Journal of Criminal Law and CriminologyVolume 68Issue 3 September Article 3

Fall 1977

Criminal Punishment in Mainland China: A Studyof Some Yunnan Province DocumentsHungdah Chiu

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Recommended CitationHungdah Chiu, Criminal Punishment in Mainland China: A Study of Some Yunnan Province Documents, 68 J. Crim. L. &Criminology 374 (1977)

THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGYCopyright 0 1977 by Northwestern University School of Law

CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT IN MAINLAND CHINA:A STUDY OF SOME YUNNAN PROVINCE DOCUMENTS

HUNGDAH CHIU*

INTRODUCTION

In an era of information explosion, one ofthe most serious problems for doing researchis to find enough time to search and to digestvoluminous materials. A student of Chineselaw fortunately does not have to face this prob-lem. He does, however, face a more frustratingproblem: the lack of sufficient information orresearch materials concerning legal develop-ments in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Since the outbreak of the Cultural Revolutionin 1966, almost no scholarly writings on lawhave appeared in the PRC. The only PRC lawjournal, Cheng-fa yen-chiu (Studies in Politicsand Law), ceased to appear in mid-1966. 1 Theofficial PRC compilation of laws and decrees,Chung-hua jen-min kung-ho-kuo fa-kuei hui-pien(Collection of Laws and Decrees of the PRC),has not appeared since 1964, after thirteenvolumes covering the period 1954-1963. Sincethe reopening of the PRC to foreign visitors inthe early 1970's, thousands of foreigners havevisited the PRC. Despite the voluminous publi-cations arising out of these visits, there havebeen only a few reports on the law in thePRC.2 While a few visitors did interview somejudicial cadres or law professors and acquiredsome interesting and useful information con-cerning PRC law,3 they were not generallyallowed to see the courts in criminal trial, theprisons, or legal education classes in the uni-

* Professor of Law, University of Maryland Schoolof Law.

I Two other law journals, HUA-TUNG CHENG-FA

HSUEN-PAO (East China Journal on Politics and Law)and FA-HSDJEH (Science of Law), ceased to publishlong before the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution.

2 See, e.g., Cheng Huan, Law in China: Will thePeople Please Take the Stand?, 75 FAR EASTERN ECON.REV. 14 (1972); Cohen, Chinese Law: At the Crossroads,59 A.B.A.J. 42 (1973); and Crockett, CriminalJusticein China, 59JUDIcATuRE 240 (1975). These are amongthe few reports on law in mainland China.

See, e.g., Ruge, An Interview with Chinese LegalOfficials, 1975 CHINA Q. 118 (No. 61) and Lamb, AnInterview with Chinese Legal Officials, 1976 CHINA Q.323 (No. 66).

versities. Except for a Canadian hockey team, 4

none of the visitors appeared to have acquiredany legal document or law teaching materialsin the course of their visits. In the academiccircle, although a course on Chinese law isbeing offered at six or more American lawschools,5 there have been only a few articles onpost-1966 PRC law and almost none of thesepapers has resorted to recent PRC legal docu-ments .6

Recently I have acquired a number of post-1966 PRC legal documents from varioussources. These documents include court judg-ments, decisions rendered by the People's Lib-eration Army (PLA), reports on crimes issuedby local revolutionary committees or publicsecurity organs, and others. An analysis ofthese documents, together with informationgathered from foreign visitors, former resi-dents of the PRC, and other sources, shouldprovide a general picture of criminal justice inthe PRC, although conclusions derived from astudy limited to these limited sources must, toa certain extent, be tentative. This article at-tempts to use the above-stated sources to studyan important aspect of the PRC's criminal jus-tice: the types of anti-social acts which the PRCconsiders to be criminal and the types of sanc-tions imposed on offenders. In order to makethis analysis more incisive, I have limited the

4 The team sighted a judicial judgment posted ona wall in Harbin, northern Manchuria, and the casewas later noted in the New York Times. See Burns,Racketeers Prey on China Systems, N.Y. Times Jan. 28,1974, at 5 col. 1. For a partial translation of thisjudgment, see Hungdah Chiu, The Judicial SystemUnder the New PRC Constitution, in THE NEW CONSTI-TUTION OF COMMUNIST CHINA: COMPARATIVE ANAL-YsIs 113-14 (M. Lindsay ed. 1976).

Harvard, Columbia, University of Maryland,Washington University (St. Louis), University of Cal-ifornia at Berkeley and Stanford.

6 The only article which deals with post-1966 PRClaw in significant length is Tao-tai Hsia, The TenthParty Congress and Future Developments of Law in China,in HOUSE COMM. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SINO-SOvIET

CONFLICT-JAPAN AND THE OIL CRISIS, IN HEARINGSBEFORE SUB-COMM. ON ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS,

93 Cong., 1st & 2d Sess. 390 (1973-74).

Vol. 68, No. 3Printed in U.S.A.

CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT IN MAINLAND CHINA

use of PRC documents to those which comefrom Yunnan Province in the southwest partof China. All PRC documents analyzed in thisarticle have been verified as authentic by for-mer residents of the PRC and, whenever possi-ble, by former residents of Yunnan Province.

CRIME IN THE PRC

Until very recently,7 there have been veryfew reports on crimes in the PRC and somevisitors, conducted on guided tours, have evenobtained the impression that the PRC has gen-erally solved one of the most serious socialproblems facing all societies-crime. An Amer-ican judge, after visiting the PRC in 1975,expressed the view that "in this new society [ofthe PRC] ... serious crime is a rarity, juveniledelinquency nearly nonexistent and lawyersvirtually unnecessary."'8 In response to ques-tions concerning crime in China, submitted bythis judge and members of his group, somelaw professors at Peking University explainedthe reasons for the low crime rate in the follow-ing terms:

Crime is an expression of the existence of theclass struggle. So long as classes exist in a societythere will be crime.

In old China crime was a very serious prob-lem. There were gangs, robbery, prostitution,opium, etc. But the reforms brought about byour socialist society have changed all of this andcrime has been greatly reduced because thepeople feel more secure. There still are somecrimes, but for the most part they are counter-revolutionary cases involving persons who havebeen influenced by the exploiting class's ideasf

While the above observation and the infor-mation gathered from a visit to the PRC areuseful in studying Chinese law, one must real-ize the limitations involved in such resources.Professor Robert A. Scalpino has said concern-ing the value of visitors' reports in Chinese

7 See, e.g., Munro, Hints of Unease and IndisciplineAppear in China, N.Y. Times, July 26, 1976, at 1, col.3; Butterfield, Robbers of China Bank Seem to be FolkHeroes, N.Y. Times, Aug. 23, 1976, at 1, col. 1; andChina: The Breakdown, NEWSWEEK, Sept. 6, 1976, at26. After the devastating earthquake that rocked theTang-shan area in north China in August 1976, theauthoritative Jen-min jih-pao (People's Daily) dis-dosed in an editorial of September 2, 1976 thatlooting occurred after the earthquakes. See PekingDiscloses Looting Occurred After Earthquake, N.Y.Times, Sept. 3, 1976, at A3, col. 1.

8 Crockett, supra note 2, at 247.9 Id. at 246.

studies:

[a] trip to the People's Republic of China can behighly misleading under certain conditions, andit is my personal conviction that the accounts ofsome returnees have beeii marked either by anextraordinary naivit6 or deeply rooted commit-ments. To be sure, one's response to what onesees, in China or elsewhere, is particularly gov-erned by one's personal, political and culturalbiases, and none of us can free ourselves totallyfrom such biases. It is always hazardous, more-over, for the totally uninitiated to take anymanaged trip.O Yet I strongly disagree withthose who regard a trip to the People's Republicas meaningless for the American scholars. Ifapproached with seriousness and some rigor inpreparation, it can be an important learningexperience, and valuable for certain specificresearch purposes, albeit, in no sense a substi-tute for the other research sources [such asoriginal primary source materials representedby Communist journals, newspapers, leaflets,and party directives and resolutions, and inter-views]."

