Exercising Freedom of Speech behind the Great Firewall:A Study of Judges’ and Lawyers’ Blogs in China （Excerpts）

• Author: Anne SY Cheung

(In the blog posts) Those who criticized the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) seemed to arrive at their criticism in a roundabout way, taking plenty of time to discuss seemingly non-relevant issues. For instance, they talked about the problem of corruption, the style of a famous CCP leader in convening meetings, or the concept of legitimacy in Max Weber’s literature. Bloggers would often choose to offer advice midway or toward the end of their discussions, for example, suggesting that not tackling the problem of corruption satisfactorily would amount to a form of political suicide for the CCP.

In another example also analyzing the problem of corruption, one of Legal Knight’s posts attributes corruption to the fact that corrupt party members were disciplined not by courts, but by the CCP. In other words, the CCP had put itself above the law by rejecting accountability through the court system. In yet another piece written by Legal Knight on the issue of rule of law, he reiterated the argument that the CCP should abide by the constitution; but he was also cautious to point out that when Peng Zhen was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), he always started national meetings by reading aloud Article 57 of the Constitution, which states that the NCP is the highest legislative body in the country, and thereby implying that no one, including the CCP, should be above the law. Legal Knight’s reference to Peng’s...