Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

it's interesting to watch different perceptions of China depending on what they are based on - mass media or personal cognitions gathered at the face.

This guy spent three month traveling with his bike in China.
See the photographs, read a few entries and compare with all that video propaganda...

By the way, you liked the penal system.

Did you know it's the deadliest in the world (i.e. most death sentences and they implement it as if on production line too)?

In 2006 a group of reform-minded justices began formally advocating moderation in punishment. Led by Xiao Yang, then the Supreme People’s Court chief justice, they pushed the maxim “kill fewer, kill cautiously.” The following year, the high court began reviewing all capital cases, creating a strong disincentive for lower courts to hand out death sentences. The substitution in many cases of suspended death sentences — which in practice means offenders spend about 25 years in prison — was the result.

The shift met resistance from hard-liners who warned of a spike in crime. But pandemonium did not ensue. Some criminologists now argue that the harsh campaigns of the past in fact sparked violent crime, by making criminals reluctant to leave witnesses behind.

Chinese police continue to carry out punitive campaigns. But arrests made during such operations no longer automatically mean death. Even Chen Jun, a migrant worker convicted in a prominent 2008 case of stabbing the Canadian model Diana O’Brien more than 20 times, was given a suspended death sentence. The stabbing happened a mere month before the Beijing Olympics, as the police were cracking down on crimes big and small. Interviews I conducted over the past year with former police investigators, Mr. Chen’s family and Ms. O’Brien’s mother reveal that, in his case, the authorities were eager to show restraint. Instead of retributive justice, his trial suggested an emphasis on reparation and societal harmony.

China’s penal practices are far from enlightened. Even if Mr. Liu’s assertion of halving executions is true, China still executes about 3,000 people a year, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, compared with 39 in the United States in 2013.

But even a preliminary drop in executions is encouraging, allowing people like Li Yan a real shot at justice. Chinese judges and policy makers should continue to heed public calls for restraint. Perhaps, with time, they might even return to China’s benevolent roots.

* For the Norwegian idea of the American idea of Venice, see The Longest Journey

Chinese idea of the American idea of Venice

Ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang, the most senior Chinese official to be investigated for corruption, has been arrested and expelled from the Communist Party, state media report.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate, China's top prosecuting body, said it had opened a formal probe against him.

Before he retired two years ago, Mr Zhou was the head of China's vast internal security apparatus.

China's state media has linked the country's former security chief Zhou Yongkang, who is awaiting trial, with disgraced leader Bo Xilai in a conspiracy to wind back capitalism in the country.



It is the first time that reports have officially surfaced that the two most high-profile politicians to fall in recent years had formed a "clique" that also threatened the Communist party's warnings against factionalism.

The two men "celebrated their political rapport" and vowed to "play a big game", the China Daily said, citing a lengthy report in Hong Kong's Phoenix Weekly magazine.

China has confirmed it is investigating a powerful intelligence chief, Ma Jian, for corruption.

The Communist Party's discipline watchdog said Mr Ma was suspected of "serious violations" of the law.

Mr Ma is the latest high-ranking figure to be targeted in an ongoing crackdown on corruption among party officials.

He is vice-minister in the Ministry of State Security, which oversees foreign and counterintelligence operations.

No further details were given in the one-line statement on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection's website, but the wording used typically applies to a corruption probe.

What's Going on in China?

Quote from: jax on 2014-03-13, 13:19:16

What's Going on in China?

Nice infographic, How to Catch a Tiger in China.
Nobody knows what's going on in China.

Many many years ago, I remember reading a small book at my father's personal library called "And when China wakes up?"
Written at the Seventies by a French ex ambassador in China that married a Chinese woman and lived all his life there.
Prophetic.

  On May 3, 2014, about a dozen rights activists met in a private apartment in Beijing, where they held a seminar marking the 25th anniversary of the protests and crackdown in Tiananmen Square. Since that night, most of the activists have disappeared. At least one of them, Pu Zhiqiang, a human rights lawyer, has been formally detained (the prelude to a criminal charge) for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

In a way, none of this is surprising. China is an authoritarian regime. Whoever challenges it takes a risk. But what is surprising is that this small group of activists had held the same kind of meeting for several years without getting into trouble. The fact that they weren’t as lucky this year is one sign among many that repression in China has not only not eased in recent years but is getting worse./quote]

Nobody knows what's going on in China.

Many many years ago, I remember reading a small book at my father's personal library called "And when China wakes up?"
Written at the Seventies by a French ex ambassador in China that married a Chinese woman and lived all his life there.
Prophetic.