The assertion that crime is no longer a seri-

ous social problem in China is certainly not

true. In many places open to foreign visitors,one sees barred windows, walls with spikes onthe top, crops guarded by barbed wire, and

watchmen on duty; bicycles, the most common

means of transportation, are always lockedwhen parked. These precautions all indicate

that some Chinese, having failed to be trans-

formed into Mao Tse-tung's New Man, do stealfrom each other. Other evidence of crime in

the PRC comes from official PRC documents,local broadcasts, court judgments or other legal

documents smuggled out of China, observationby sharp foreign visitors12 and information sup-

plied by former residents. The types of crimes

10 No foreigners, including diplomats, can freely

travel in China. See 2 J. COHEN & HUNGDAH CHIU,PEOPLE'S CHINA AND INTERNATIONAL LAw: A Docu-MENTARY STUDY 1017 (1974). See also Adie, Pilgrims toChina, 10 CHINA REPORT 15 (1974).

n Scalapino, The Study of Chinese Communism: AnAmerican Political Scientist's View, in PROCEEDINGS OFTHE THIRD SINo-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON MAIN-

LAND CHINA 69 (Chan Lien ed. 1974). The paper issummarily reported inA Trip to China Can Be Mislead-ing, 22 ASIAN STUDENT 1 (No. 7, 1973).

1 2 See, e.g., Burns, supra note 4. In his visit to the

PRC in the summer of 1976, Professor Ramon H.Myers of Stanford University also saw two posters ina city in Kirin Province reporting criminal activities,mostly murder cases. Letter of Professor Myers tothe author (Nov. 5, 1976).

1977]

HUNGDAH CHIU

disclosed in this manner include murder, rape,robbery, bribery, theft, black marketeering,speculating, faking official seals or documents,illegal selling of food or cloth coupons, adul-tery, counterrevolutionary activities, and manyothers.

Juvenile or youth offenders (between theages of sixteen and twenty-five) constitute asignificant portion of criminal offenders in thePRC. One of the main reasons for this dispro-portionate number of youth offenders is MaoTse-tung's Hsia-fang policy of sending edu-cated youths to settle in the rural or frontierarea. This policy has met with stiff resistance

by the youth, and some of them have escapedto the cities and resorted to criminal activitiesto maintain their living. The situation is de-scribed by a Western reporter as follows:

Many of the youths sent to the countryside havereportedly found it difficult to settle down inthe far less comfortable circumstances of thecommune ....

If reassignment to the countryside were for alimited period only, desertions might not havebecome so numerous. But for most of the set-tlers, the only authorized way back to the citiesis by admission to a university, which is limitedto a tiny minority.

There are no official figures on desertions, butone estimate is that there are in Peking as manyas 50,000 who have fled the communes, out of atotal of about one million young people fromPeking who have been sent to the countryside ....

Without money and the coupons needed topurchase cotton, meat, fuel and cooking oil, thebasic means of subsistence is denied to thedefectors unless they can pursuade their parentsor someone else to take them in. But this isrisky in a society where neighbors often considerit their duty to inform the authorities of suchviolations.

Consequently, defectors from the resettlementprogram are believed to be responsible for asizable part of the current street crime. 13

Other reports indicate that some youngwomen who sneak back to the cities from thecountryside even engage in prostitution.

14

11 Burns, Street Crime Up in Chinese Cities, N.Y.Times, Jan. 11, 1974, at 7, col. 1.

14 See, e.g., a Reuters report from Canton, Aug.21, 1973, where a foreign visitor saw a court noticesentencing a woman to five years labor reform forrunning a prostitution business. Min Pao (Bright

In addition to crimes commited by the youthsent down to the countryside who sneak backto the cities-the so called "black person orblack household," i.e., officially non-existentpersons in the cities-several recent PRC docu-ments have revealed the existence of a signifi-cant number of criminal acts committed byjuveniles or youths below the age of twenty-five. Among these documents, the most reveal-ing one is a Yunnan Province document enti-tled "Severely Strike at the Destructive Activitiesof Counterrevolutionary and Various CriminalElements" issued in March 1973.15 With respectto juvenile or youth criminals, the documentstated:

In 1971 and 1972, the whole region of [Shih-mao]16 handled XXX cases of juvenile or youthoffenders between the ages of 16 and 25. Theyconstitute about 14% of the total offenders han-dled. The peculiar aspects of these juvenile oryouth offenders are as follows:

1. [Some of them] came from families of theexploiting class and they resisted thought re-form, persisted in a reactionary stand, showedhostilities toward our party and the socialistsystem, and engaged in various criminal activ-ites. Some engaged in current counterrevolu-tionary activities; some escaped abroad andjoined the enemy camp by participating inAmerican-Chiang special agent organization;some engaged in theft, hooliganism, rape andother criminal activities....

Daily), Aug. 2, 1973 (Hong Kong). See also M. London& I. London, Prostitution in Hong Kong, Excerpts fromInterview Protocols, CHINA NEws ANALYSIS, July 9,1976 (No. 1046) (Hong Kong). A recent traveler'sreport said a notice in Changsha, Hunan Provinceannounced the execution of a woman accused ofprostitution. China Said to Execute Man Who DefacedWall Poster, N.Y. Times, Nov. 15, 1976, at 5, col 1.

15 CHIEN-CHOEH TA-CHI FAN-KE-MING HO KO-

CHUNG HSING-SHIH FAN-TSUI FENG-TZU TI P'O-HUAI

HUO-TUNG (Internal propaganda materials on lawand discipline), published jointly by the MilitaryControl Committee over the Public Security Organof Shih-mao Region, Yunnan Province, PLA and thePeople's Protection Section of the Shih-mao RegionRevolutionary Committee, Yunnan Province (Mar.1973) [hereinafter cited as Y-VIII]. Photocopy cf thedocument in my personal file.

16 This region consists of five counties and fourautonomous counties; it is not clear how many peoplereside in this region. The Yunnan Province as awhole consists of 106 counties with a total populationof about 20 million. See I-CHIU-CH'I-SHIH CHUNG-

KUNG NIEN-PAO (Yearbook on Chinese Communism)1-48 (1974).

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CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT IN MAINLAND CHINA

2. [Some] gave up thought reform and forgottheir [class origin] and thus changed their classcharacter. At the beginning, they showed dissat-isfaction with the party and the socialist system,then gradually [degenerated into) engaging incurrent counterrevolutionary activities....

3. [Some] craved for easy living and dislikedlaboring, indulged themselves in comfortablelife, and embezzled state's and collective's prop-erty....

4. [Many homicide cases were committed bythese juvenile or youth offenders.] Some com-mitted robbery and murder because of theirgreed for money; some killed a person becauseof an adultery dispute; some killed their wifebecause they [had an affair] with anotherwoman; some are morally degenerated and[even] killed their parents . . .17

The same document also discloses an inter-

esting phenomenon in Yunnan Province: the

existence of illegal planting, smoking, or selling

of opium. It even mentions the existence of a

criminal gang engaged in opium trade.' 8

Another Yunnan Province document is en-

titled "Severely Strike at the Criminal Activities

Undermining the [Program] of Sending Edu-

cated Youth to the Mountain Area or Country-

side" issued on September 26, 1973.19 This

document discloses the existence of many sex-

ual offenses against young women sent down

to the countryside. 20 This phenomenon may

partially explain why some young women made

every effort to sneak back to the cities.

