Today, disseminating the general knowledge of law has become a common act of the whole society. Since the 16th National Congress of the CPC was held in 2002, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has held more than 20 study sessions in relation to the rule of law, which have played an exemplary role for the whole society, especially for civil servants, in studying the law and fostering the concept of the rule of law. The Standing Committee of the NPC, the executive meeting of the State Council and the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have held a number of meetings to study the law. It has become a system for Party and government organizations at all levels to organize collective law study sessions. Various activities for popularizing the knowledge of law have been organized by the state. December 14, the day when the present Constitution was promulgated, is celebrated as Chinese law publicity day. Legal publicity has also become a focus on the March 15 International Day for Protecting Consumers' Rights, the June 5 World Environment Day, the June 26 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, as well as on days marking the promulgation of important laws and regulations. Schools of different types at all levels have brought law education into required courses. The media, including radio, television, newspapers and the net, have all enhanced their efforts in law publicity. At present, over 300 TV stations at provincial and municipal levels have started programs on the law. Some places have also launched websites for law publicity and education.

The state attaches great importance to law education. In the early years of the People's Republic of China, the Central Government established the Beijing Institute of Political Science and Law, the East China Institute of Political Science and Law, the South Central Institute of Political Science and Law, the Southwest Institute of Political Science and Law, and the Northwest Institute of Political Science and Law, as well as departments of law in such comprehensive universities as Renmin University of China, Northeast People's University, Peking University and Fudan University in line with a uniform national plan. Thus, law education in China developed into a considerable scale. Since the introduction of the reform and opening-up policies in 1978, law education in China has entered a period of rapid development. By the end of 2006, some 603 institutions of higher learning had offered bachelor's degrees in law, with nearly 300,000 students majoring in law. In addition, some 333 institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes were entitled to confer master's degrees in law, 29 were entitled to confer doctorates in law, and 13 law education institutions had launched mobile stations for postdoctoral law studies. After nearly 30 years' restoring, rebuilding, reforming and developing efforts, a law education system has taken shape and it focuses on bachelor, master and doctorate education and combines the education of law majors and vocational education in law, basically satisfying the needs to build a modern socialist country.

VIII. International Exchange and Cooperation in Legal Construction

China upholds that the practice in regard to the rule of law should proceed from the country's actual conditions. At the same time, it pays attention to draw on other countries' valuable experience in legal construction and the achievements in legal civilization made by mankind to enrich and improve the socialist legal civilization with Chinese characteristics.

China pays attention to making reference to and learning from other countries' experience in legislation. In the field of civil and commercial legislation, the General Principles of the Civil Law, the Property Rights Law and the Contract Law have adopted the basic systems of both common law countries and continental law countries, used the spirit of the private law and legislation principles applicable throughout the world, confirmed the liberty of contract, autonomy of the will and subject equality, and safeguarded both public property and legitimate private property of citizens. In the field of administrative legislation, China has adopted the principle of trust protection and the principle of proportionality applicable in modern administrative law. In the field of criminal legislation, the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law have consulted and adopted the basic principles and spirits of other countries, including punishments determined by law and open trials. In recent years, in view of the new development in criminal offences and consulting foreign experience in criminal legislation, China has prescribed new charges in its criminal laws, such as the crime of financially aiding terrorist activities, the crime of money laundering, the crime of insider trading, the crime of manipulating trading prices of futures and securities, and the crime of impairing credit card administration. Regarding legislation for the protection of intellectual property rights and environmental protection, China has also learned much from foreign experience.

China has established relations of equal and mutually beneficial judicial cooperation with many countries and international organizations, accepting and adopting judicial cooperation regulations common throughout the world. Up to October 2007, China had signed 98 bilateral treaties and agreements on international judicial cooperation with 53 countries, and joined over 20 multilateral international conventions that include provisions of judicial cooperation. In 2001, China signed the Shanghai Convention Against Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism with other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China joined the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and UN Anti-Corruption Convention in 2003 and 2005, respectively, thus enhancing judicial cooperation in combating crimes. China also promotes international exchange in the enforcement of law in various forms, including international meetings. In 1990 and 2005, it hosted the 14th and 22nd International Law Congress, respectively. In 2006, the International Anti-Corruption Conference was held in China.

