ABSTRACT
When a virus named SARS began to spread from south to north in March 2003, seriously challenging the national public health system and even the ability of the government in handling the crisis, the unnatural death of a 27-year-old young man in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, quickly became the focus of public attention. The event not only led to annulling a regulation that had existed for 20 years, but also introduced some new factors into the processes of legal and political development in contemporary China. This is the famous Sun Zhigang event. While the Sun Zhigang event is generally considered an important step in the process of achieving the rule of law, the wide-ranging discussion generated by it has led to reflections on issues of social justice and criticisms of public policies. Those reflections and criticisms in turn touch upon an issue of political culture, namely the concept of status in ideology and institutional arrangement. This is the subject on which this paper will focus.
