Teachers' Law of the People's Republic of China
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Law Professor Suspended from Teaching for Pro-Constitutionalism Expressions
Last week, associate professor Zhang Xuezhong (张雪忠) of East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai was notified that he was stripped of his qualifications to teach at the university. According to Dr. Zhang, the university’s Human Resources office told him that the decision was made “collectively by the university’s communist party committee.” Dr. Zhang promptly challenged the legality of such a decision since he is not a party member. In a latest statement issued via his WeChat account (@张雪忠) on Sunday, Dr. Zhang Xuezhong related the sequence of his recent interactions with school authorities that shed light on the event: “On June 4, 2013, I published an article entitled The Origin and the Perils of the Anti-constitutionalism Campaign in 2013¹(《2013反宪政逆流的根源及危险》). On June 13, four representatives of the university met with me. They were two leaders of the Law School and two leaders of the Human Resources Office. [Through them] the university made it clear to me that the article was in violation of the Constitution of People’s Republic of China, and at the same time, it also violated the teachers’ ethical code as stipulated in the Teachers Law of the People’s Republic of China (《中华人民共和国教师法》), Higher Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (《中华人民共和国高等教育法》), Professional and Ethical Code of Teachers at Higher Education Institutions (《高等学校教师职业道德规范》), and in Opinions with Regard to Strengthening and Improving the Thought and Political Work on Young Teachers at Higher Education Institutions (《关于加强和改进高校青年教师思想政治工作的若干意见》). They said the university would make its decisions according to my responses. The university also presented me with printouts of these laws and regulations, including the Constitution, highlighting the provisions that I was accused of breaching. (My own sense is that the article “got into trouble” because of its candid criticism of some of Xi Jinping’s statements.) At the moment, I told them that writing and publishing the article was completely proper behavior for a citizen exercising his freedom of expression; that if a faculty member of a higher education institution must give up his legitimate freedom of expression to be ethical, it would be a misfortune and shame for the country. I also said I would express to the university, in writing, my views of the decision. A faculty member of the university had the opinion that I was a teacher of civil law and I shouldn’t be writing articles about constitutionalism. I rejoined that, in the classroom and over the course of advising graduate students, I of course should be focusing on civil law, but outside my job, it is my freedom to discuss constitutionalism as a citizen, and the university has no right to interfere. (At the time I really wanted to say, “Marx studied law and philosophy but talked about politics and economics all the time, but you still worship him the way you do your ancestors,” but out of respect for this colleague, I held it back.) During the entire conversation, there was no mention of my book The New Common Sense (《新常识》²). The book has been disseminated online since February, and the university has never asked me to talk about it. After the conversation that day, I posted on Weibo: “Did Zhang Xuezhong Violate the Constitution?” with a photo of the highlighted copy of the Constitution the school representatives had given me. Among others, Professor Tong Zhiwei (童之伟) reposted it with a humorous comment: “Teacher Zhang will not find the answer if he doesn’t study my article in response to Teacher He Weifang (贺卫方)³ (Now that the suspension has provoked wide public attention, the university is denigrating me for “fabricating facts”). At the end of June, 2013, I wrote a letter to the leaders of the university defending my article The Origin and the Perils of the Anti-constitutionalism Campaign in 2013, sending the letter to the head of the HR office. In July, the university’s CCP party committee made the decision to suspend me from teaching. At 10am, August 17, the university representatives met with me in a café near my home and notified me of the decision, but they claimed they hadn’t received my defense letter. Leaving a fax number, they asked me to fax the letter to the Administration Office again. The conversation ended around 11 am. I faxed the letter (I have kept a photocopy of it) right away as soon as I got home, and received confirmation from the school. What’s weird now is that, when the university warned me about the suspension and asked my opinion of it, it was all about the article The Origin and the Perils of the Anti-constitutionalism Campaign in 2013 (as I said before, I wrote a defense for it) without ever mentioning The New Common Sense at all. But now the university announced that it had suspended me from teaching because of the book and the bad influence it had had on the students of the university. By using such a tactical feint to fool me, isn’t the university concerned that the public might condemn it for trumping up arbitrary charges against me?” Last September, Dr. Zhang was temporarily suspended from teaching his undergraduate courses for his support of Hong Kong students and parents fighting the implementation of the so-called “national education” course in Hong Kong schools. Subsequently, Dr. Zhang issued a statement withdrawing his CCP