The Specialized Committee on Maritime & Admiralty Judicial Theory of China Society of Judicial Studies was officially established in Shanghai on March 17, 2009. Prof. Yu Shicheng, Deputy Director of the Committee and President of Shanghai Maritime University, read out the "Notice of China Society of Judicial Studies on Setting up the Specialized Committee on Maritime & Admiralty Judicial Theory by Relying on the Higher People's Court of Shanghai Municipality" and the list of members of the Committee. Shen Deyong, Deputy Secretary of Party Leadership Group and Executive Vice President of the Supreme People's Court as well as President of China Society of Judicial Studies, sent a congratulatory message; Ying Yong, Director of the Specialized Committee and President of the Higher People's Court of Shanghai Municipality, addressed the meeting. Yang Xiong, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Executive Deputy Mayor of Shanghai, and Wan Exiang, Vice President of the Supreme People's Court and Executive Vice President of the China Society of Judicial Studies, jointly inaugurated the Committee and delivered speeches. The participants also included relative leaders from the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Transport, Shanghai Ports and their affiliates, ports of other provinces and cities, peer courts and their affiliates, colleges, universities and research institutes, as well as Shanghai's courts.

Along the development and growth of China's maritime industry, come a growing number of marine and admiralty cases accepted by the courts, including Shanghai Maritime Court. In light of the particularity of such cases in professional, international and political terms, there are still many important issues to be studied in a timely manner. Relying on the strength of the Higher People's Court of Shanghai Municipality, the Committee is established to better collect research resources on judicial theories and to handle in a more effective way any judicial issues encountered during the development of economy and society.

The list of members was passed and determined at the meeting. Ying Yong, President of the Higher People's Court of Shanghai Municipality, was appointed as the Director of the Committee; while the post of Deputy Director was held by President Zheng Zhaofang of Shanghai Maritime Court, President Luo Guohua of Guangzhou Maritime Court, President Ma Shufang of Tianjin Maritime Court, President Tian Feng of Wuhan Maritime Court, President Yu Shicheng of Shanghai Maritime University, President Wang Zuwen of Dalian Maritime University. In addition, Wang Yanjun, Deputy Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court, was appointed as the Secretary-General; while Chief Judge Xie Chen of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of the Higher People's Court of Shanghai Municipality, and Chief Judge Jia Zhenkun of the Maritime Tribunal of Shanghai Maritime Court were appointed as Deputy Secretaries-General.