Volume 36, Issue 1 2008 Article 9 SPRING 2008

　　A Bibliographic Guide to the Criminal Law Literature ofthe People''s Rebublic of China: 1949-2000


ZHAI JIANXIONG

　　Mr. Zhai presents a bibliographic guide listing the major sources of criminal law literature of the People''s Republic of China published during 1949-2000. The fifty year span is divided into three phases, eachcontaining a selective bibliography on criminal law representative ofacademic scholarship of the corresponding period.

　　Table of ContentsINTRODUCTIONESTABLISHMENT & INITIAL DEVELOPMENT PERIOD (1949-1957)


　 A. Summary of Criminal LegislationB. Research Works


　　DEPRESSION & STAGNATION PERIOD (1957-1976)


　 A. Summary of Research Work131B. Featured Research Results on CriminalC. Criminal Legislation·Zhai Jian-xiong, 2008. Associate research librarian in law in the legislativeservice department, the National Library of China, where he responds to theinformation requests from the national legislature, government, judiciary and citizens.

　　Zhai graduated from China University of Political Science & Law in 1991. He has aBachelor of Laws degree and has been active in introducing China''s legal informationto the world. In recent dozen years, he has published several English languagearticles on China law in journals and websites at home and abroad.2008]


　　RECOVERY & PROSPERITY PERIOD (1976-2000)A. The First Stage (1976.10-1988.3)B. The Second Stage (1988.3-1997.3)C. The Third Stage (1997-)INTRODUCTIONThe establishment of the People''s Republic of China (PRC) onOctober 1, 1949, not only turns over a new chapter in Chinese history,but also changes legal developments of the PRC. Criminal law is ascience that takes crime, punishment for criminal acts, criminalresponsibility and criminal legislation as subjects for academic research.

　　It has an intimate relationship with the overall science of law. Thus, it isappropriate to divide the development of the PRC''s criminal law in thesame manner that divides the science of law.

　　The work, Forty Years of PRC''s Legal Science: 1949-1989(Chang Yu-yü, Shang Hai People''s Press, 1989), is an authoritativestudy of the legal history of New China. It divides the legaldevelopment of the PRC into four phases: 1949-1956, a stage duringwhich the PRC''s science of law begins to emerge and develop. Thenext stage, 1957-1966, witnessed tortuous development in Chinese law.

　　Chinese legal sciences languished during the Cultural Revolution, whichlasted from 1966 to 1976. Finally, from 1977 to the present, Chineselaw recovered its vitality and began to develop vigorously.1Corresponding to the development of legal science, the scienceof criminal law has also gone through three stages as described in FiftyYears of New China''s Science of Criminal Law (Kao Ming-hsüan &Chao Ping-chih, China Fang Cheng Press, 2000). Each stage includesseveral phases.2 The first stage covers October 1949 to the first half of1957, which corresponds to the initial phase of development of criminallaw in the PRC. This stage can again be divided into two phases,1. Chang Yu-yü, Zhong guo fa xue si shi nian = chung kuo fa hsüeh ssu shihnien(Forty Years of PRC''s Legal Science). Shang Hai People''s Press, 1989 Ed., at 1-7.

　　2. Kao Ming-hsüan, Chao Ping-chih, Xin zhong guo xing fa xue wu shi nian =Hsin chung kuo hsing fa hsüeh wu shih nien (Fifty Years of New China''s Science ofCriminal Law), China Fang Cheng Press, 2000 Ed., at 3-42.

　　120 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL INFORMATION ［Vol. 36.1namely, the phase of foundation covering 1949 to 1953. The secondphase covers the period from 1954 to 1957; the second stage is theperiod starting from the second half year of 1957 to Oct. 1976. This isthe period of depression and stagnation for criminal law scienceresearch. This stage can also be fallen into two phases, namely, thedepression phase from 1957 to 1965, and the stagnation stage from 1966to 1976, which was enveloped by the “Great Cultural Revolution”. Thethird stage is the period of recovery and prosperity of criminal lawscience beginning from 1977, which also includes two phases, therecovery phase from 1977 to 1978 and prosperity phase beginning from1979. In each stage the emphasis of research and legislation on criminallaw is varied from one to another based on the variation of socialpolitical and economic conditions. Parallel to these changes the researchliteratures on criminal law science published in each stage also presentmore or less in quantity.

