The Communist Judicial System in China, 1927-1976

Building on Fear

Qiang Fang

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Law
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040788578
• Subtopic: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
• Index: Law

Drawing on hundreds of newly released judicial archives and court cases, this book analyzes the communist judicial system in China from its founding period to the death of Mao Zedong. It argues that the communist judicial system was built when the CCP was engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the GMD, meaning that the overriding aim of the judicial system was, from the outset, to safeguard the Party against both internal and external adversaries. This fundamental insecurity and perennial fear of loss of power obsessed the Party throughout the era of Mao and beyond, prompting it to launch numerous political campaigns, which forced communist judicial cadres to choose between upholding basic legal norms and maintaining Party order. In doing all of this, The Communist Judicial System in China, 1927-1976: Building on Fear fills a major lacuna in our understanding of communist-era China.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• Dedication
• Acknowledgement
• Acronyms
• Introduction
• 1 Born in Blood Origin of the Communist Judicial System in China, 1927-1935
• 2 Cornerstone or Aberration? The Communist Judicial System during Wars with Japan and the GMD, 1936-1949
• 3 From “Excessive Lenience” to Harshness The Communist Judicial System in the Early PRC, 1949-1952
• 4 A Deliberate Purge Legal Reform in the Early PRC, 1952-1953
• 5 A Golden Age? The Communist Judicial System in China, 1953-May 1957
• 6 The Great Leap of Law The Communist Judicial System in China, 1957-1965
• 7 Not the Worst Period of Law The Communist Judicial System in the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
• Conclusion From Party’s Fear to People’s Fear
• Bibliography
• Index