THE DEFINITION OF CRIMINAL ACTS IN THE

PRC

While crime remains a serious social problemin the PRC, there is no criminal code; there

17 Y-VIII,supra note 15, at 12-13.18 Id. at 10-11.'9 CHIEN-CHiJEH TA-CHI P'O-HUAI CHIH-SHIH CH'ING-

NIEN SHANG-SHAN HSIA-HSIANG TI FAN-TSUI HUO-

TUNG, published by the People's Protection Sectionof the Revolutionary Committee of Te-hung Auton-omous Chou for T'ai Nationality and Ch'ing-p'oNationality, Yunnan Province (Sept. 26, 1973) [here-inafter cited as Y-IX]. A not very literal translationunder the tide Deal a Hard Blow to the Crimes Under-mining the Program of Sending Educated Youths to RuralAreas appears in 11 IssuES & STUD. 111-15 (No. 3,1974). (The date that appeared in this translationwas mistakenly printed as Apr. 26, 1974).

20 A Tientsin Court judgment of Aug. 5, 1973,also revealed a number of sexual offenses committedagainst female youths sent down to the countryside.For a partial translation of the judgment, see Hung-dah Chiu,supra note 4, at 111-12.

are only a few special criminal statutes dealingwith special types of offenses.21 On May 13,1974, a German correspondent, Grerd Ruge,was able to interview five members of theKwangtung Institute of Law and Political Sci-ence. They explained to him how the courtscan handle cases in the absence of a code.They said:

There is in the country now no published codebut we have individual regulations concerningspecial penalties. For example, regulations con-cerning penalties against counterrevolution-aries.

If the case is not covered by one of the specialregulations we deal with it according to the

policy of the Party.'

Although there is no "published code,"information gathered from interviews does in-dicate the existence of unpublished regulationsdefining murder, rape, arson, and many othercommon crimes and setting forth the maximumand minimum penalties for each.2 4 Despitesearches in libraries and research institutionsin Hong Kong, the republic of China on Tai-wan, Japan, and the United States, the authorhas been unable to obtain any copies of theseregulations. Their contents remain a mystery.

In view of the above stated situation, onecannot be certain of what types of acts consti-tute criminal offenses in the PRC, and of thepunishment attached to each type of offense.In the following, I have attempted to summa-rize the facts, charges and punishment imposed

21 There are only three major criminal statutes,namely: (1) Act of the PRC for Punishment of Coun-terrevolutionaries (promulgated on Feb. 21, 1951),(2) Act of the PRC for Punishment of Corruption(promulgated on Apr. 21, 1952); and (3) ProvisionalAct for Punishment of Crimes that Endanger StateCurrency. The first two Acts were translated in J.COHEN, THE CRIMINAL PROCESS IN THE PEOPLE'S

REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 1949-1963: AN INTRODUCTION

299-302, 308-11 (1968).m Ruge,supra note 3, at 119.2 According to the Kung Mingjih pao (Enlighten-

ment Daily), Nov. 24, 1956, the Law Section of theStanding Committee of the National People's Con-gress was about to complete a draft criminal code atthat time. The draft code is divided into two parts,General Principles and Parts, and altogether contains14 chapters with 261 articles.

24 See COHEN, supra note 21, at 317. Interviews alsoindicate that Party guidelines or instructions weresometimes issued to change the minimum or maxi-mum penalties provided in the unpublished regula-tions.

1977]

HUNGDAH CHIU

on selected cases taken from a number ofYunnan Province documents in order to findout the types of offenses recognized in thePRC. For convenience of presentation, thestudy is presented in TABLE I. Some of thedocuments are presented as well in the appen-dix.

" Abbreviation of Source Materials:YI = Translated in Document 1 of this pa-

per.YII = Notice of the Chinese PLA Military

Control Committee Over the PublicSecurity Organ, the Procuracy, andthe Court of Kunming City, YunnanProvince, March 14, 1970.

YIII = Notice of the Chinese PLA MilitaryControl Committee (Section) over thePublic Security Organ, the Procuracy,and the Court of Hsi-hsuan-pan-naChou and Ching-hung County, [Yun-nan Province], [Chou is an administra-tive unit somewhat equivalent to acounty in the minority area of a prov-ince] Jan. 26, 1971.

YIII* = Those parts of YIII which have beentranslated in Document 2.

YIV = Notice of the Chinese PLA MilitaryControl Unit over the Public SecurityOrgan, the Procuracy, and the Courtof P'an-lung Borough, Kunming City,Feb. 12, 1971.

YV = Notice of the Chinese PLA MilitaryControl Committee over Public Secu-rity Organs of Shih-mao Region, Yun-nan Province, Feb. 11, 1972.

YVI = Notice of the Chinese PLA MilitaryControl Unit over the Public SecurityOrgan of Meng-lien County, YunnanProvince, Aug. 8, 1972. Part of thisnotice is translated in Hungdah Chiu,supra note 4, at 108-10.

YVII = Notice of the Chinese PLA MilitaryControl Committee over the PublicSecurity Organ of Shih-mao Region,Yunnan Province, Mar. 5, 1973. Thisnotice is printed in Y-VIII, supra note15, at 3-5.

YVIII = See footnote 15.YIX = See footnote 19.YX = Notice of Jui-li People's Court, Sept.

22, 1974.YX* = These parts of YX have been trans-

lated in Document 4.YXI = Translated in Document 3.YXII = Notice of Bureau of Public Security

of Yunnan Province, High People'sCourt of Yunnan Province, [and] Rev-olutionary Committee of KunmingRailway Bureau (Apr. 14, 1975). A notvery literal translation appears in 11IsSUES & STUD. 78-84 (No. 11, 1975).

Examination of TABLE I shows that exceptfor the counterrevolutionary charges (ItemXII), which are governed by the 1951 Act ofthe PRC for Punishment of Counterrevolu-tionaries, 26 none of the remaining eleven typesof charges is governed by any published stat-utes. However, even in the absence of pub-lished statutes, an ordinary person with com-mon sense would know that rape, homicide,theft, opium trade or smuggling all of whichare generally recognized as criminal acts inmost societies, are criminal acts. Judged bythat standard, the cases summarized abovewould reveal only two peculiar criminal of-fenses in the PRC.

The first of these is the so-called offense ofundermining the marriage of a military service-man (Fang-hai chiin-hun). In case No. 1-10,the PRC'sjudiciary appears to extend the scopeof protection even to the engagement of amilitary serviceman. In that case a person whohad sexual relations with the fiancee of a mili-tary serviceman was subject to criminal sanc-tion.27

The second peculiar offense is the killing orwounding of an ox or cow used for plowing(P'o-huai keng-niu). The background of thisoffense needs explanation. After the establish-ment of the commune in 1958, all privatelyowned oxen or cows became the property ofthe commune. As a result, any injury done tothese animals is, in the PRC view, in the natureof damaging collective property. In many ruralareas of China, there has always been a chronicshortage of meat. Occasionally, some peasantsintentionally wound or kill an ox or cow so thatthe meat can be distributed among the com-mune members. Needless to say, the killing ofa plowing ox or cow would reduce the numberof available oxen or cows used for plowing thefield and affect the efficiency of farming. It isfor this reason that this act is a criminal offensein the PRC.

However, in the PRC whether or not anoffense is specifically provided for in a pub-lished statute is not juridically important. Thereason for requiring a criminal offense to beexplicitly provided in a published statute isbased on the principle of "Nullum crimen sinelege, nulla poena sine lege" (there can be no

26 See note 21,supra.27 For a similar case reported in an interview, see

COHEN, supra note 21, at 324.