　　ESTABLISHMENT AND INITIAL DEVELOPMENT PERIOD (1949-1957)China is the first country in the world to produce a writtencriminal code, and studies on aspects of criminal law and its socialfunctions have long been valued by the rulers of dynasties in China''sdifferent historical periods. As a tool safeguarding the existing socialrelations, criminal law has also attracted much attention from theCommunist Party of China (CPC).

　　In February of 1949 - on the eve of the founding of the NewChina - the CPC issued an inner-party directive titled Guan yu fei chuguo min dang liu fa quan shu yu que ding jie fang qu de si fa yuan ze dezhi shi = kuan yü fei ch''u kuo min tang te liu fa ch‘üan shu ho ch’üehting chieh fang ch‘ü ssu fa yüan tse te chih shih (Instruction on theAbrogation of Kuomintang''s Six Code and Establishment of JudicialPrinciple of Liberation Are).3 This edict stresses that the people''sjudicial work shall not continue to operate on the basis of Kuomintang''sSix Code, but that it would be based on a new people''s law.

　　3. Han Yen-lung, Ch''ang chao-ju, Zhong guo xin min zhu zhu yi ge ming shi qigen ju di fa zhi wen xian xuan bian = Chung kuo hsin min chu chu i ko ming shih ch''iken chü ti fa chih wen hsien hsüan pien (Selection on the Legal Documents ofRevolutionary Base Areas During the Period of China''s New-DemocraticRevolution), Volume 1. China''s Social Science Press, 1984 Ed., at 85-87.

　　2008］ ZHAI JIANXIONG 121In September of 1949, the Chinese People''s PoliticalConsultative Conference announced the Zhong guo ren min zheng zhixie shang hui yi gong tong gang ling = Chung kuo jen min cheng chihhsieh shang hui i kung t''ung kang ling (The Common Program of theChinese People''s Political Consultative Conference)4, which wasconsidered to be the provisional constitution of the new PRC. Itdeclares explicitly that all the laws, decrees and judicial systems thatoppressed the people under the Kuomintang''s government wereabolished. It enacted laws protecting the people and setting up apeople''s judicial system. These legal documents opened vast newfrontiers for research of criminal law in the PRC. From then on,criminal law scholars and criminal justice professionals have workedlong and hard to build up, develop and perfect the PRC''s criminaljudicial system.

　　Summary of Criminal LegislationThis is a very important historical period for criminal law in thePRC. Beginning with criticism of older notions of criminal law,absorbing and making reference to theores of criminal law in the formerSoviet Union, Chinese criminal law scholars began to probe intodistinctly Chinese contexts of criminal law. They created a solidfoundation for the subsequent study of criminal law. This period can bedivided into two phases:

　　· From 1949 to 1953 - notable for the establishment of thePRC''s science of criminal law. This period wascharacterized by a negation of “Old China''s” criminal lawand imitated the criminal law of the former Soviet Union.5· From 1954 to 1956 - known as the “Golden Age”6 in thehistory of the PRC''s criminal law science. In this phase,4. Commission of Legal Affairs of the Central People''s Government, Zhong yangren min zheng fu fa ling hui bian = Chung yang jen min cheng fu fa ling hui pien(Collection of Decrees of the Central People''s Government: volume 1949-1950), LawPress, 1982 Ed., at 17-27.

　　5 On July 25, 1950, the Zhong hua ren min gong he guo xing fa da gang cao an =Chung hua jen min kung ko kuo hsing fa ta kang ts''ao an ［Program of Criminal Lawof the People''s Republic of China (draft)］5was completed by a group of experts incriminal law organized by the Commission of Legal Affairs of the Central People''sGovernment, which marks the beginning of new China''s study work on criminal law.