China no longer in ‘rule of people’ era

Debate around the investigation and ruling process of some high-profile cases has been dominating public opinion. The deep reason is some people's distrust of the judicial system. They constantly criticize China for not being ruled by law but by people. Such discontent and condemnation have had a great influence on the public's understanding of the country. China has long called for the rule of law, which has been the consensus from the top down. "The rule of people" has never been the political ideal of China. It stems from the political and social chaos of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) era. The rule of law is China's key objective in its political evolution. It is open to discussion what we have achieved in this regard, while China is definitely not ruled by people any more. No one person has the dominant say in today's China. People who do not obey the law can be exposed. It is entirely possible for an ordinary person to challenge a powerful man who goes against the law. But the rule of law in China is not the same as that in the West, at least for now. It is unlikely to be so in the future either. China's political system differs greatly from that of the West. So does its social development level. That means the Western legal system cannot be the absolute template for China's rule of law. As long as we understand this, we will have an objective evaluation of the construction of the rule of law in China and promote its progress rather than indulge in hopeless fatalism and nihilism. We are now living in an era of transformation, when the law should take the main role in social governance. The construction of China's rule of law should go hand in hand with the consolidation and improvement of its political system. The West managed to do it. So will China. The biggest problem in China's judicial practice is the law's lack of authoritativeness. Judicial corruption comes out of social construction and political construction. The prevalence of petitions, skipping the courts' final judgment, particularly exposes the drawbacks of social construction. The chances that the Chinese people resort to law or experience law in their daily lives are lower than in Western societies. Many people voice their opinions on the Internet as a "law promulgation movement," which can add populist pressure onto the hearing process. All these entanglements have one certain aim: to let the law make the final judgment, which will become fairer as time goes by. As long as people don't view the country's political system from the Western perspective, everybody can hold a positive attitude toward China's construction of the rule of law. Problems and uncertainties remain in this process. The most important reason is that China is learning from the West while trying to find its own effective way. The rule of law will remold China, and China will remold the connotation of the rule of law.