The Chinese Way to the Rule of Law was written by Ling Bin and published by Peking University Press in April, 2013. Ling is an associate professor at Peking University Law School and has been acting vice president, a member of the Judicial Committee and a district court judge for the Fangshan District in Beijing since February 2011. As he indicates in the preface, The Chinese Way to the Rule of Law is a compilation of his thinking on the rule of law in China since he was an undergraduate.

Ling proceeds from the idea that the rule of law generally contains two elements: good law and good governance. Good law, Ling explains, refers to legal consciousness, which requires learning the law, knowing the law and understanding the law. Thinking on the rule of law is the basis of good governance in Ling’s formulation. This corresponds to aiming to abide by the law, utilizing and complying with the law, and having faith in the efficacy of the law. With the formation of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, the orientation of the rule of law in China has shifted from good law to good governance. Before, the rule of law developed by establishing legal awareness at a normative level, whereas today it proceeds from legal thinking on a practical level, bearing in mind applicable legal methods. This change has also been marked by a transition from concern about perfecting the legal system to trust in the rule of law, and from legal relations to the relationship between the law and citizens.

Ling has devoted himself to studying the Chinese way to the rule of law, wrote Liu Peng, an editor for Chinese Social Sciences Today. He has examined the basic characteristics and internal logic of the rule of law in China, and looked into the practical issues and realistic limitations in the perfection of the legal system. In the Chinese Way to the Rule of Law, Ling Bing presents his observations and marshals various evidence and methods to express his ideas on the dual paths of governance-oriented rule of law and people-orientated rule of law. The Chinese Way to the Rule of Law is quite worth reading, Liu Peng added.

 

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, Jun. 26, 2013

                                                                                                                           Translated by Zhang Mengying

Copy Editor: Charles Horne