ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Without Laws, we litigated with our tongues or fists</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR=A0F0A0> <CENTER> <FONT FACE=arial> <H1>Without Laws, we litigated with our tongues or fists</H1> </CENTER> <P>waveheatin at <A HREF="http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn">Bulleting Board China Daily online</A></P> <P>2003-11-15 07:48 </P> <P><A HREF="index.html">naar overzicht artikels van Internet</A></P> <P><A HREF="../index.html">naar Tuur's homepage</A></P> <P>Chinese traditionally were ruled by the wills of emperors rather than by laws. The battle between the rule of laws and the rule of wills had been fought since Confucius s time, but the legalist (Õl¶[) lost and the Confucius s followers triumphed. I am in no position to comment on whether this outcome was positive or negative for the Chinese, but the consequence was clear that we became a people ruled without rules, and its effect on us can be felt in our most trivial daily life.</P> <P>Without the rule of laws, we resorted to fists or tongues rather than litigation.</P> <P>It was, may still be, quite common in a traditional Chinese neighbourhood to find citizens quarrelling or fighting to resolve their disputes. In my childhood years, the scene was quite familiar of someone s mom or grandma crying, shouting, and lashing out at a neighbor on the street for the purpose of protesting against some unfair practice by that neighbor ( it s called ‚šWˆ). When a dispute occurred without a resolution, the one feeling improperly compensated typically went to the public, on the street, loudly protesting with loud cries, tears and often half-hearted empty threats, as other neighbors watched. Often the other side would wisely shut the doors to avoid a direct confrontation, but occasionally confrontation did break out in the form of shouting match or, worse, wrestling or scratching. As emotions calmed down, or simply becoming too exhausted, the protester felt being compensated by the humiliation on the other side, and justice was thus served.</P> <P>Until fairly recently, Chinese did not think of laws as a means to resolve disputes. Traditionally the function of litigation was performed by family clan, neighbors, village elders, guild associations, or workplace in the modern days. My father was a little manager overseeing one hundred workers, who would come to chat with my father almost every evening when they were not rounded up to study revolutionary politics. All sorts of private matters or disputes between workers or neighbors were arbitrated by this supposedly neutral leader of the company.</P> <P>While the quarrelling or even wrestling between women was usually harmless, the fights between men can be deadly. </P> <P>Once in 1974, two of my 4th grade classmates got into a fight, and the parents of both sides were called for, one being the vice-principal of our school, taller and stronger, and the other shorter and smaller. Encouraged by his physique the stronger one threw a punch and badly bruised and bled the smaller s left eye. However, being well connected with his relatives in the villages in the country, the smaller one was able to mobilize an entire village and the villagers rushed into town with all sorts of farming tools as weapons. Fully aware of the danger, the vice-principal and his family fled, quickly letting out the word that they were willing to apologize and offer financial compensation. A war was thus avoided.</P> <P>Isn t there some kind of policing force in that small town? Yes, in fact they were well paid and enjoyed a high status since they were the only few who could carry a pistol. Somehow they were not terribly interested in disputes between citizens for they were fully occupied by other more significant crimes, the ones that were committed against the state. Stealing money from a state-owned company, for example, can get you a death penalty easily. The chill was vividly felt when our parents talked about how one of the workers in their company earned his death after he was found stealing RMB10,000 (the equivalent of 300 times of his monthly salary) from the shop he was managing. His family was also charged for the cost of the 3 bullets. The father of a girl in my class in elementary school earned the same fate for a similar crime. </P> <P>Even if the police did take the time to mind the citizen s business, there was little guidance or laws they could follow, and little incentive for them to enforce such guidance or laws, unless one of the concerned was well connected.</P> <P>The most terrifying incident ever happened in that small town was the death of a young man, who was said to be a very nice and gentle person. Somehow, he got into a fight, got kicked at his private part , and died! The victim s family carried his body, paraded through the streets, and finally placed it in the hall of the killer s home. </P> <P>The entire town was boiled and frightened, not knowing what was going to happen next. After many days turmoil, the dead was buried without much fanfare, and no charged was filed. Somehow it was privately settled with the victim s family being financially compensated. </P> <P>In retrospect, I cannot help wondering why such a serious matter was not litigated through some kind of legal means. </P> <P>On one hand, the citizens might not trust the legal system and on the other the police did not know what to do either. </P> <P>When things really got out of hand, the local party leader might be called to arbitrate.</P> <P>At this point, I am immensely curious of how historically a county magistrate (¿S˜[) settled disputes in his territory. Did he have a set of legal codes that he could follow? Apparently not. Stories are abundant that who and who was such a good magistrate and thus ruled wisely, apparently all by his consciousness rather than by the code of laws.</P> <P>By now you may be rather tired of the backward, remote little town in GuiZhou province. So let's fly across time and space into 1987 s Beijing, away from those barbarians to greet our well educated college students and citizens. </P> <P>Right at the front gate of the famous park of Xiang Shan (™™q\ Fragrant Mountain?), we, a group of postgraduate students from Tsinghua University, unknowingly got in the way of a group of factory workers who were taking photos. Before we realized the trouble, the much bigger factory workers pounced on us and an imminent ma_ssacre of college students by factory workers was about to happen. As we all chickened out and started fleeing for our life, one of us stood up, and within 2 seconds, he knocked down a factory worker, who dropped on the ground as if he had suddenly lost all his bones. Quickly we, the little ones, rallied to chase down the other factory workers. </P> <P>Finally, a few plain-cloth policemen showed up and arrested us. When we started to complain that we were attacked first and were merely defending ourselves, they told us they had been watching the show from the very beginning. Nevertheless, our heroic deed was much talked about on Tsinghua campus for it was one of the few historical moments in Tsinghua when a bunch of factory workers were defeated by a group of physically inferior students. None of us felt any embracement or shame for breaking the laws, and got our hero in jail (he was released after 10 days of detention and we each paid RMB 25 for the medical bill of the injured).</P> <P>Breaking laws? What laws?</P> <P>It was a generally accepted practice in the 80 s in Beijing that whenever got into a dispute, one was to first judge the size of the other party and decide to fight or flee with humiliation. There was never a third alternative, at least not in our minds.</P> <P>When caught, a theft was not turned to the police; instead, he was typically let go or beaten up badly, sometimes inhumanely. When caught shoplifting, a theft was not punished by legal means; in stead, he was handed over to his work place, leaving the punishment to the will of the party leader of that work place.</P> <P>Thus, without laws, or without trust in whatever laws did exist, women litigated with their tongues and men with their fists. </P> <P>Thanks for reading again. Please share with us your views or stories.</P> <P>wave</P> <P ALIGN=right><A HREF="index.html">naar overzicht artikels van Internet</A></P> <P ALIGN=right><A HREF="../index.html">naar Tuur's homepage</A></P> </BODY> </HTML>