In November 2012, the Chinese Communist Party's 18th National Congress introduced a new elite to govern the country for the next 10 years under the leadership of party General Secretary, and soon to be President, Xi Jinping. Among the confusing welter of subsequent developments, three trends appear to have emerged relating to law, justice and the courts.

First, repression of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of expression has become even harsher than under the previous administration led by Hu Jintao, with the courts as well as the police and procuracy serving as the evident tools of the party's new elite. Almost daily accounts on the Internet and in social media report examples of arbitrary conviction of nongovernmental reformers, human rights proponents, political dissidents, religious figures, minority protesters and other activists, as well as gross mistreatment of the accused and their would-be lawyers, witnesses, families and supporters, both inside and outside the courtroom.

Second, legislation relating to criminal justice has, by and large, nevertheless continued to improve. One of the earliest acts of the new administration was to endorse and promulgate a substantially amended criminal procedure law that, as already indicated, in many respects promises increased fairness in the court system. At its most recent meeting, the NPC Standing Committee finally abolished the pernicious system of "re-education through labor," the most infamous of several supposedly "noncriminal" administrative punishments that have undermined the power of the courts by authorizing the police to condemn people to detention in a labor camp without necessary judicial involvement. As Zhou Qiang, China's newly appointed chief justice, alerted the courts last fall, one of the immediate consequences of this legislated progress toward the rule of law would in all likelihood be a very significant increase in court burdens, since many cases formerly disposed of through "re-education through labor" would soon be prosecuted as minor crimes and require court approval.

The third trend is the most interesting for our purposes. It is the recent effort of high-level law reformers within the party as well as the judiciary to transform relevant party and government ideology, policy and disciplinary systems in ways that will reduce the huge existing gap between repressive practice and enlightened legislation in the administration of criminal justice. This effort is centered in the new leadership of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) headed by Zhou, who, unlike his predecessors, combines high-ranking status within the party with impressive legal skills and a zest for reform.

Zhou and his colleague, Deputy Chief Justice Shen Deyong, are obviously seeking to rescue the traditionally poor reputation of the national court system. The credibility of the courts has recently been further damaged by, among other things, the many recently publicized wrongful convictions. Even Xi and his choice to head the party's Central Political-Legal Commission, former Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu, have publicly and repeatedly recognized the urgent need to instill popular confidence in the courts.

Indeed, in January 2013 they initiated the current campaign to bolster the courts, and in late February Xi delivered a speech to a study session of the party Politburo devoted to problems of the rule of law. Xi urged the judicial organs to cope with "the deep issues that interfere with judicial justice and restrain judicial capacity." The courts and the procuracy must be allowed to carry out adjudication and prosecution independently and impartially, he stated, and he made clear that this would require restraint on party organizations at all levels, which "must act within the boundaries of the constitution and the laws."

Xi's remarks opened the way for a series of speeches by Zhou and Shen during the spring and summer that focused on correcting and preventing wrongful convictions. In May, in a long article published in the SPC's newspaper that elaborated on his speeches, Shen boldly set forth both the spirit and detailed prescriptions of the new campaign. In addition to stressing the importance of judges and their commitment to professional standards, Shen wrote that China must abandon the presumption of guilt that infects practice. "We would rather wrongfully release a person than wrongfully convict someone," he added. The presumption of innocence, he stated, forbids convicting an accused where the evidence is insufficient and then giving him a less severe punishment as a kind of compromise, a practice that I have personally encountered in advising in Chinese human rights cases.

Shen emphasized the value of judges complying with legal procedures, especially the presumption of innocence, and applying science and technology to evidence in order to avoid unjust outcomes. "From the perspective of preventing wrongful conviction," he stated, "defense lawyers are the most trustworthy and reliable force" and their legal rights must be respected. Shen frankly admitted that injustices often resulted from Chinese courts taking orders from outside sources, abandoning their principles or being sloppy in their work.

Not long after Shen's essay, the Ministry of Public Security announced its support for the campaign. Then in July, the Central Party Political-Legal Commission (CPLC) issued its stunning "Provisions on Earnest Prevention of Miscarriage of Justice," one of the most important official human rights documents to appear in China in recent years.

With none of the ideological cliches that too often mark party and legal documents, the provisions, after a brief confirmation that they are based on the instructions of Xi Jinping and the CPLC leadership, set forth the goal of preventing miscarriages of justice through "strict adherence to legal procedure." This would "punish crime in accordance with law, respect and safeguard human rights, increase the credibility of the judicial system, and uphold social fairness and justice." Though a tall order indeed, the candid recognition of the failings of the criminal justice system revealed in the 15 articles that followed and their specific recommendations for improvement certainly suggested the seriousness with which China's most authoritative legal institution viewed the situation.