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CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT IN MAINLAND CHINA

punishment of crime without a preexistinglaw). But the PRC'sjudicial practice and theoryhas categorically rejected this "bourgeois" the-ory. Therefore, the most important PRC crim-inal legislation, the 1951 Act of the PRC for thePunishment of Counterrevolutionaries, notonly does not define with great precision thekinds of conduct that come within its reach, 28

but also explicitly permits the use of analogy2 9

and the retroactive application of the Act tocover "pre-liberation" (1949) activities. 30 Legalwriting in the PRC also advocates this theory.

In judicial practice, even the discussion ofwhether analogy or retroactivity should be usedis not relevant to an accused, because the PRChas only a few pieces of criminal legislation. Itdoes not seem possible for legal personnel tomake widespread use of the doctrine of analogyor retroactivity. Moreover, in rendering a sen-tence, a PRC court is not required to cite thelegal basis of its decision, except to include thevague expression of "sentence ... accordingto law."31 In some cases, a PRC court will onlyread its judgment to an accused, without givinghim or her a written copy. 32

2' In practice, considerable confusion continues toexist after the promulgation of the Act. In his famousspeech entitled Problems Relating to the Correct Han-dling of Contradictions Among the People, (address atthe 11th enlarged meeting of the Supreme StateConference, Feb. 27, 1957), Mao said: "In the workof liquidating counterrevolutionaries, good peoplewere mistaken for bad. Such things have happenedbefore, and still happen today." COHEN, supra note21, at 88.

9 Article 16 of the Act provides: "Those who, witha counterrevolutionary purpose, commit crimes notcovered by the provisions of this Act may be givenpunishments prescribed for crimes [enumerated] inthis Act which are comparable to the crimes commit-ted." COHEN, supra note 21, at 302.

1 Article 18 of the Act provides: "The provisionsof this Act also apply to those who were counter-revolutionary criminals before this Act was put intoeffect." Id.

1 Generally speaking, only with respect to somecases relating to aliens did a people's court choose tocite statutory provisions to support its judgment. See,e.g., Judgment Against the Alleged U.S. Spies Downey-Fecteau decided by the Supreme People's Court onNov. 23, 1954, translated in PEOPLE'S CHINA 6-8(No. 24, Supp. 1954). Document 1 is among the fewexceptional cases where a people's court did citestatutory provisions to support its judgment.

32 Information supplied by former residents ofmainland China. See also the following informationsupplied by a former PRC judge to Bao Ru-wangwhen both were in a Chinese prison: "There isnothing in China to limit the sentencing power of

SPECIFIC TYPES OF PUNISHMENT

The case summaries reported in TABLE Ialso provide interesting information on theprincipal kinds of criminal punishment appliedby the PRC courts. While this problem hasbeen studied by ProfessorJerome Alan Cohen'and others, these case summaries neverthelessshed some light on recent developments. Thespecific types of punishment revealed by theYunnan case summaries are as follows:

(1) Criminal penalty exempted-e.g., case Nos.111-3 and IV-1.

(2) Criminal penalty exempted but subject tocriticism and education by the masses-e.g.,case Nos. 11-14 and 11-15.

(3) Suspension of sentence-e.g., case No. VI-4.In the Yunnan Province document analyzedhere, only one case resulting in suspensionof sentence is reported. In that case theaccused was sentenced to two years withsentence suspended for two years. It is notdear whether suspension of sentence canonly be applied to a criminal who has beensentenced to no more than two years ofimprisonment. A 1957 PRC lecture on crimi-nal law suggested that only sentences of aduration less than three years can be sus-pended.Y

(4) Control-e.g., case No. 11-5. Control is aspecial type of punishment applied by thePRC courts. According to a 1952 PRC law,ms

a person under control shall be deprived ofsome political rights such as the right tovote, to be enlisted in the military service,choice of residence, movement of house-hold, and demonstration and procession. Aperson under control should also engage inproper employment; he or she should ac-tively labor for production and should im-mediately report the counterrevolutionaryactivities of others. A controlled person,however, is not placed under the custody ofthe PRC authorities.

the government. The common analogy is the rubberband-a sentence can be stretched or abbreviated,depending on dozens of nonobjective factors....If, as in my [Bao's] case, the actual sentence wastwelve years, they [the judges] may announce twentyto him, or even life." BAO Ru-WANG (J. Pasqualini)& R. CHELMINSKI, PRISONER OF MAO 99 (1973).

-See COHEN, supra note 21, at 514-44.34 Id. at 523.- Provisional Measures of the PRC for Control of

Counterrevolutionaries (promulgated on July 17,1952), translated in COHEN, supra note 21, at 277-79.For the application of this law by a PRC court, seeDocument 1.

[Vol. 68HUNGDAH CHIU

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In the 1952 laws, the term of control islimited to three years, but "may be extendedwhen necessary." From several cases sum-marized in TABLE I, it appears that controlmay be imposed by a PRC court for as longas five years (case Nos. XII-8 and 14).

(5) Control plus putting a (hypothetical) badelement's hat on one's head-e.g., case No.IV-5. Great effort has been made to makethis sanction appear to be a "new born thing"of the Cultural Revolution. Before the Cul-tural Revolution, a person "wearing a badelement's hat" was usually placed under su-pervised production or labor, that is to say,he or she was required to do more laborwork under supervision than an ordinaryperson. Moreover, such a person was re-quired to spend many evenings in study andmeetings and to perform special labor proj-ects, during holidays or after his or herregular working hours.

(6) Imprisonment for a fixed term-After theCultural Revolution, there developed twotypes of imprisonment for a fixed term. Thefirst type entails the execution of a criminal'sfixed term sentence "under the supervisionof the masses" (cases Nos. 1-9 and 10, 111-2,IV-2). This is also a "new born thing" of theCultural Revolution. According to informa-tion provided by former residents of main-land China, this form of imprisonment wasoriginated by Mao. The exact content of thissanction is not clear, but information gath-ered from interviews gives the impressionthat those so sentenced may serve their sen-tence at home by engaging in supervisedlabor. The freedoms of such persons areseverely restricted in a manner similar to therestrictions placed on persons under control.The maximum term of this sanction is notclear, but case No. 1-9 suggests that it can beas long as 10 years.

The other type of imprisonment for afixed term entails sending the criminal toone of the many reform through labor campsfor hard working.36 The maximum term ofthis sanction appears to be 20 years.

(7) Life Imprisonment-None of the cases sum-marized indicated the imposition of life im-prisonment, but this does not mean that thePRC no longer uses this type of punishment.At least two recent cases decided by thecourts in other provinces indicate that lifeimprisonment is still in use.37

3 For a detailed case story, see BAO, supra note 32.31 See, e.g., Harbin court judgment mentioned su-pra note 4 and a Tientsin court judgment mentionedsupra note 20.

(8) Death Penalty-There are two types of deathpenalty: one is immediate death (e.g., caseNos. II-I and 2, XII-3 and 12), and theother one is suspension of the execution fortwo years (e.g., case Nos. 11-3, 6 and 7).After the two year period of suspension ofexecution, the criminal may be executed orresentenced to life imprisonment or otherlong-term imprisonment.' In some cases,the criminal or his or her family has to paythe cost of two bullets (0.35 Jen-mi-pi each,about 0.17 U.S. dollars) used to execute thecriminal.39

OTHER ISSUES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The case summaries also reveal some limitedinformation on the PRC's practice with respectto some problems closely related to the PRC'scriminal justice, such as criminal responsibilityof the youth, evidence in criminal trials, andreasons for increasing or decreasing punish-ment.

