Friday, October 30, 2015
Wang on Anti-Corruption Campaigns in "the New China"
Chuanli Wang, Tsinghua University Department of Political
Science, has posted The Establishment of a Legal System In Anti CorruptionCampaigns in the Early Days of The New China, which appeared in the Tsinghua
China Law Review 7 (2014): 101.
Opposite to the mainstream academic view that little attention was paid to legal system building in the anti‑corruption campaigns in the early stage of the People=s Republic of China (ANew China@), this article focuses on not only the mass movement but also the establishment of a legal system in that period. Supported by numerous historical data, this article argues that a fundamental legal system for anti‑corruption has actually been built in the early years of the New China. The Party Central Committee, Government Administration Council (renamed State Council), Discipline Inspection and Supervision Departments, and political‑legal departments enacted and enforced a complete set of preliminary anti‑corruption regulations and provisions conforming to the national conditions. Accompanying discipline inspection and supervision system and judicial system were also built. Criminal laws, administrative rules and regulations at that time all embodied the goal to combat corruption.When studying anti‑corruption campaigns in the early days of the New China, some scholars ignored the establishment of the laws and regulations and considered the mass anti‑corruption campaign to be legal nihilism, asserting that what Chairman Mao was constructing was Arule of the masses under the concept of rule of man,@ and Athe legal system was never considered as the basic policy and practice.@ In fact, the truth is completely contrary to what these scholars believed. Shortly after its establishment, the New China enacted and enforced a complete set of disciplines for management, politics, and finance. She also promulgated criminal regulations and established a judicial and supervisory system to suppress corruption.
