What are the three main influences on the Chinese Legal System today? How do they manifest themselves in the enforcement and interpretation of law and order?
What is the “minority question” in China? How has the government been effective or ineffective at dealing with the issue?
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#1- Meghan C.
COLLAPSE
One of China’s main influences on the legal system is made up of Confucian ideas and practices that deemphasize law codes, structure and procedure in favor of ideology and political guidance.
The second system is the formal legal system. This was forced on China in the beginning of the 19th century by Western nations.
The third system is the Maoist-communist system. This ids driven by ideologically and stresses peoples justice.
Confucian theory virtues were expressed with laws that backed up punishments that were known to be quite severe. When the dynastic government came in they felt that to rule by virtuous example, proper organization and care of the people and moral instruction were the best way to rule.
2. Kaitlyn K.
The three main influences on the Chinese Legal System today are as follows: Confucian Ideas, formal legal system and the Maoist-communist system. For example, in regards to Confucian ideas our assigned reading states “The Chinese legal system today is an amalgam of three legal traditions that have been intertwined over the past one hundred years. The first is the informal system made up of Confucian ideas and practices that emphasize law codes, structure, and procedure in favor of ideology and political guidance(Hayes, pg 64) Secondly, in regards to the formal legal system our assigned reading states “The second system is the formal legal system essentially forced on China beginning in the nineteenth century by Western nations (Hayes, pg 64). Additionally, the Maoist-communist system for example, our assigned reading states “The third system is the Maoist-communist system that is ideologically driven and stresses “people’s” justice (Hayes, pg 64)”
These three influences: Confucian Ideas, the formal legal system and the Maoist-communist system manifested themselves in the interpretation of law and order by looking back to the traditional Chinese legal system. Our assigned reading states “Confucian virtues were expressed in terms of law backed up with punishments that could be quite severe. China’s government continued atleast rhetorically, to regard the law as a supplement to rule by virtuous example, proper organization and care of the people, and moral instruction (Hayes, pg 64)
3. – Natalie B.
There are three main influences on the Chinese Legal System today. First, we have the Confucian ideas. According to the reading, the Confucian ideas have made up some of the structure, law codes and procedure that advise the overall ideaologies of political guidance. Next, we have the formal legal system. This system was basically forced upon China back in the 19th century. And third, we have the Communist system. This is something that was put into place to stress the justice of the people. In other words, I inferred that while the Confucian ideas and formal legal system really set the structure of Chinese law, the Communist system was put into place to give some of the power to the Chinese people.
The minority population in China is really only a small percentage of the overall population. While a small group, the risk to the Chinese government that these groups pose is rather large. The first issue that arises is that the minority groups do live on the borders which is moreso a political issue. Their areas are less population dense and even have some resources within them and are being exploited for benefit of the entire country. Beijing even wants “the minority populations to be contented so that it can be claimed that the Chinese model of social relations is successful” (Hayes, 77.) And lastly, there is the issue of tourism. These groups and areas are seen as an embarrasment to the government. The government has been overall ineffective at dealing with the issue. Hayes even stated “despite the twists and turns in public policy and the political status of minorities, the underlying issues remain pretty much as they have always been” (Hayes, 78.) With many attempts to solve the issue, starting with the assumption that it would disappear upon China becoming a communist state, all efforts have failed due to the fact that they weren’t strong enough and were eventually given up for a multitude of reasons.
