Towards the rule of law: an arduous but hopeful journey (2)

PROGRESS AND MILESTONES

By 2013, China's National People's Congress had decreed 243 laws, and the cabinet drafted more than 680 regulations.

Ma Huaide, vice president of China University of Political Science and Law, saw several milestones on the cause of legislation.

An example was the Administrative Litigation Law, which was implemented in 1990. "This law changed the mentality of Chinese people, whom, for thousands of years, couldn't and didn't dare to sue officials," Ma said.

With this law, 52-year-old farmer Song Xinyuan filed lawsuit against the Anhui provincial department of environmental protection, which made an assessment for a local polluting enterprise.

"I haven't won yet, but operation of the enterprise has suspended," he said. "I am using the legal weapon to protect our health and own right."

Sometimes, legislation is triggered by an incident.

A regulation for saving beggars in cities was implemented in 2003 at the price of a young life, after 27-year-old Sun Zhigang was beaten to death in an asylum.

In 2009, 47-year-old Tang Fuzhen from southwest China's Sichuan province set herself on fire to protest the forced demolition of her house. She died in hospital 16 days later. Tang was just one of the Chinese in violent and deadly protest against land seizures, and their tragedies got people's attention. In 2010, "administrative forced demolition" was banned.

"During the 30 plus years after reform and opening-up, China has finished a legislation process which took western countries hundreds of years," said Yang Tianzong, deputy secretary general of the Sichuan provincial committee of the CPC. "However, old habits die hard and the mindset of Chinese people don't change easily."