Preface

The rule of law has the supremacy of law as a fundamental requirement. With the development of history, the meaning of the rule of law is constantly changing. In modern times, it is generally a social management mechanism, a form of social interaction, and a state of social order featuring the supremacy of the law, with democracy as a prerequisite, market economy as a foundation, modern culture as a condition, universal observance of law as a requirement and public power-check as a key.

As an approach to governance, the rule of law is the converse of the rule of man. The fundamental distinction lies in whether it is law or power that holds supremacy. Where the law is supreme we have the rule of law; where power reigns supreme we have the rule of man. If the supremacy of law reflects democracy and guarantees freedom, equality and human rights, it is truly the rule of law in the modern sense.

The “man” in the “rule of man” refers not to any man, but to those who wield power. Therefore, the rule of man is essentially the “rule of power”. The Chinese people used to say that “if the prince breaks the law, he shall be punished as a commoner”. In fact, that is also the rule of man; as long as “the king” is exempt from the punishment of the commoner, it is not the rule of law. If the king can overturn the rule of law, the prince may escape the punishment of the commoner when he breaks the law. In that case, the rule of law cannot be established or upheld.

However, the rule of man is not to be denied in every sense. It is only appropriate that every form of state governance is adapted to the economy, politics, and culture of a particular time. Extreme tyrants and autocrats are certainly not good rulers. But there can also be benevolent, enlightened and wise rulers. In a specific era, the latter represent a good form of state governance. For example, in the era of the natural economy and agricultural society, people rarely interacted with each other. Under the rule of monarchy, imbued with the imperial, patriarchal, and family culture, there was no need for laws, far less the rule of law. However, in modern times, if we continue to promote the rule of man, it will clearly come into conflict with the trend of the times, and create a historical anomaly.

The world today is a world moving towards the rule of law. Since the bourgeois revolution, support for the rule of law has gradually developed, starting from the United Kingdom, expanding to the United States, France, Germany, Japan and so on. It has gradually become a historical trend, spreading and building up an enormous momentum. Since the end of World War II, the tide has become an unstoppable surging wave, sweeping forward. It has become an irreversible trend for mankind to evolve from barbarism to civilization, from dictatorship to democracy, and from the rule of man to the rule of law. It is the governance in accordance with the trend of the times that will promote the healthy development of society and advance the progress of social civilization.

China is an ancient civilization. According to traditional chronology, the Xia Dynasty ruled between 2070 and 1600 BC, which saw the introduction of laws. The legal system of traditional Chinese society peaked in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and became the gold standard in the world of that era. The law continued to evolve from generation to generation, and it has seen the passage of many dynasties up to our modern times. With the establishment of capitalism and its rule of law in the modern era, state governance has undergone profound changes. In the tide of modernization, China has established a new social system and has begun to create a new type of rule of law. Looking back at the history of the rule of law in China, one tends to admire and bemoan, to lament and excite, and the ultimate sense is one of hope.

For the Chinese nation, the rule of law is a borrowed term. It comes from the modern West and has sprouted and experienced a problematic development in China since the late Qing Dynasty (1636-1912), when the legal system was reformed. The rule of law has become one important aspect and achievement of China’s modernization. With the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the rule of law in China entered a new historical stage. After a brief period of development in the 1950s, the rule of law in China was disrupted by the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957-1959), followed by the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The rule of law in the new republic, still in its infancy, was almost destroyed. In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was convened. The meeting called on the Party and state “to develop socialist democracy and improve the socialist legal system”, and suggested that “there shall be laws to abide by, everyone should abide by the law, the law must be enforced strictly, and those who violate the law must be dealt with.” From then on, China’s democracy and the rule of law embarked on a new journey.

At the 15th CPC National Congress in 1997, it was stated that the governance of China should be based on law to build the country into a socialist country of the rule of law. In 1999, “the building of a socialist country based on the rule of law” was written into the Amendment to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, and confirmed as a constitutional provision. The 16th CPC National Congress in 2002 stated that it is essential to promote the law-based governance of the country. At the 17th CPC National Congress in 2007, the CPC Central Committee stressed the need to fully implement the fundamental strategy of lawbased governance. At the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee emphasized that greater weight should be placed on ensuring the rule of law. In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee was convened with the theme of comprehensively promoting the rule of law. The plenum adopted the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Law-Based Governance of China. It was the first time for the CPC to convene a plenary session to discuss the rule of law. It was also the first time for it to make a special decision on strengthening the rule of law. It was a new step forward in China’s rule of law.

The rule of law in China has followed its own historical logic, with twists and turns, and successes and setbacks. It is a journey with no end. The Chinese nation will continue to proceed forward on the road of the rule of law forever.

The path to the rule of law in China is a long road. Looking back and forward along this road invites a lot of emotion. Perhaps citations on “road” from the two great poets of ancient China can serve as the introduction and leitmotif of the book.

Li Bai, poet of the Tang Dynasty, lamented in The Hard Road:

Hard is the road, hard is the road.

Don’t go astray! Whither today?

A time will come to ride the wind and cleave the waves;

I’ll set my cloud-like sail to cross the sea which raves.

Qu Yuan (c. 340-278 BC), a poet and politician of the Kingdom of Chu in the Warring States period (475-221 BC), had long before Li Bai told people in his Li Sao (The Lament): “The road ahead is long, and our climb is steep.”