Law and Politics in Modern China: Under the Law, the Law, and Abo ...

hold as customary for law. Chinese words of law, however, did not enjoy the same force as that of the modern statutes.¹ Although Chinese laws have developed concrete and detailed codes, they are unable to classify and distinguish levels of legislation. Chinese rulers, regardless of their political ideologies, often have the power to define (or redefine) and control the words of law. Thus, their personal preferences have always dominated rulings, which have in turn fostered a highly unregulated and even authoritarian power.

This traditional political monopoly of law has existed for thousands of years, and the Chinese people have learned that the law changes as often as their rulers and administrators change. The general populace is disinterested in matters of law and only becomes interested if individuals are personally affected by a particular judgement. China has evolved into a society that operates less within levels of law, as Western societies do, than around law, the boundary of which is slippery, fluid, and elastic according to pragmatic need.

Two extra levels of society in China float around law: the above law and under (out) law. The former is above law because its members have sufficient political influence to redefine the meaning of law and to distribute individual shares of rights as they please, without referring to any constitutional and legal principles. Without an English abstract concept of law and justice, Chinese politics is not regulated by its words of law, but rather by the words of those who have political power. Chinese legal administration has a historic tendency to override legislation. In China, politics is law, and politicians are the legislator, the jury, and the judge. Therefore, the degree of Chinese justice, regardless of its scale (municipal, regional, or national), is determined less by constitution and regulation than by the personal characteristics and preferences of the incumbent rulers and administrators.

With this lack of clarity in legal boundaries, institutional discipline, and interlocked regulations, political power has a natural tendency to subvert. Legal and political corruption is widely accepted as a normal part of life in contemporary China. There are two currencies in China: money and political connection. Unlike the West, where these currencies