"Smash the Legal System"
...During the Cultural Revolution, Mao essentially decided to wipe out all institutions of government. The Ministry of Justice was closed down. All the universities and law schools shut their doors for over ten years. There was no law. There was only political argument and debate. If you thought that someone had treated you badly, you might gather up a number of your friends and try to gather -Carl Minzner, Student Email Interview
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There were major human rights violations in the Cultural Revolution,...from the enormous powers concentrated on Mao Zedong and his ability with those of the people around him to -Kerry Brown, Student Email Interview
"...we didn't have a legal system to prevent...concentrated power."
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Sound Source: Student Led Phone Interview with Ji-Li Jiang (22 sec.)
(Click "off" button on Top Left to hear sound) |
"10 to 12 years [The Cultural Revolution] that there was no legal system in China..."
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The lack the legal system meant lack of protection of individual rights. Many people were sentenced to death without going through adequate procedures of trial. The police had enormous power. They could enter into anybody’s home without a search warrant and police abuse was very serious. China at that time was not interested in the protection of human rights. Violations of human rights were seen everywhere, everyday, throughout the whole country... -Xingzhong Yu, Student Email Interview
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During the era of the Cultural Revolution, the People’s Daily issued an op-ed suggesting that the legal system should be ‘smashed.’ The political thought propagated at the time wholly rejected the very idea of rule of law and rights" -Eva Pils, Professor of Chinese Law at Hongkong University, in an email to the student
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