Judicial department of Fujian explores improvements to rural governance

The judicial department of East China's Fujian province has explored innovative ways in recent years to improve rural governance.

Promoting democracy and rule of law

To boost villagers' engagement in the management of rural affairs and their awareness of democracy and self-governance, the department launched massive campaigns to publicize the law on the organization of villagers' committees.

It also vigorously promoted the system of meetings of representatives of rural households and a democratic hearing system in the decision-making process for rural affairs.

These efforts paid off as 81 villages across the province have become national-level democratic and law-based demonstrations. 

In addition, 70 percent of the province's villages have adopted the system of representatives' meetings; 85 percent have weaved democratic hearings into their decision-making process; 98 percent have enacted bylaws on self-governance; and all the villages have set up rural affair supervision committees as well as bulletin boards for disclosure of such affairs.

Strengthening legal publicity

The department also took measures to improve the effect of legal publicity. For example, it will draw on holidays and other special events to distribute printed legal publicity materials to villagers.

It even developed a smart phone-based application program where villagers can find solutions to 87 legal issues common in rural areas, and carried out legal education campaigns among migrant workers on a regular basis to improve their legal awareness.

Improving people's mediation system

The department has cooperated with the provincial department for civil affairs to work out a guideline on the formation of people's mediation committees at the primary level which clarifies relevant procedural issues.

It mobilized grassroots people's mediation studios to carry out thorough dispute screenings in order to nip as many disputes in the bud as possible. By doing so, the province's people's mediation system is able to settle about 130,000 disputes every year.

The department also stepped up efforts to increase lawyers' participation in dispute mediation work.