On December 10, 2016, led by Yun Teng, party secretary of the School of Public Administration, the teacher and student representatives of the School of Public Administration were invited to Shanghai Customs College to attend the inaugural meeting of the Research Association of Customs Law of Shanghai Law Society, as well as the ninth Customs Law Forum. The conference was held by Shanghai Customs College. Dongtang Zhai, dean of the Department of Customs Administration, and Jinghua Cui, an associate professor of the Department of Customs Administration attended the conference together.

More than 50 experts from various local customs, the people's court, higher education institutions and law firms attended the conference, and they made keynote speeches, expert commentary and exchanges on the customs legal system, customs law topics and international customs laws. The two teachers from School of Public Administration, UIBE, Dongtang Zhai and Jinghua Cui, also made thematic comments at the meeting. In his comments, professor Dongtang Zhai affirmed the normative study of this conference, and he also briefly reviewed the research significance and the status quo, starting with the feasibility and right of discretion of reasonable defense. Focusing on her own research area, Professor Jinghua Cui paid attention to the issues of domestic taxation and fiscal expenditure, and conducted exchanges and discussions with other experts on topics such as the international cooperation of customs under the Belt and Road Initiative and the solid waste import regulation among member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

During the conference, party secretary Yun Teng also further discussed with the relevant leaders and teachers of Shanghai Customs College the cooperation issues between the two universities concerning the construction of the major of customs administration and exchanged ideas on the topic, which further promoted the deepening cooperation between the two universities. The participating students also said that this was the first time for them to participate in a professional seminar with teachers and they had benefited a lot. According to them, it was very helpful for their professional learning, their understanding of the development of customs services, and their strengthening professional thinking and research awareness.