membership, saying that “due to differences in principles between myself and the Chinese Communist Party over the treatment of Marxism and the political future of China, I would be conflicted between my loyalty to the country and my loyalty to the Party if I continue to stay in the organization.” Earlier this year, Dr. Zhang was among the first college professors to reveal “Seven No Mentions” (“七不讲”), instructions banning the teaching of universal values, press freedom, civil society, civil rights, CCP’s historical mistakes, oligarchical capitalism, and judiciary independence on college campuses. Dr. Zhang is also a practicing lawyer, currently representing Liu Ping (刘萍) of Xinyu, Jiangsu, and Li Huaping (李化平), of Shanghai, two citizens arrested in April and in August respectively for their participation in the New Citizens’ Movement. Of the recent crackdown on social media expressions, Dr. Zhang said that true freedom lovers should not be terrified by it; instead, they should inspire more oppressed people to discover their strength and dignity by exemplifying courage. ¹ChinaChange.org will provide a translation of Dr. Zhang Xuezhong’s article. ²The complete title of Dr. Zhang’s book is The New Common Sense—The Nature and Consequences of One-Party Rule. ³Professor Tong Zhiwei is a constitutional scholar and teaches in the same university as Dr. Zhang. He Weifang is a renowned legal scholar at Peking University. Dr. Zhang Xuezhong (张雪忠) has been an associate professor of law at East China University of Politics and Law until his recent suspension from teaching. He is also a renowned human rights lawyer.
China's Human Resources Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. September 2010, Beijing
Good progress in talent development. People having professional knowledge or special skills who contribute to society through creative work are highly regarded in China. They are a high-ability and high-quality labor force among human resources. The Chinese Government has drawn up and implemented a series of major principles and policies to advance the building of contingents of people of all kinds for the Party and government, enterprise operation and management, professional techniques, high technology, rural affairs and social work in an all-round way. Through years of efforts, the number of talented people has maintained a stable increase, with improved quality, optimized structure and gradually rising utilization efficiency. By the end of 2008 the total number of such people in China had reached 114 million. Gradual improvement of income, health care and social security as guarantees for human resources development. With the country's sustained and rapid socioeconomic development, the income of urban and rural residents has maintained a stable growth. The average disposable income of urban residents increased from less than 100 yuan in 1949 to 15,781 yuan in 2008; and the average net income of rural residents increased from 44 yuan in 1949 to 4,761 yuan in 2008. Great efforts have been mobilized to build up the public health system so as to provide guarantee for improving the health of people nationwide. By the end of 2009 there were 289,000 medical institutions nationwide, 5.22 million medical workers and 3.96 million hospital beds in total. In recent years, the Chinese Government has vigorously accelerated the building of the social security system to cover rural and urban residents and to provide basic life assurance for each individual. In 2009, urban basic retirement insurance covered 235.5 million people; the total number of urban employees covered by basic medical insurance, urban residents covered by basic medical insurance and people in the countryside covered by the new rural cooperative medical insurance reached 1.2 billion; unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance and maternity insurance covered 127.15 million, 148.96 million and 108.76 million people, respectively. China implements a subsistence allowance system. By the end of 2009, 23.477 million urban residents and 47.593 million rural residents had enjoyed subsistence allowances from the government. China has implemented planned and organized large-scale poverty relief programs throughout the country. In 2009, the rural population living in poverty was reduced to 35.97 million, with the nationwide poverty rate dropping to 3.6 percent. II. Legal System for Human Resources Development Adhering to the strategy based on the rule of law, China actively promotes democratic and scientific legislation to provide legal security for the fair and equal rights of individual development for everyone, and the scientific development of human resources. Through years of development, China has established a human resources development legal system with the Constitution as the essential basis, the Labor Law and the Civil Servant Law as the foundation, the Labor Contract Law, the Employment Promotion Law, and the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes as the main contents, and other separate laws and administrative regulations as major components. Legal system for promoting employment To achieve the goal of expanding and stabilizing employment, China promulgated the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China in 1994, which expressly states that the state strives to create job opportunities and expand employment through promoting economic and social development. The Employment Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China adopted