"ren quan" or "fa zhi"
Preface: While reading Enemy of the State, a profile of China Democracy Party founder Zha Jiangguo in the New Yorker (April 23rd issue), I came across this statement:"Agitation for political reform has, in the past four or five years, grown more assertive, while taking on more artful forms: instead of using the fraught term ren quan ("human rights"), for example, people talk about fa zhi ("the rule of law") and wei quan ("defending civil rights") to discuss consumer rights or migrant-labor rights or private-property rights."
So, it seems that perhaps all this talk about "rule of law" is the only way in contemporary China to continue the discussion of human rights.
Back on January 19, I wrote about and quoted an article from Asia Times Online. My posting was titled The Long March to the Rule of Law. (Also see How to reform China.)
That article concerned, "82 farmers, who have been fighting for years to have authorities investigate the pollution of their fish ponds by the 2,000 factories operating in the municipality of Wenzhou, last week [in mid-January] won a landmark ruling against provincial police in a local court... While the ultimate resolution of the case is unknown, it has already made Chinese legal history in that a local court has ruled against a provincial authority."
Back in January I marked my calendar for mid-April, because further developments were expected.
Sure enough, when I went searching on April 18 for those developments, I found a new article. It's not about the fish farmers and pollution, but it is about the courts in the same province.
Three things stand out to me in these cases.
- First, as pointed out in the article, the Party is sending a message to peasants that legal processes are preferable to protests and demonstrations
- Secondly, maybe Zhejiang has become a model province for how courts are supposed to work. In the past, model villages, model communes, model danwei, and model workers were touted as examples that everyone should follow.*
- Finally, as the article points out, "the lawsuit happened when Xi Jinping was the party secretary of Zhejiang province. Xi last month was appointed Shanghai party secretary... and as such... is poised to become a member of the new Politburo...
"The high-profile media coverage... helps portray the rising political star as an enlightened leader. By comparison, leaders of other regions where similar disputes led to violent confrontation should feel ashamed."
A step toward the rule of law
"China's official media have given high-profile coverage to a court case in which 12 farmers in a village in Zhejiang province won their lawsuit against the provincial government and the governor over the acquisition of their farmland.
"Obviously, Beijing wants to deliver a message through its propaganda machine to people that unfair land requisitions can be dealt with by the rule of law, instead of through violently confrontational ways...
"On April 14, 2006, the Zhejiang High Court made its historic ruling that the provincial government acted illegally... The ruling was final.
"But it was not until the end of that year that the provincial government revoked its decision. Construction at the site was not stopped until before Chinese New Year in mid-February, 2007.
"Will the local officials violating the law be punished, and how? Will Zhang and his fellow villagers be compensated for their losses during these years? Will the government consider providing legal aid to the poor who want to sue the government?..."
*One of my favorite model citizens is Lei Feng. He's a favorite because 45 years after his untimely death, he is still used as a teaching tool in China. He's still unbelievably perfect, although not in the same ways he was during the Cultural Revolution (see Another year, another Lei Feng below for ways Lei Feng has changed over the years).
- Chinese Propaganda Posters of Lei Feng
- Lei Feng at Wikipedia
- Another year, another Lei Feng, from Danwei.org, March 2007
- A Lei Feng two-fer from Danwei.org, March 2006
- Lei Feng becomes online game hero, from Xinhua, March 2006
- Links to articles about the Immortal Lei Feng Spirit
Labels: China, rule-of-law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:47 AM
1 Comments:
Dan Harris of China Law Blog noticed this article too.
In a 23 April entry titled, "China Rule Of Law Rising?" he wrote, "Wu Zhong, China Editor for Asia Times... sees the substantial official Chinese press coverage of this case as Beijing wanting 'to deliver a message through its propaganda machine to people that unfair land requisitions can be dealt with by the rule of law, instead of through violently confrontational ways.
"I agree...
"Though the China media is using this case to encourage people to deal with unfair land requisitions though the rule of law, the fact that the lawsuit took so long and that so many questions remain unresolved makes it a less than ideal incentive for court action...
"Nonetheless, 'Zhang's victory must be seen as a big step forward in the rule of law. The wide coverage of the case by the media is likely to encourage more farmers to follow suit. If Beijing could take measures to facilitate such lawsuits, it certainly would help reduce massive protests against unfair land requisition to make society look more harmonious'."
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