ABSTRACT
Global complexities and social uncertainties have worsened since the financial crisis erupted in the United States in September 2008. Under this unprecedented backdrop, the Chinese legal system is in a dilemma: reducing external complexity and uncertainty requires rigid binding norms, while changing circumstances demand expediencies, which relativize the effects of rules. Globalization has interrupted China's internal development in a stage-by-stage manner. Capital inflow has contributed to the extreme growth of financial capital, which has given impetus, along with cheap labor, to the industrial boom. Recently in China, there has been a popular idea that judicial performance should be evaluated by the degree of people's satisfaction. A hidden belief is that judges could adjust the application of law in accordance with mainstream attitudes. The politicized judicial process draws attention to objective standards and firewalls in specific cases, exposing individual judges to unknown political consequences and risks.
