There is no rule of law under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. This simple truth contradicts the extensive facade of a legal system the party has constructed, from a constitution to an “independent” judiciary, which for decades has painted a veneer of legitimacy over the regime’s abuses. But there is perhaps no clearer illustration of life under the yoke of Chinese authoritarianism than the case of
Gao Zhisheng.
Born into a poor family in 1964, Mr. Gao trained as an attorney and became an integral member of the Rights Defense Movement—an effort by human-rights activists in the early 2000s to use the law and courts to force the authorities to abide by their own rules. Mr. Gao was a bright light of this era and devoted a substantial portion of his work to politically sensitive pro bono cases. He was so skilled that before his more high-profile human-rights advocacy, the Ministry of Justice acknowledged him as “one of the nation’s top 10 lawyers” for his work on public-interest cases.
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For a brief time, before the Communist Party had the ability to control the internet widely, there seemed to be room for such people to maneuver in the country. In some instances, lawyers were able to push ground-breaking cases to successful outcomes. I experienced this myself, when a case I brought to court in Beijing in 2003 led to the enforcement of a law that provided free access to public transportation for disabled people. We advanced these cases in court because the laws of the People’s Republic of China supported us—at least on paper. Article 41 of the Constitution states…
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