in 2007 has laid down the principle of "independent job-seeking by workers, employment based on market forces and the promotion of employment by the government," requiring the building of a government responsibility system for promoting employment, the implementing of industry, investment, finance and taxation policies favorable for boosting employment, making an overall plan for balanced employment between urban and rural areas, in various regions and among different social groups. According to this Employment Promotion Law the state will establish an unemployment precaution system, improve the public employment service, vocational training and employment aid systems. The enforcement of these laws has greatly facilitated the interaction between economic development and employment promotion. The state ensures that workers in China enjoy the rights of equal employment and independent job-seeking in accordance with the law. Since 1988 China has promulgated the Law of the People's Republic of China for the Protection of Disabled Persons, Law of the People's Republic of China for the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, Law of the People's Republic of China for the Protection of Minors, Regulations Concerning the Labor Protection of Female Staff and Workers, Provisions Concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Child Labor, Regulations on the Employment of the Disabled, and other laws and administrative regulations. The Employment Promotion Law has a special chapter on equal employment, which stipulates that no employees shall be discriminated against on the grounds of ethnicity, race, gender and religion, and specially provides that rural employees working in cities should enjoy the same labor rights as urban employees. The state also promotes vocational education and training through legislation. Since 1995 China has promulgated the Education Law of the People's Republic of China, Vocational Education Law of the People's Republic of China, Law of the People's Republic of China on Promotion of Privately-run Schools and similar laws, and has established a vocational education and training mechanism on the principle of "the market guiding training, and training promoting employment." Based on vocational education institutions and training organizations at various levels, China has improved multi-form and multi-level vocational education, and formed a vocational education and training system connecting education at various levels, and linking vocational education with general education. Proactive efforts have been made by the state to standardize the management of professional and technical staff. Since 1993 China has promulgated the Teachers Law of the People's Republic of China, Law of the People's Republic of China on Medical Practitioners, Law of the People's Republic of China on Lawyers, Law of the People's Republic of China on Certified Public Accountants, Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Certified Public Architects, and other related laws and regulations. These laws and regulations stipulate the qualifications and certificate standards of professional and technical staff, and their right to receive continuing education as well as their professional ethics, thereby standardizing the employment requirements for professional and technical staff and improving the quality of professional services. Legal system for public human resources management In 1993 China promulgated the Interim Regulations on Civil Servants, which launched the civil service system. The Civil Servants Law of the People's Republic of China went into effect in 2006, since when a series of related regulations have been issued concerning the employment and training, assessment and award, appointment and removal, promotion, demotion and transfer, punishment and appeal, resignation and dismissal of civil servants, penalties for violating civil service entrance examination rules, and appointment and ranking of new recruits. Over 1,000 regulations have been issued, covering the major components of public human resources management, including the wages and welfare of employees in government departments and public institutions, human resources management in public institutions, personnel mobility management and macro-control of human resources. Legal system for human resources rights protection In the mid-1980s China started the trial implementation of the labor contract system, which was officially established through the promulgation of the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China in the 1990s. The Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, promulgated in 2007, and the later Regulations on the Implementation of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, have further improved the labor contract system, specified the rights and obligations of employers and employees, the rules for signing, implementing, revising, canceling or terminating labor contracts and corresponding liabilities, and, taking into account the trend toward diversified forms of employment, made provisions about how to regulate labor dispatch services and part-time employment, and other aspects. Collective consultation, together with a collective contract system, is being actively implemented in China. The Labor Law of the People's Republic of China and the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China both prescribe a collective contract system, encouraging enterprises to adopt collective consultation and to sign