The Taishan Rule of Law Forum (2023), jointly sponsored by the Political and Legal Commission of Shandong Provincial Party Committee, Shandong Law Society, Shandong University, CASS Institute of Law, the newspaper Legal Daily and the magazine Democracy and Legal System, opened in Tai'an City, Shandong Province on the morning of October 14, 2023. 

The forum was attended by more than 160 legal experts, who gathered at the foot of Mount Tai to carry out discussions and exchange views around the theme of "Promoting the Development of the Theory and Practice of Chinese Modernization on the Track of the Rule of Law", focusing on three sub-topics: "Legal Guarantee of Chinese Modernization in Shandong Practice", "Modern Chinese Legal Concept and Smart Justice" and "Research on Legal Innovation of Ecological Protection and Rural Revitalization". 

At the opening ceremony of the forum. presided over by Mr. Sun Chengliang, Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Commission of Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Party secretary and Executive Vice President of the Provincial Law Society, opening speeches were given by Mr. Zhang Sujun, a member of the Party Group and Vice President of China Law Society, Mr. Li Meng, a member of the Standing Committee and Secretary of Political and Legal Commission of Shandong Provincial Party Committee and President of Provincial Law Society, Mr. Shao Bingfang, Party Secretary and President of Legal Daily, and Mr. Yang Hongtao, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of Municipal People's Congress of Tai’an City.  

In the keynote speech session, Professor Zhang Wenxian, member of the Party Group and Director of the Academic Committee of China Law Society, delivered a written speech, and Professor Jiang Bixin, Vice President of China Law Society, Professor Mo Jihong, Director of and a research fellow at CASS Institute of Law, Professor Zhou Yezhong, Vice President and professor of Wuhan University, Professor Zhang Shouwen from Peking University Law School and a legal adviser of Shandong Provincial Party Committee, and Professor Xie Pengcheng from Shandong University each delivered a keynote speech. 

In his keynote speech entitled "Elements of Modernization in the Context of the Rule of Law", Professor Mo Jihong comprehensively and systematically expounded the characteristics, connotation and significance of the concept of "modernization" and demonstrated the constitutive elements of modernization in the context of the rule of law and the relationship between the rule of law and modernization.