LONG JOURNEY: Judges with the court of Yunyang County in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality during a tour of local villages to hear cases on March 4 (XINHUA)

On March 12, Zhang Xuequn, President of the Higher People's Court of Yunnan Province and a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, proposed raising judges' salaries during a panel discussion of this year's NPC full session. Zhang said that he hopes the move could boost judges' morale and increase their enthusiasm for work.

The proposal is a response to the fact that a growing number of judges have left their positions in recent years, putting increasing pressure on the country's judicial system.

According to Mu Ping, President of the Higher People's Court of Beijing and also a deputy to the 12th NPC, more than 500 judges have resigned in Beijing over the past five years. "Many of them chose to become lawyers and others have gone on to government offices and enterprises," Mu said. "It is a great loss to the courts, because most of these judges have a lot of experience."

Mu cited the high pressure work environment, as well as the lack of competitive salaries and promotion opportunities, as the main causes. "We should work out solutions to this problem, creating favorable working conditions for judges and bolstering their sense of professional pride," he said.

A burdensome job

Early in May last year, a report issued by Beijing-based Renmin University of China revealed the problem of the loss of judges in primary-level courts.

Peng Xiaolong, an associate professor at the university's Law School and a major contributor to the report, said that the situation has become serious and posed a threat to the daily operation of primary-level courts. "With the development of society and the increasing legal awareness among ordinary citizens, more lawsuits are being filed at primary-level courts, greatly increasing their judges' workloads," Peng said.

The report said that the number of judges in China has tripled to 196,000 over the past 30 years, while the number of lawsuits each judge settles annually has jumped 13-fold.

Meanwhile, according to the Supreme People's Court, China's highest judicial organ, 5 percent of judges have quit their jobs before reaching the retirement age over the past 30 years.

Zhou Haibo, an NPC deputy from south China's Guangdong Province, confirmed the report's findings. His research shows that the number of cases handled by courts in Qingyuan, a small city in Guangdong, increased by 52.7 percent from 2008 to 2012, but the number of local judges and court staff dropped by about 8 percent.

"An ex-judge told me that she quit her job because she did not have enough time to spend with her kids on account of heavy workloads," Zhou said.

Lin Hui, a lawyer from Shenzhen in Guangdong, said that her office is located beside a court so she frequently sees court employees working late.

The situation in central China's Henan Province is the same. According to Song Xiaoxin, Director of the Political Department of the Yicheng District People's Court in Zhumadian City, the 31 judges in the court handled 3,292 civil cases in 2013, representing an average of 106 cases each.

Li Liuzhu is a judge at the Yicheng Court. According to him, he handled more than 130 cases last year. "I have worked at the court for 25 years. During my time, the most impressive thing I have witnessed is that the number of lawsuits keeps growing each year," Li said.

According to Li, in spite of rising workloads, there has been no corresponding increase in salaries. Li's salary is 3,110 yuan ($501) per month currently. "I cannot say the salary is not enough for me but it is fairly low compared to the burden," Li said.

In Shanghai, low incomes coupled with long working hours prompted 74 judges in primary-level courts to leave their posts in 2013, according to Cui Yadong, President of the Higher People's Court of Shanghai.