collective contracts. The framework of the collective contract system with collective enterprise consultation as the main body, and with regional and trade collective consultation as the supplement, has been gradually formed. In recent years, the coverage of the collective contract system has been continuously enlarged with increasing effectiveness. A collective labor relations coordination system characterized by equal consultation between trade union or employee representatives and enterprise or enterprise organization representatives has been basically established. For the fair and timely settlement of labor disputes, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes was adopted in 2007, stipulating the scope, procedures, organizations, personnel and mechanism for labor dispute mediation and arbitration. In addition, a tripartite labor relations coordination mechanism has been established, comprising government departments, trade unions and enterprises, so as to better mediate and arbitrate labor disputes and give better legal redress for the timely and appropriate settlement of labor disputes and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the relevant parties. The Regulations on Labor Security Supervision have been issued and put into effect, specifying the functions, implementation and legal liabilities of labor security supervision, thereby providing significant legal support for safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of employees. III. The Government Shoulders Human Resources Public Management and Public Service Responsibility In recent years the Chinese Government has played an active role in public management of and public service for human resources, accelerated the transformation of its functions, and improved the government accountability system, to create a favorable policy and social environment for workers to work with dignity and for talented people to excel others. Implementing an active employment policy Long facing the difficulty that supply of labor outstrips demand, China always has the arduous task to secure stable employment and create more jobs. The Chinese Government always makes employment promotion the top priority for economic and social development. To fully develop and make effective use of human resources, it implements a strategy that promotes job creation and a policy that actively increases employment, and strives to help urban and rural workers enhance their overall qualities, gradually expanding employment. The government is shouldering more responsibilities in promoting employment, and government investment has been increased to provide equal employment opportunities for all. By intensifying its efforts in offering employment assistance such as occupational skill training courses, the government helps zero-employment families and people who have difficulty finding employment land jobs. A unified labor market has been set up to provide equal opportunities and services for both urban and rural workers. Relying on policy support and market orientation, the government has solved the re-employment problem for over 30 million workers laid off by state-owned enterprises, and incorporated subsistence allowances of laid-off workers into their unemployment insurance. From 2005 to 2009, over 50 million new jobs were provided in urban areas, and nearly 45 million surplus rural workers were transferred to non-agricultural sectors. At the end of 2009 the number of registered unemployed persons in urban areas was 9.21 million, with an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.
Chinese Education Development
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese Government has attached great importance to the development of education. The state has promulgated a series of laws on education that ensure that all the Chinese people, particularly school-age children, ethnic minorities, women, and the handicapped have the right to receive education. Through 50 years of efforts, China has made big strides in education. Indeed, China runs the biggest education system in the world. Nine-year compulsory education is now being implemented by stages and in a systematic way. In areas inhabited by 91% of the entire population, the goal of universalizing primary education has been attained. Enormous progress has been made in higher education, vocational and technical education, adult education and education of the ethnic minorities. A multi-level educational system with various modes of educational delivery and diversified programs, covering all major subject areas has taken shape in China. International cooperation and exchange in education have expanded over the years. The System of Educational Administration and Management in China China has introduced an educational system under which schools are primarily run by the government with the support of various sectors of society. At present, local governments take charge of primary education, while the central and provincial governments (including governments of autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) are responsible for running institutions of higher education. Under the guidance of the government, vocational and adult education should rely mainly on various sectional departments, enterprises, institutions and other sectors of society. The government encourages all sectors of society to pool their resources in extending educational provision of all types and levels. