Lawyer Zhong Jinhua: Top Internet Figure of the First Day of 2012

• Author: China Law Digest compiled news

Zhong Jinhua holds a bachelor’s degree in laws from the Minzu University of China, a master’s degree in laws from the Zhejiang University. He is currently a partner at the Beijing Yingke (Shanghai) Law Firm, where he chairs the firm’s China-Taiwan Affairs Division.

Before beginning his career as a lawyer, Zhong Jinhua served as a judge in the Wenzhou City Intermediate People’s Court from 1998-2008, a work experience which he is extremely proud of, in light of his record for not having received a single complaint in relation to his judgments during the course of his time on the bench. In May, 2008, Zhong resigned from his position as the presiding judge of the Wenzhou City Intermediate People’s Court and moved to Shanghai. At first, he served as the leading in-house counsel of a Shanghai investment firm, and later in July, 2010, he became a partner at the Beijing Yingke (Shanghai) Law Firm.

Beginning from September, 2011, Zhong Jinhua shifted the focus of his concern from business law-related matters to legal affairs involving sensitive political issues. The first of such cases that he took up was the Nie Shubin case, followed by the Guangxi Beihai case, which made him more and more prominent in the legal community. But he became the “Top Internet Figure of the First Day of 2012” mainly because of his shocking microblog post posted on 31 December, 2011, in which he declared that “after the 18th Party Congress, if the authorities do not put an immediate end to the one-party rule and to press censorship, and if universal suffrage is not provided for, I will formally withdraw from the Communist Party and form a new political party, aiming at overthrowing the Communist Party’s dictatorial rule.”

Zhong Jinhua has expertise...