the Symposium on the 70^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under the theme of “Human Rights Consensus and the Contemporary Rule of Law”. About 40 experts and scholars from universities and research institutions nationwide attended the event. In addition, the journal Modern Law Science opened a special column for commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for in-depth exploration of scholars on the topic. This paper tries to select several perspectives for discussion and makes a summary of the three seminars mentioned above and relevant articles published in China in 2018.