Justice: The China Experience

by Flora Sapio, Susan Trevaskes, Sarah Biddulph, Elisa Nesossi

Overview

Claims about a pursuit of justice weave through all periods of China's modern history. But what do authorities mean when they refer to 'justice' and do Chinese citizens interpret justice in the same way as their leaders? This book explores how certain ideas about justice have come to be dominant in Chinese polity and society, and how some conceptions of justice have been rendered more powerful and legitimate than others. This book's focus on 'how' justice works incorporates a concern about the processes that lead to the making, un-making and re-making of distinct conceptions of justice. Investigating the processes and frameworks through which certain ideas about justice have come to the political and social forefront in China today, this innovative work explains how these ideas are articulated through spoken performances and written expression by both the party-state and its citizenry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316639047
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/31/2019
Pages:	410
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Flora Sapio is an associate at the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University, Canberra. Her research interests are diverse and include Chinese criminal justice, ideology, and contemporary Chinese legal philosophy, civil society organizations in China, among others. Her publications include Sovereign Power and the Law in China (2010).

Susan Trevaskes is a member of the Griffith Criminology Institute at Griffith University, Queensland, and is an Adjunct Director of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University, Canberra. Her sole-authored works include The Death Penalty in Contemporary China (2012). She has published widely in journals such as The British Journal of Criminology, The China Journal and The China Quarterly.

Sarah Biddulph is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2014–18) and Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne Law School. Her recent publications include The Stability Imperative: Human Rights and Law in China (2015).

Elisa Nesossi is an Australian Research Council Research Fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University, Canberra. She is the author of China's Pre-Trial Justice: Criminal Justice, Human Rights and Legal Reforms in Contemporary China (2012), and has co-edited two books with Susan Trevaskes, Sarah Biddulph and Flora Sapio, The Politics of Law and Stability in China (2014) and Legal Reforms and Deprivation of Liberty in Contemporary China (2016).

Table of Contents

Part I. Constructing the Idea of Justice: Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives: 1. The expression of justice in China Flora Sapio, Susan Trevaskes, Sarah Biddulph and Elisa Nesossi; 2. State, society and the justice debate in contemporary China Joshua Rosenzweig; 3. High justice vs low justice: the legacy of confucian and legalist notions of justice Delia Lin; 4. Rawls rejected, ignored, and radicalized: debating procedural justice in China Samuli Seppänen; Part II. The Performance of State Justice: 5. Weaponising the rule of law in China Susan Trevaskes; 6. Wrongful conviction: the useful injustice? Elisa Nesossi; 7. 'Rich Sister' Wu Ying, judicial drama and justice Flora Sapio; Part III. Expressing Justice in the Public Arena: 8. Justice in the PRC: how the Chinese Communist Party has struggled with managing public opinion and the administration of criminal justice in the internet age Ira Belkin; 9. Doing justice: traditional and liberal conceptions of political morality in contemporary Chinese advocacy initiatives Eva Pils; 10. Perceived justice of migrant workers in China Xin He, Lungang Wang and Yang Su; Part IV. Justice in Action and Law: 11. In search of justice: China's elusive civil litigation reforms Margaret Woo; 12. Justice at the margins: notions of justice in the punishment of prostitution Sarah Biddulph; 13. Bringing politics back in: access to justice and labor dispute resolution in China Hualing Fu; 14. Of ceremonial columns Flora Sapio, Susan Trevaskes, Sarah Biddulph and Elisa Nesossi.