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is the highest administrative organ in charge of education in China. Its responsibilities include: enforcing the laws and decrees promulgated by the state, carrying out the principles and guidelines formulated by the state, formulating specific educational policies, drawing up overall plans for educational development, coordinating the efforts of various governmental departments in education, and drawing up a general scheme for and giving guidance to the reform of China's educational structure. Since 1978, a number of important laws have been promulgated, such as the Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Academic Degrees, the Teachers' Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Juveniles, the Education Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Regulations on the Qualifications of Teachers, the Higher Education Law of the People's Republic of China in addition to more than 10 administrative statutes. Besides, the Ministry of Education has issued more than two hundred administrative regulations on education within its mandate, effectively promoting the development of education of various types at different levels. In the system adopted for educational finance, governmental allocations are the main source but to be supplemented by funds raised through multiple channels. For educational institutions under the jurisdiction of various central ministries and agencies, the funds needed are provided by state budgetary allocations, for institutions under the jurisdiction of local governments, the funds needed are provided by local budgets, for schools run by townships or village communities, enterprises and institutions, the funds needed are mainly provided by the sponsors of the schools, to be supplemented by governmental subsidies, for schools sponsored by social organizations, prominent personages, the funds needed are provided by the sponsors themselves (including tuition fees collected from students and donations). Besides these sources of educational finance, schools of various types at different levels are encouraged to conduct work-study programs and to provide income-generating services to society so as to improve their financial situation and school facilities. Since 1978, the investment for educational purposes has been increasing year by year. In 1997, total educational expenditures reached 253.173 billion yuan, of which 186.254 billion yuan or 73.57 % came from governmental resources, including 135.773 billion yuan of strictly budgetary allocations. China's Educational System Education in China is divided into four categories, namely, basic education, secondary vocational-technical education, regular higher education, and adult education. Basic Education Basic education encompasses pre-school education, primary and general secondary education. Primary schooling usually lasts six years, secondary education is divided into two stage: junior secondary and senior secondary, with each usually lasting three years. There are also some nine-year schools combining primary and junior secondary education. Great efforts have been exerted to implement nine-year compulsory education by stages ever since the promulgation of the Compulsory Education Law of the People'S Republic of China in 1986. Primary education has become universal in most parts of the country. In big cities and economically developed areas junior secondary education is being steadily universalized. In 1997, there were 628,840 primary schools with a total enrollment of 130 million pupils and the net enrollment rate of school-age children reached 98.9%, and the annual retention rate reached 98.5%. So far, in areas inhabited by 91% of the entire population primary education has been universalized. The transition rate of primary school graduates to junior secondary schools reached 92.6%. In 1997, there were 78,642 junior secondary schools with a total enrollment of 46,578,200 students and a total intake of 17,522,800 new entrants, and there were 1,469 junior secondary vocational schools with a total enrollment of 808,900 students and a total intake of 308,800 students. The gross enrollment rate at the junior secondary stage is about 82.4%, and the transition rate of junior secondary school graduates to various types of senior secondary schools reached 49.76%. In 1997, there were 13,880 general senior secondary schools with a total enrollment of 85,007,000 students and a total intake of 3,226,100 new entrants. In 1997, there were 1,440 schools for special education catering to the needs of the blind, the deaf-mute, and the mentally retarded children, with a total enrollment of 340,600 students, increased by 20,000 as compared with the previous year. Now, more than half of school-age handicapped children have access to education. There were 182,485 kindergartens with a total enrollment of 25,189,600 children. Secondary Vocational and Technical Education Secondary vocational and technical education encompasses education and training provided by regular specialized secondary schools [including secondary technical schools (STSs) and normal schools (NSs)], skilled workers schools (SWSs), and vocational schools, as well as by short-term vocational and technical training courses of various descriptions. Since the 1980s, secondary vocational and technical education has been developing rapidly. In 1996, there were 33,464 secondary VTE schools of various types with a total enrollment of 18,697,600 students in addition to 2,100 training centers offering training to