China pays great attention to turning international judicial cooperation into concrete operational rules by way of domestic legislation. The Civil Procedure Law rules that, when there is discrepancy between domestic laws and regulations and international treaties acceded or joined by China, the people's court gives priority to the stipulations of international treaties in handling foreign-related civil cases. It also prescribes the principles, conditions and procedures for judicial administration and assistance in foreign-related cases. The Civil Procedure Law sets the principles of international treaty relationships and mutual benefit as the base for Chinese judicial organs to conduct judicial assistance in foreign-related cases. The Extradition Law draws on the universally applicable principles of the world for extradition cooperation to decide the concrete rules, conditions and procedures for extradition cooperation between China and other countries. At present, a growing trend has appeared in the number of judicial assistance cases handled by the competent Chinese authorities in accordance with bilateral treaties and multilateral conventions, and large numbers of requests for civil and commercial judicial assistance have been implemented effectively, safeguarding the rights and interests of both foreign and domestic litigants. In the field of criminal litigation, international judicial cooperation has been playing a more and more important role. In the last decade, China has carried out effective criminal judicial cooperation with some countries and international organizations, focusing on the crimes of murder, embezzlement, bribery, terrorism, infringement of intellectual property rights and money laundering, in offering mutual help to gather evidence, freeze, seize and recover illegally transferred proceeds of crime, and extradite and repatriate suspects on the run. These have effectively safeguarded the judicial justice.

In recent years, China has held dialogues on the rule of law regularly with the United Nations, international human rights organizations and the WTO, and launched multilateral and bilateral legal exchange mechanisms with the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia, greatly enhancing mutual understanding and trust.

Conclusion

China is the largest developing country in the world. It is, and will be, in the primary stage of socialism for a long time to come. China's legal construction is still facing some problems: The development of democracy and the rule of law still falls short of the needs of economic and social development; the legal framework shows certain characteristics of the current stage and calls for further improvement; in some regions and departments, laws are not observed, or strictly enforced, violators are not brought to justice; local protectionism, departmental protectionism and difficulties in law enforcement occur from time to time; some government functionaries take bribes and bend the law, abuse their power when executing the law, abuse their authority to override the law, and substitute their words for the law, thus bringing damage to the socialist rule of law; and the task still remains onerous to strengthen education in the rule of law, and enhance the awareness of law and the concept of the rule of law among the public.

The great practice of socialist legal construction has made the Chinese people realize that the following principles must be observed to carry out the fundamental policy of governing the country by law: adhering to the leadership of the CPC, the people as the masters and ruling the country by law, ensuring that the CPC always plays the role as the core of leadership in directing the overall situation and coordinating the efforts of all quarters in legal construction, ensuring the people's position as masters of the country according to prescriptions of the Constitution and the law, and making sure that all work is carried on according to law; persevering in focusing on both construction and the rule of law, continuously improving the legal system in the light of the objective needs of economic and social development, and making legal construction serve economic and social development as well as the construction of a harmonious society; striving for rooting the legal construction in the reality of Chinese society, drawing on valuable foreign experience for reference while basing our efforts on China's actual conditions without copying indiscriminately other countries' legal systems or political mechanisms; and persisting in basing legal construction on institutional building and enhancing the public's awareness of the rule of law, and unremittingly enhancing the level of legal civilization of the whole society.

In this new century, China will uphold the scientific outlook on development, focus on perfecting legislation, strict enforcement of the law, impartial administration of justice, and conscious observation of the law to implement the fundamental policy of governing the country by law in an all-round way and quicken the tempo of building a socialist country under the rule of law. By strengthening and improving legislation work, we will further improve the quality of legislation to form as soon as possible a more comprehensive socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. By strengthening the implementation of the Constitution and the law, we will safeguard people's legitimate rights and interests and social justice, and defend the uniformity, dignity and authority of the socialist legal system. By enhancing the supervision over law enforcement, we will guarantee the proper operation of power, ensure that power must be linked to responsibility and under supervision, and offenders must be prosecuted. By carrying out intensive publicity of the law and education in the law, we will further enhance the awareness of law and the concept of the rule of law among the public, and develop a social atmosphere of consciously studying, observing and applying the law.