In every civilized society, a person assumescriminal responsibility only upon reaching acertain age. The PRC also follows this princi-ple. A 1957 PRC criminal law book notes thatuntil 1957, the PRC "lacked a uniform criterionfor the specific age at which minors assumecriminal responsibility." However, the bookconcluded that relevant documents appear tosuggest that "fifteen years of age is in theperiod of complete assumption of criminal re-sponsibility."4 0 In the case summaries presentedin Table I the youngest offender sentenced tocriminal sanction is sixteen years old (case No.2, 111-4). This appears to be the minimal agefor criminal responsibility.

The legal materials from Yunnan Provinceunder analysis disclose very little concerningevidence and fact finding at criminal trials.There is no mention of the defense of the

accused. For example, in a number of cases,the reason for lenient treatment was either thatthe criminal "frankly confessed the crime" (e.g.,case Nos. 11-16, 111-2, 3, 5 and 9) or "showed agood attitude toward confessing the crime"(e.g., case Nos. 11-14, 15 and 17). On the otherhand, those who showed a "bad attitude toward

38 According to PRC officials, only a few criminalssentenced to a suspended death penalty are actuallyexecuted at the'end of the two-year term.39 Information supplied by several former resi-

dents of the PRC.0 See COHEN, supra note 21, at 345.

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confessing the crime" (e.g., case Nos. IV-4 and9) were given a more severe punishment. Thispolicy would result in discouraging an accusedfrom challenging the evidence presented bythe authorities against him or her.

Another situation that can result in a reducedcriminal punishment is voluntary surrender(Tzu-shou). The PRC, in this respect, still fol-lows the traditional Chinese legal practice un-der which a criminal who voluntarily surren-ders receives a more lenient treatment (e.g.,case No. 11-4).

In the case of co-offenders, one who is willingto expose the crimd of the other would receivemore lenient treatment (e.g., case No. IV-10)or would be exempt from criminal sanction (seee.g., Document 4) (Ma Cheng-pang's case).

Whether the class background of an accusedaffects the degree of severity of punishmentagainst a criminal is not very clear. Informationgathered from interviews; furthermore, is con-flicting. Some felt that class background wasan important factor, but others considered thatthe party's periodic guidelines may be a moreimportant factor, although class character isalso one of the important factors in determin-ing the sentence. Among the 132 criminalsreported in the Yinnan Province documents(seventy-eight of which were summarizedeither in the table or in the documentary partsof this paper), twenty-two were specificallymentioned as coming from "black elements."The materials, except for a few cases (e.g., caseNo. XII-13) are silent on the class backgroundof the remaining 110 criminals, and I was toldby several former residents in the PRC thatunder such circumstances they were from the"people" (five red categories). The informationprovided by the Yunnan materials does notwarrant a definite answer to this question,although in some cases it does indicate thatclass background may be an important factorin deciding the severity of the punishment.This factor seems especially relevant in thecase of counterrevolutionary charges (e.g., caseNo. XII-10).

CONCLUDING UBSERVATIONS

Needless to say, an analysis of a limitednumber of PRC legal documents from theYunnan Province still leaves many unansweredquestions concerning practices with respect toPRC criminal punishment. However, this anal-

ysis of the documents does provide a generalview of the operation of the criminal justicesystem and enables one to discern a few of itsbasic principles.

The imposition of criminal punishment inthe PRC appears to rely on vague terminology,general party policy, and unpublished regula-tions. These factors allow flexibility of interpre-tation at the discretion of the law enforcementagencies. Thus, for example, the punishmentfor the offense of theft can range from criticismand education by the masses (case No. 111-5) tofifteen years imprisonment (case No. I1-6).41Similarly, punishment for committing the of-fense of homicide ranges from three yearsimprisonment to the death penalty.

This practice of flexibility in imposing acriminal punishment for a specific offense maypartially explain why the PRC does not want tohave a criminal code which would restrict thediscretionary power of the judiciary. This ex-planation, however, raises another interestingquestion. Why, twenty-seven years after theestablishment of the Communist regime, doesthe PRC still want to have such a flexiblejudicial system? One answer is that this flexibil-ity is closely related to the Communist theoryof law and the Maoist view of permanent revo-lution.

According to the Communist legal theory,law is primarily an instrument of state policy.Therefore, law has to be sufficiently flexible tobe able to vary with the circumstances of therevolutionary state. In Mao's view of perma-nent revolution, China's status as a revolution-ary state will continue forever. If this is thecase, then class struggle must also continueand the law, especially criminal law, must be asflexible as possible so as to serve the needs of aconstantly changing environment and itschanging political objective in liquidating classenemies.

Not ,ll PRC leaders have agreed with Mao'sview. Some leaders, for example, deposedChairran Liu Shao-ch'i and the former Mayorof Peking, P'eng Chen, asserted that the "classstruggle is out theory" and urged the enact-ment of a criminal code and other major legis-lation.

41 On June 28, 1955, a PRC court sentenced ahabitual thief to death. See Chiang-hsi jih-pao(Kiangsi Daily), Judie 29, 1955, translated in COHEN,

supra note 21, at 540-41.

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HUNGDAH CHIU

It appears that the question of enacting acriminal code is closely related to the questionof class struggle in China. A widely publicizedbig-character poster put out by some educatedyouths in Canton in 1974 demands that "the'Fourth National People's Congress' shouldstipulate in black and white that all the demo-cratic rights which the masses of people deserveshould be protected, and that dictatorship willbe exercised over the criminals who committedmurder, arson, gangsterism, robbery and theftand the elements who incited armed strugglesand organized conspiratorial cliques.""

A few weeks later, another poster, whichwas believed to be prepared by the PRC author-ities, severely criticized, among other things,the above quoted exhortation for not mention-ing the need for exercising dictatorship overthe landlords, bourgeoisie, rich peasants, righ-tists and counterrevolutionaries, the so-calledfive black elements .43 In view of this, as long asthe PRC insists on classifying the populationinto two major types, the five red elements andthe five black elements, it seems desirable,from the PRC's point of view, not to have acriminal code to restrict the judiciary in itsapplication of criminal punishment.

SELECTED DOCUMENTS

Document 1

Criminal Judgment of the IntermediatePeople's

Court of Kunming City of Yunnan ProvinceHsin (59) Chung-i-tzu No. 134

Organ filing the Complaint: Yunnan MiningMachinery Factory. Defendant: Liu Chung-ho,also named Liu Sung, male, thirty-three yearsof age, of Han nationality, and a native of[Chinese character not legible]-chiang countyin Yunnan Province, poor peasant family back-ground, with personal class status of worker,middle school graduate cultural level, is a fitterat the Yunnan Mining Machinery Factory. Hehas a previous criminal record.