about one million unemployed each year. The proportion of students enrolled in vocational-technical programs at the senior secondary stage increased from 18.9% in 1980 to 51.2% in 1996. In 1997, there were 4,143 specialized secondary schools (SSSs), including 3,152 STSs and 897 NSs, with a total enrollment of 4,654,100 students. Within the subsector of STSs, enrollment in programs of finance and economics, physical education, and arts tends to increase, while enrollment in engineering or technological programs tends to decrease. In 1997, there were 8,578 senior secondary vocational schools with a total enrollment of 3,957,500 students and a total intake of 1,803,400 new entrants, and 4,395 SWSs with a total enrollment of 1,931,000 students and a total intake of 734,000 new entrants. Regular Higher Education Regular higher education refers to tertiary level education provided by short-cycle courses or schools, undergraduate courses, and postgraduate programs, all offering training for formal academic qualifications. Short-cycle courses usually last two or three years, while normal undergraduate courses last mostly four years, with medical courses lasting five years, and a few engineering schools offering five-year programs. Master degree programs take 2-3 years to complete, while doctoral programs usually take 3 years to complete. In the past 50 years, higher education in China has made big strides. The academic degrees system has been instituted since 1981, and degrees are awarded at three levels; the bachelor's degree, the master's degree, and the doctor's degree. Thanks to a series of reforms and readjustments of the educational structure, the vitality of higher education institutions (HEIs) has been greatly enhanced, the scale of their operation has expanded a great deal, the structural pattern of educational provision tends to be more rational, and the quality of education and training has markedly improved, with concomitant improvement of the cost-effectiveness of educational programs. Thus, a system of higher education providing multi-level training in programs covering fairly comprehensive disciplinary areas, and using various modes of educational delivery has taken shape, playing a significant role in promoting the economic and social development of the country and in furthering the advancement of science, technology and culture. In 1997, there were 1,020 regular HEIs in China with a total enrollment of 2,906,400 students and a total intake of 1 million new entrants. At the graduate level, in 1996, there was a total enrollment of 162,300 students, with 35,203 enrolled in doctoral programs and 126,632 enrolled in master's degree programs, and a total intake of 59,400 new entrants, including 12,562 enrolled in doctoral programs and 46,632 in master's degree programs. In the period of 1979-1996, the total output of graduates from regular HEls reached 7,667,400 or 2.58 times the total output of the previous 30 years. In the 1981 -1996 period, the total number of doctoral degrees awarded reached 20,514, and the total number of master's degrees awarded reached 285,943. In 1996, the ratio of intake of undergraduate students (including those enrolled in short-cycle programs) and the intake of graduate students stands at 1:16.3 compared with 1:17.7 in 1994, while the ratio between intake of 4-year undergraduate students and intake of short-cycle students stands at 1:0.91. As regards the composition of newly admitted students, those enrolled in programs of the humanities, finance and economics, political science and law, physical culture and sports, and arts tend to increase, while those enrolled in science and engineering programs tend to decrease, and enrollment in finance and economics programs shows marked increase. There are over 3,400 research institutes or research labs affiliated to regular HEls throughout the country. About 500 programs in various academic fields have been designated as priority ones and given the necessary resources for their healthy development. About 150 national key laboratories and special laboratories are being developed to increase the R&D potential of HEls. A number of engineering research centers are at the initial stage of development. Important accomplishments in basic and applied research, as well as in high-tech research and development have been scored. In the fields of natural sciences, 50% of prizes awarded at the national level went to university scientists, as for research in philosophy and social sciences, the prize-winning projects that fall under the national Eighth Five-Year Plan and in which HEIs play a leading role or take part in account for nearly 60% of the total number of prize-winning projects.
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Examples
1 Teachers' Law of the People's Republic of China is adopted at the 4th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on October 31, 1993 and promulgated by Order No.15 of the President of the People's Republic of China on October 31, 1993
2 Teacher's Law of the People Republic of China shall be applicable to all kinds of education at all levels within the territory of the People’s Republic of China.
3 With a view to developing educational undertakings, improving the quality of the whole nationality, accelerating the construction of the socialist material and spiritual civilization and in accordance with the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, Teachers' Law of the People's Republic of China is hereby formulated.