The Chinese people are now going all out to build a well-off society in all aspects. Along with the sound and rapid development of the economy and society, the rights and interests of the Chinese people will certainly enjoy better protection, the construction of a socialist country under the rule of law will certainly witness more fruitful results, and China will surely make more contributions to the development and advancement of human society.

Appendix

List of Current Effective Laws of the People's Republic of China (229)

I. Constitution and the Constitution-Related Legislation (39)

1. Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1982)

Amendments to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1988)

Amendments to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1993)

Amendments to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1999)

Amendments to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (2004)

2. Organic Regulations of Urban Sub-District Offices (1954)

3. Organic Law of the People's Republic of China on the Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments (1979, revised respectively in 1982, 1986, 1995 and 2004)

4. Electoral Law of the People's Republic of China on the National People's Congress and the Local People's Congresses (1979, revised respectively in 1982, 1986, 1995 and 2004)

5. Organic Law of the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China (1979, revised respectively in 1983, 1986 and 2006)

6. Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates of the People's Republic of China (1979, revised respectively in 1983 and 1986)

7. Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China (1980)

8. Organic Law of the People's Republic of China on the National People's Congress (1982)

9. Organic Law of the People's Republic of China on the State Council (1982)

10. Provisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the Direct Election of Deputies to People's Congresses at or Below the County Level (1983)

11. Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy (1984, revised in 2001)

12. Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the Establishment of Maritime Courts in Coastal Port Cities (1984)

13. Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities (1986)

14. Rules of Procedures of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (1987)

15. Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Approving the "Provisions on Conferring Honorary Medals of the People's Liberation Army on Retired Officers Who Joined the Army Before the Founding of New China for Their Meritorious Service" (1988)

Annex: Provisions on Conferring Honorary Medals of the People's Liberation Army on Retired Officers Who Joined the Army Before the Founding of New China for Their Meritorious Service

16. Rules of Procedures of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (1989)

17. Law of the People's Republic of China on Assemblies, Processions and Demonstrations (1989)

18. Organic Law of the People's Republic of China on Urban Neighborhood Committees (1989)

19. The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (1990)

Annex I: Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Annex II: Method for the Formation of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Its Voting Procedures

Annex III: National Laws to Be Applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

20. Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Flag (1990)

21. Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Consular Privileges and Immunities (1990)

22. Law of the People's Republic of China on the Procedure of the Conclusion of Treaties (1990)

23. Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Emblem (1991)

24. Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zones (1992)

25. Law of the People's Republic of China on Deputation to the National People's Congress and the Local People's Congresses at Various Levels (1992)

26. The Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (1993)

Annex I: Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region

Annex II: Method for the Formation of the Legislative Council of the Macao Special Administrative Region

Annex III: National Laws to Be Applied in the Macao Special Administrative Region

27. State Compensation Law of the People's Republic of China (1994)

28. Judges Law of the People's Republic of China (1995, revised in 2001)

29. Public Procurators Law of the People's Republic of China (1995, revised in 2001)

30. Martial Law of the People's Republic of China (1996)

31. Electoral Measures on Deputation of the People's Liberation Army to the National People's Congress and the Local People's Congresses at the County and Above Levels (1981, revised and changed to the current title in 1996)

32. Law of the People's Republic of China on the Garrisoning of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1996)

33. Law of the People's Republic of China on Exclusive Economic Zones and Continental Shelves (1998)

34. Organic Law of the People's Republic of China on Villagers Committees (1998)

35. Law of the People's Republic of China on the Garrisoning of the Macao Special Administrative Region (1999)

36. Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China (2000)

37. Anti-Secession Law (2005)

38. Law of the People's Republic of China on Immunity of Judicial Enforcement of Assets of Central Banks of Foreign Countries (2005)

39. Supervision Law of the Standing Committees of the People's Congresses at All Levels of the People's Republic of China (2006)

II. Civil and Commercial Legislation (32)

1. Law of the People's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures (1979, revised respectively in 1990 and 2001)

2. Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (1980, revised in 2001)

3. Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (1982, revised respectively in 1993 and 2001)

4. Patent Law of the People's Republic of China (1984, revised respectively in 1992 and 2000)

5. Succession Law of the People's Republic of China (1985)

6. General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China (1986)