Abstract

With its long history of the rule of men, particularly during its first three decades of communist rule, China has experienced arbitrary governance and social control that heavily relied on "giants" who arose from peasant wars. Even today, the personal orders of administrative and Party officials often take the place of legal rules and procedures. China's human rights record, because of practices such as the imprisonment of some citizens for political conscience and the suppression of free speech, remains an object of international criticism and disputes. On the other hand, in the past twenty years China has shown remarkable progress in implementing the rule by law. Because progress and problems in the rule of law are two sides of a coin in China, the legal circumstances of the country are complicated, and research and evaluation of China's legal system and culture are difficult