The Liu Chung-ho counterrevolutionarycase was tried publicly by this Court on Febru-

4 See Concerning Socialist Democracy and the LegalSystem -Dedicated to Chairman Mao and the Fourth Na-tional People's Congress, (Nov. 10, 1974), translated in12 ISSUES & STUD. 142-43 (No. 1, 1976).43 See Concerning the Socialist Democracy and LegalSystem (Dec. 3, 1974), in 12 ISSUEs & STUD. 132-33(No. 2. 1976).

ary 1, 1959 and we find that:In 1941, the defendant joined the San-ch'

ing-t'uan. 44 In 1943, he passed a recruitingexamination [held by the Nationalist Govern-ment] and joined the 4th Regiment of thebogus Second Honor Division and served firstas a lieutenant and then as a captain in chargeof military supplies. In 1947, he joined Ch'ing-pang [an underground group]. After liberation[in 1949], criminal Liu was arrested for commit-ting offenses such as harboring counterrevolu-tionary elements, abducting married women,faking [official] seals, and counterfeiting iden-tification documents used in escaping to Tient-sin. Although he was leniently handled, he notonly did not repent but also showed extremedissatisfaction toward our government. In1957, he wrote an anonymous letter to theProvincial Council distorting and exaggerating[certain facts]. He also organized a small reac-tionary group with T'ao Chu (already underarrest) and Li Lien-ching (already placed undercontrol)45 to engage in spreading rumors andother destructive activities. They disseminatedreactionary utterances such as, "Revolutionmakes no sense, early revolution is no good aslate revolution, and the latter is no good ascounter-revolution." [Translated literally fromthe Chinese and the translator does not knowthe real meaning of this sentence.] The defend-ant, moreover, was not satisfied with his wageand spread the rumor by saying, "Other work-ers are at the third class, while he is at fourthclass. First class people do office work, secondclass people wait to eat, third class people waitto receive money, and the fourth class just waitfor death." In addition, he actively instigatedand directed criminal T'ao to escape to Burmaby telling T'ao, "You can cross [the nationalboundary] by pretending to be hunting there."He also said, "If I were as young as you are, Iwould have already crossed [the nationalboundary]." At work, the defendant was aloafer. He failed to observe labor disciplineand incited others to do the same, saying,"There is nothing to be afraid of," or "Don'tbe afraid of being discharged," and so forth.Furthermore, he ingratiated himself with ap-

" Abbreviation of San-min-chu-i-ching-nien-t'uan(Three Principles of the People's Youth Corps). Thiswas a Nationalist youth organization.

4 Control is a type of criminal sanction in thePRC, see SPECIFIC TYPES OF PUNISHMENT, supra at379 & 390.

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prentices by teaching them to sing sexuallysuggestive songs, with extremely deleteriouseffects.

On the basis of the above stated fact, thedefendant is indeed a current counterrevolu-tionary element and should be punished ac-cording to law. In accordance with Article 3 ofthe Provisional Measures for Controlling Coun-terrevolutionary Elements, 46 this court rendersthe following judgment:

Defendant Liu Chung-ho shall be placedunder control for two years.

If the defendant disagrees with the judg-ment, an appeal petition with a copy may befiled with this Court within five days from theday after receipt of this judgment. The appealis to be made to the High People's Court ofYunnan Province.February 1, 1959 The Criminal Tribunal of

the Intermediate People'sCourt of Kunming City ofYunnan Province

(Seal of the Court)Acting Judge Lin Liang-t'sai

March 1, 1959This copy is the same as the original. Clerk

Yu Chung-lun

Document 2

Supreme Directive

Resolutely purge all bandits, special agents,local despots and other counterrevolutionaryelements.

In order to safeguard social order and theinterest of the broad [masses], it is also neces-sary to exercise dictatorship over burglars,

4' The Measures were approved by the Govern-ment Administration Council on June 27, 1952 andpromulgated by the Ministry of Public Security onJuly 17, 1952. Article 3 provides:

The following counterrevolutionaries who his-torically committed evil acts and who, sinceliberation, have not demonstrated or provedtheir repentance and reform though they havenot engaged in current counterrevolutionaryactivity, must be given definite punishment; but,if the degree [of seriousness] of their evil actsdoes not require that they be arrested andsentenced, they all shall be controlled in accord-ance with these measures:

(5) Chiang [Kai-shek]'s bogus military and gov-ernment officials who persist in their reactionarystandpoint; (6) Other counterrevolutionarieswho should be controlled.

swindlers, killers, arsonists, hooligan gangs andthe various bad elements who seriously under-mine the social order.

Chinese People's Liberation ArmyThe Military Control Committee (Section)

of the Public Security Organ, the ProcuratorialOrgan, and the Court of Ching-hung County

Hsi-hsuan-pan-na Chou47

NoticeUnder the guidance of Chairman Mao's

great strategic guideline concerning "sharpen-ing [our] vigilance [against the enemy] andsafeguarding our fatherland" and "making warpreparation, famine preparation and workingfor the people"; the people of various nation-alities of our Chou received the fighting yearof 1971 amid the new high tide of socialistrevolution and socialist reconstruction, and thestruggle of the people all over the world inopposing American imperialism and social im-perialism. In the coming new year, we willcontinue to raise high the great red flag ofMao Tse-tung's thought, to creatively studyand apply Chairman Mao's philosophicalthought, to grasp firmly two lines of strugglingeducation, and to raise a new high tide ofindustrial and agricultural production by agreat leap forward through learning from theTachai agricultural experience, overtakingthe Tachai [production record] and surpassingthe [production record set forth in the] outline.The situation is very good and is getting betterand better. However, "the enemy will not per-ish of themselves," they will resort to variousmeans to engage in destruction and causingdisturbances. In order to follow the great stra-tegic deployment of Chairman Mao, firmly putinto full effect the various fighting roles [de-cided by] the "Ninth [Party] Congress" and the"Second Session of the Ninth Central Commit-tee," to grasp firmly the movement of "strikeone-oppose three," and continuously andforcefully to stroke at a handful of counter-revolutionary elements who undermined so-cialist revolution and reconstruction and ab-

47 A Chou is a special administrative unit similar toa county in the PRC.

48 Ta-chai is a Commune at Hsi yang County,Shansi Province. The Ta-chai experience refers to arevolutionary spirit of hard work and self-relianceexhibited by the Ta-chai Production Brigade in itsoutstanding success in wasteland reclamation andagricultural development in the poverty stricken Ta-chai area.

1977]

HUNGDAH CHIU

surdly attempted to restore capitalism, to fur-ther put into full effect the preparation forwar, to consolidate national defense, tostrengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat,and to safeguard the great fruits of the GreatProletarian Cultural Revolution, [we] in ac-cordance with party policy and the demand ofthe broad masses, [hereby announce] the sen-tencing according to law of a group of specialagents and spy elements, collaborators with theenemy and traitorous elements, current coun-terrevolutionary elements and killers, as fol-lows:

American imperialist spy K'ang Lang-wangis a male, thirty years of age, of T'ai nationality,and a native of the Man-t'ang production bri-gade, Ta-men-lung Commune, Ching-hungCounty, Yunnan Province. Criminal K'angjoined in the American imperialist spy organi-zation in 1967. After receiving a simplifiedtraining, assignment, money for secret activi-ties, equipment and materials, he sneaked intoour country, actively collected our military,political, economic and Great Cultural Revolu-tion information, and secretly took pictures ofour important buildings and military installa-tions. [All information he collected and thephotos he took were] turned over to [an Amer-ican imperialist] secret agent and spy organiza-tion. He also attempted to buy over the dregsof the society and to organize a counterrevolu-tionary armed band in an attempt to subvertthe dictatorship of the proletariat. His crime isserious. However, after his arrest, he neverthe-less frankly confessed [his criminal activities],and he is hereby sentenced to imprisonmentfor 20 years.

American and Chiang spy K'ang Nan-lang isa male, forty-six years of age, of T'ai national-ity, and a native of the Man-ta-hei productionbrigade, Tan-meng-lung Commune, Ching-hung County, Yunnan Province. CriminalK'ang has always craved the easy life and dis-liked working and he has never been properlyemployed. He frequently crossed the nationalboundary to seek opium for smoking. [Later,]he was bought over by an American-Chiangspy organization and became a member of it.He actively collected our military, political,economic and cultural revolution informationand instigated the masses to flee the countryand to become [special agents] of the imperial-ists, the revisionists and counter-revolutionar-

ies. His crime is serious and he is hereby sen-tenced to imprisonment for twenty years ....

