[6] Part Three: Lawyer's Rights Defense Bravely Challenges the Legal Affairs Office

[2] 8. Striving for the Chinese Dream of Rule of Law

[3] During the compilation of this book, two major events closely related to its content occurred in our country: First, on October 23, 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law" (referred to as the "Decision"); second, on November 1, 2014, the 11th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress passed by a high vote the "Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China."

[4] The ruling party's emphasis on comprehensively advancing the rule of law at this time, in our understanding, is primarily because after decades of reform, opening up, and market economy development, the interests of various social strata in Chinese society have become severely divided. The mutual gaming and conflicts of these divided interests have intensified social contradictions, and traditional methods of rule by man can no longer effectively resolve these contradictions or coordinate the interests of different strata. Only the rule of law—the greatest common denominator proven by human practice across ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad—can serve as the solution. In the process of using legal means to resolve contradictions and coordinate interests, the role of lawyers is indispensable. In fact, the essence of a lawyer's work is to represent different interested parties in participating in the relevant interest gaming process. On one hand, this participation intensifies the fierceness of interest gaming; on the other hand, it channels such gaming into the track of the rule of law. The most basic duty of a lawyer is to maximize the interests of the client within the bounds of the law. However, we must also clearly recognize that the social strata or parties involved in interest gaming vary greatly in status and resources. To provide high-quality legal services to disadvantaged social groups and parties, and to effectively defend their rights and interests, we not only need superb legal skills but also a chivalrous spirit of upholding justice in the world. This is precisely the core theme that this book has been striving to elucidate throughout its writing.

[5] Regarding the first comprehensive revision of the Administrative Procedure Law after 25 years of its enactment, we are pleased to see that the issues of difficulty in filing administrative lawsuits, difficulty in trial (judgment), and difficulty in enforcement, which are addressed in this book, have been substantively and specifically tackled in this revision, with many improvements exceeding expectations. However, these are still only improvements on paper; turning them into reality requires a long and arduous process. Law cannot enforce itself, but the design of the legal system provides us legal professionals with tools and weapons to utilize. Our duty as lawyers is to employ these legal tools and weapons most effectively to maximize the interests of our clients (administrative counterparts), while also promoting lawful administration by government departments. This, too, requires us not only to possess superb legal skills but also a chivalrous spirit of upholding justice in the world.

[6] While top-down promotion by the ruling party is important, and the revision and improvement of laws are indispensable, a rule-of-law country, rule-of-law government, and rule-of-law society will not emerge automatically. The more crucial driving force lies in the rule-of-law practices of every individual in society, especially those of us legal professionals. Only when every lawyer, like Lawyer Wang Tengfeng, first possesses a noble chivalrous spirit, daring to relentlessly fight for their own and their clients' rights, and second, has superb litigation skills, adept at effectively working for their own and their clients' rights, can we truly make tangible contributions to realizing the Chinese Dream of the Rule of Law.

(End of Serial)