Kang Ling: A role model for mediation the people From Hubei

Working diligently to maintain social harmony, Kang Ling, head of a people's mediation committee in a neighborhood in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, has been noted in media coverage multiple times for her excellent work, which has earned her a number of honors such as national model judicial station director, advanced worker of Hubei province and recognition as one of the top 10 figures in building grass-roots rule of law.

Over the past nearly three years, Kang mediated up to 1,832 disputes, of which 78 were both grave and thorny, in the populated and dispute-riddled neighborhood she oversees. She helped to recover more than 6 million yuan ($864,466) in economic losses for local residents, who affectionately call Kang their guardian angel.

"It takes patience and love to build a harmonious society, community and family and sincerity to support and maintain it," she often says.

Every time a grave dispute erupts, Kang takes the lead to resolve it. One night in 2015, a disastrous fire engulfed a residential community in Kang's jurisdiction, killing an old man and causing huge property losses for several families. 

The families suffering property losses all angrily requested compensation from the one family that was the origin of the fire and had lost a family member.

After learning about the situation, Kang promptly started her mediation effort early the next morning. In consideration of the sorrow and grief of the family that had lost its loved one, she managed to persuade other families to temporarily shelve their compensation claims and help that one family handle the aftermath.

Through her patient mediation, the families involved finally agreed to 80,000-yuan in compensation, and their neighborhood relationship was restored.

Disputes also emerge from numerous construction activities as Wuhan has been accelerating its urban construction process in recent years. In one such incident in 2017, a 73-year-old lady tripped over a nylon rope at a construction site and broke her right shoulder.

Out of extreme anger, the lady's family came to the site to hinder the construction work. In an effort to avoid escalation of the conflict, Kang immediately began to console the family and persuade them to leave the site.

Then she convened a mediation meeting for the two sides, which, after two days, yielded a satisfactory agreement.