Current counterrevolutionary criminal ChangYao-tsung is a male, twenty-one years of age,of Han nationality, landlord family back-ground, and a native of Shanghai City. Crimi-nal Chang has persisted in his reactionarystandpoint by drawing reactionary pictures,composing reactionary poems, and writing re-actionary posters and slogans, to slander andto make malicious attacks against our partyand the socialist system, and the headquartersof the Proletariat, in an absurd attempt torestore capitalism. After his crime was exposedby the masses, he tried to flee from the countryfor fear of punishment and in an attempt tobetray the [motherland] and to enter the serviceof the Soviet revisionists. He was captured byour army and people engaged in frontier de-fense. The crime committed by criminal Changis serious. However, during the period of hisdetention, he nevertheless frankly confessedhis criminal activities; [therefore], in accord-ance with the party policy of "dealing lenientlywith those who confess and severely with thosewho resist," he is hereby sentenced to imprison-ment for ten years.

Current counterrevolutionary criminal ShihLi (?The Chinese character is not very legible),is a female, thirty-eight years of age, of Hannationality, landlord family background, and anative of Yuan-chiang County, Yunnan Prov-ince. Eleven of her relatives had been sup-pressed [by the People's Government]. Crimi-nal Shih has persisted in her reactionary stand-point and has shown extreme hatred towardour party. Since 1962, she has spread reaction-ary remarks many times to slander and to makemalicious attacks against our party and thesocialist system. In the course of the GreatCultural Revolution, she tried to reverse theverdict and to engage in class revenge. Al-though she was criticized and educated by themasses several times, she still refused to repentand to reform herself. [Criminal Shih] is herebysentenced to be placed under control for fiveyears ....

The party's policy has always been "dealingleniently with those who confess and severelywith those who resist" and "to give [the crimi-nal] an opportunity for rehabilitation." Weseverely warn a handful of class enemies: youhave already fallen into the vast expanses of

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CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT IN MAINLAND CHINA

the ocean of people's war. Your only way out isto turn yourselves in and confess your crime.If you put up a stubborn resistance, you willdefinitely be subjected to severe punishmentby the iron fist of the dictatorship of the prole-tariat.

January 26, 1971Document 3

Criminal Judgment of the [Basic] PeopiesCourt of Meng-hai County, Yunnan Province

(74) Hsin tzu No. 9. Judgment Against Crim-inal Yen Ying for Starting a Forest Fire.

Criminal Yen Ying, who started a forest fire,is a male, nineteen years'old, of T'ai nationality,poor peasant family background, and himselfof peasant element. He is a native of Man-kunStockade, Meng-hai Commune, Meng-haiCbunty. Before committing this offense, helabored at Meng-ta-ta'i Production Brigade ofthe Meng-hai Commune.

Criminal Yen's spontaneous capitalisticthinking is very pronounced. He has alreadyacquired two private plots totalling 1.42 mou. 49

On February 24, 1974, he went to his privateplot, which is one kilometer from-the Meng-ta-t'ai Stockade, to open a 0.42 mou piece of landfor self-cultivation [without first obtaining offi-cial permission]. Criminal Yen set a fire toclear the land. However, the fire first spreadto surrounding growth and theht to about 2000mou of national mountains and forests. 1500mou of national mountain and forests wereburned, resulting in the destruction of 180,000trees (30,000 large trees and 150,000 small triees)and' twenty-six bunches of commune members'firewood. Although his act does not belong tothe category of engaging in intentional destruc-tion [of state property], the consequence is,nevertheless, serious. It affected the movementof "learning from Ta-chai's agricultural expe-rience" and also undermined [the movementof "I grabbing revolution and promoting pro-duction. J'] In order to strike at the sponta-neous force of capitalism, to safeguard themovement to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius,50

' A mou is about 7331/2 square yards.50 In 1969, Lin Piao was Vice-Chairman of the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of China,Vice-Premier, and Minister of National Defense, andheir-apparent designated by Chairman Mao. How-ever, he was reported to have died in September1971 following an alleged abortive attempt to assasi-nate Mao. Confucius (551-479 B.C.) was an ancient

to protect [the movement of] learning fromthe Ta-chai agricultural experience, and tograb revolution and promote production, crim-inal Yen. Ying, .who started the forest fire, ishereby given a severe punishment of sevenyears imprisonment. (The sentence shall runfrom March 5,. 1974 through March 4, 1981.)

If the [criminal] disagrees with the judgment,an appeal may be filed with this court withinten days from the second day after receipt ofthis judgment. The appeal is to be made to theIntermediate People's Court of Hsi-hsuan pan-na Chou.

Copied by the Forest Station of Meng-haiCounty.

September 14, 1974Document 4

PEOPLE'S COURT OF JUI-LI COUNTY

Notice

[74] Jui-fa-pu No. 1

Under the guidance of Chairman Mao's pro-letarian revolutionary line, the movement tocriticize' Lin [Piao] and Confucius of thiscounty, like other places the country over, hasbeen victoriously carried out in a penetrating,broad, and persistent manner. Under the im-petus of the movement to criticize Lin Piaoand Confucius Movement, the work for "grasp-ing revolution and promoting production,work, and war preparation" in various frontshas been flourishing and prospering. The situ-ation is very good and is getting better andbetter. The dictatorship of the proletariat isfurther consolidated. However, a handful ofclass enemies inside and without the countryare not reconciled to their defeat. They haveresorted to various means to ehgage in sabotageand disruption, in an absurd attempt to subvertthe dictatorship of the proletarit and to restorecapitali m. In order to safeguard and to de-velop the magnificent achievements of the

Chinese philosopher. His teachings became the basisof the moral system of Confucianism which prevailedin China for two thousand years until-the rise ofCommunism in China in 1949. The basic moralprinciple of-the system is the maintenance of jen(roughly, sympathy) between men by keeping rightrelationships: treat those who are subordinate to youas you would be treated by those in positions superiorto yours. Lin Piao was accused as a follower ofConfucianism. A movement to criticize Lin Piao andConfucius was started in the PRC in 1972.

19771

HUNGDAH CHIU

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, to safe-guard the movement to criticize Lin Piao andConfucious, to strengthen and to consolidatethe dictatorship of the proletariat, and to de-velop the excellent situation of revolution andproduction, [we] must firmly strike out againstthe destructive activities of active counterrevo-lutionary elements and other criminal offend-ers. In accordance with the policy of the Party,state law, and the strong demand of the broadmasses of the people, [this court], according tolaw, passes sentence on twenty-one criminals,including To Chfin, a special agent dispatchedby the Chiang group. [The sentences] arehereby announced as follows:

Hsu Yin-hung, a criminal who had illicitsexual relations with and who persecuted fe-male educated youth sent to mountain areas orto the countryside, is a male, thirty years ofage, and a native of Ch'i-tung County, HunanProvince. Before his arrest, he was a clerk at10th Company, 3rd Battalion, l1th Regimentof Yunnan Production and Construction Mili-tary Corps.

