ABSTRACT
In 2009, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrated its 60th birthday and 30th anniversary of its opening-up and economic reform. As far as civil justice is concerned in this period, the impressive achievements that have been made are well refl ected in the White Paper published by the State Council as part of the national endeavour to modernize the legal system in the country’s social and economic transition towards a market economy.1 However, given the size of the country and the complexity of the national conditions, there will always be different sides of stories to tell. The limited space would not allow this chapter to engage in a full-scale deliberation of the debate on the direction and future of the civil justice reform in China.2 Instead, by reviewing the recent developments, the author argues that in dealing with the social confl icts in the transitional period the judiciary of China has been assigned increasingly and disproportionately more political tasks. As a result, to a large extent, the agenda of the civil justice reform has been changed, at least momentarily, at the cost of judicial effi ciency and professionalism.
