Laws of The People's Republic of China - History

History

China has a tradition of adopting civil law systems. During the Qing Dynasty, in order to modernise the Chinese legal system, the Chinese government hired Japanese legal experts to copy legal systems from Japan, which stemmed from the German civil law system. After the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911, the Chinese government maintained the civil law system. Although the CCP abolished all legal systems of the ROC after 1949, its legal system was deeply influenced by the legal system of the Soviet Union, which could also be regarded as a civil law system.

The development of the current legal system dates from the late 1970s, after the end of the Cultural Revolution. After more than 30 years of endeavour, the People's Republic of China has established, through enactments by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, a rather complete legal system with constitution, civil and commercial law, criminal law, administrative law, economic law, procedural law, etc.

In the 2000s, the Weiquan movement began in the PRC, seeking to advance citizens' rights partly by petitioning for enforcement of existing laws, and partly through activism. Lawyers in the movement have seen some court victories, but in other cases they and their families have been ostracized and even tortured for their activities.