This criminal is a morally degenerate personand a confirmed hooligan. He acted indecentlytoward or had illicit sexual relations with femaleyouths several times. In 1968, he acted as amatch-maker to deceive a female youth andthen had illicit sexual relations with her severaltimes. In 1972, and thereafter, he had sexualrelations several times with married womanXXX and thus undermined the marriage rela-tion of another person. Most serious of all,after the distribution of Central Party Docu-ment (73) No. 21, 51 he still refused to repent.Pretending to show concern over educatedyouth and resorting to despicable means suchas corrupt bourgeois idea, money and materialinducement, he used his position and power tohave illicit sexual relations with one, and to actindecently toward three, female educatedyouths. He, therefore, seriously underminedChairman Mao's great strategic measure of"sending educated youth to villages." SinceJanuary 1973, he embezzled more than 1100Jen-min-pi52 of public funds by way of fakingbills ... and other means. His criminal actsare serious, people are very indignant, and hiscrimes have had a bad influence. Hsu Yfin-hung, a criminal who had illicit sexual relations

51 The translator is unable to locate this document.52 $1 jen-min-pi is about U.S. $0.50.

with and who abused female educated youthssent to the mountain area or countryside, ishereby sentenced, according to law, to fifteenyears imprisonment.

Chen Huai-hsing, a criminal who committedhomicide, is a male, twenty-four years old, anda native of Fu-yuan County, Yunnan Province.Before his arrest, he worked at the 6th Battal-ion, 1st Regiment of Yunnan Production andConstruction Military Corps.

This criminal was a military affair staff[member] of the Battalion [he served], becauseof his lack of seriousness in reading books andstudy and his laxness toward thought reform,he has been arrogant and high-handed [in hisbehavior] and has not performed his duty seri-ously. At noon of July 30, 1973, four persons,including [this criminal] and Yang Tsai-k'o-leader of a communication squad in the sameBattalion -were playing poker at Yang's roomin the dormitory, three children, including LiYun-shan (thirteen years old), went to watchthe game. When watching the game, Li spokeout the kind of cards Chen's partner had. Chenwas very annoyed and threatened Li by saying:"Don't say anything, if you say anything again,I'll take a gun and shoot you to death!" Hethen took Yung's fifty calibre submachine gun,which was leaning on the side of the bed,pointed the gun at Li and pulled the trigger inorder to scare Li. [Unfortunately], a shot wasfired which hit Li Yun-shan right in the head,whereon Li fell down and died. His criminalact is serious and Chen Huai-hsing, a criminalwho committed homicide, is hereby sentenced,according to law, to twenty years imprison-ment.

Ma Shao-wu, a criminal who committed anoffense concerning opium, alias Ma Kuo-hsiaoor Liu Hua-ch'ang, is a male, twenty years ofage, and a native of Yung-chien Commune,Wei-shan County, Yunnan Province.

This criminal had serious bourgeois thought,craved the easy life and disliked working. InMay 1973, he sold ten ounces of opium andmade a big profit. In February 1974, he usedcounterfeited certificates and pretended to bea government official on a business trip to Jui-li [County] and purchased 130 ounces of opiumthere and attempted to carry the opium andfour smuggled watches to Wei-shan [County]

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for sale. He was caught in flagrante delicto by[our security force on this way to Wei-shan].After going to prison, he did not [cooperate inconfessing] his crime and showed an attitudeof resistance. Ma shao-wu, a criminal who com-mitted offenses involving opium, is hereby se-verely sentenced, according to law, to fifteenyears imprisonment. All money and articles heillegally acquired are hereby confiscated.

Ma P'in-liang, alias Wang Ch'ao-ming, acriminal who committed offenses involvingopium, is a male, twenty-seven years of age,and a native of Yung-p'ing [Production] Bri-gade, Yung-chien Commune, Wei-shanCounty, Yunnan Province.

Ma Cheng-pang, an offender in the samecase, alias Chao Cheng-hua, is a male, thirty-three years of age, and a native of Yung-p'ing[Production] Brigade, Yung-chien Commune,Wei-shan County, Yunnan Province.

Criminal Ma P'in-liang made a profit bypurchasing six more ounces of opium for MaXX in December 1972. In February 1974, byusing counterfeited certificates, the two crimi-nals pretended to be government officials on abusiness trip to Jui-li [County] and purchased325 ounces of opium and a watch there in anattempt to carry them to the interior for sale.They were caught in flagrante delicto by [oursecurity force on their way to the interior]. Inthe course of detention and investigation, MaP'in-liang did not [cooperate in confessing] hiscrime and showed an attitude of resistance;criminal Ma Cheng-pang, however, franklyconfessed his crime, actively exposed the crim-inal acts of his accomplice [in the same case],thereby exhibited meritorious behavior. In ac-cordance with the spirit of Party policy of"dealing leniently with those who confess andseverely with those who resist," Ma P'in-liang,a criminal who committed an offense involvingopium, is hereby severely sentenced, accordingto law, to fifteen years imprisonment. As forcriminal Ma Cheng-pang, he is leniently ex-empted from criminal punishment. All moneyand articles illegally acquired by the two crimi-nals are hereby confiscated.

Hu Ch'ing-sheng, a criminal who committedthe offense of smuggling, is a male, twenty-twoyears of age, and a native of Ching-te County,Anhwei Province. Before his arrest, he lived atO-o [Production] Brigade,, Chieh-hsiang Com-mune, Jui-li County.

This criminal was very lax toward his thoughtreform, craved the easy life and disliked work-ing. He frequently crossed the national bound-ary to engage in smuggling, speculating andprofiteering activities. In 1970 and thereafter,this criminal illegally purchased at Kunming,Pao-shan and other places, industrial prod-ucts53 such as more than twenty covers of com-forter and pad sheets, liberation shoes, flash-lights, and basins, and carried them out of thecountry and sold them. Then he bought sixsmuggled watches there, carried them toKunming, sold them there and thus acquired abig profit of more than 400 Jen-min-pi. At thesame time, he also twice illegally sold twentykilograms of mercury, a contraband proscribedby the state. Moreover, this criminal frequentlyloafed about in different places to engage inpickpocketing, stealing and gambling activities,and thus seriously disturbed social order. HuCh'ing-sheng, a criminal who engaged in smug-gling, is hereby sentenced, according to law, tofive years imprisonment.

The Party policy has always been one of"dealing leniently with those who confess andseverely with those who resist," and "the ring-leader must be punished, while those who wereforced to participate in the criminal activitiesshall not be prosecuted." We severely warn thehandfuls of class enemies and criminals: Youronly way out is to stop doing evil, give your-selves up, and to become a new person. If youwant to resist desperately and continue yourevil activities, you will be subject to severepunishment by the dictatorship of the proletar-iat.

The people of all nationalities throughoutthe country must further study and" carry outthe spirit of "The Tenth Party Congress," 54

firmly recall Chairman Mao's teaching of"never forget class struggle." We must rely onthe Party's basic line as the key: persist in"seriously reading books and study so as tomaster Marxism," continue developing the

5' In the PRC, many industrial products are ra-tioned, one has to present enough industrial couponsbefore he can purchase a certain industrial productsuch as a pair of shoes.5' The Tenth Party Congress was held in Peking

in Aug. 24-28, 1973 and promulgated a revisedConstitution of the Communist Party of China. TheCongress supported an earlier decision of the Party'sCentral Committee to expel Lin Piao from the Partyand called upon the people to support the theory ofcontinuing revolution under the dictatorship of theproletariat.

19771

HUNGDAH CHIU

movement to criticize Lin Piao and Confuciusin a penetrating, broad, and sustaining way,and to raise a new high tide of "[the movementof] learning from the Ta-chai agricultural ex-perience." We should also further raise ourawareness of class struggle, struggle to [findthe correct party line], and the [theory of]continuing revolution under the dictatorshipof the proletariat, increase our awareness of

the enemy situation, closely watch the newdirection of class struggle, strike against thedestructive activities of a handful of class ene-mies, so as to further consolidate andstrengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat.[Let us] "grasp revolution, and promote pro-duction, work, and war preparation," unitetogether, and achieve an even bigger victory.

September 22, 1974.

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