Xiao’s department, the major designer of the new program, has already come up with detailed plans for each series of subjects for the program.

According to Xiao, the new program will help improve and expand the current practice under which leaders attend lectures on laws. Another part of the new program is to popularize the practice which encourages leaders to seek for legal consultation prior to decision-making.

Since 1999, northeast China’s Jilin Province has hired legal consultants who have not only provided legal services for the government but also have advised it on legal matters. The ministry intends to spread the practice to other parts of the country.

Efforts will also be made to introduce training and examinations on legal knowledge for civil servants, Xiao added.

Supervision of the work of judicial and administrative officials is expected to be enhanced over the five years with mechanisms that allow effective investigation of malpractices, he said.

As China has become a more market-oriented society, business-related laws and regulations will become a focus during the public legal awareness campaign over the next five years. Particular attention will be given to legal knowledge related to WTO, which China is expected to gain membership in this year, said Xiao.

China first launched its public legal awareness program 15 years ago to restore the notion of the rule of law among its people after the “cultural revolution” (1966-76). The legal system was virtually defunct during those 10 years.

During a January national meeting, Zhang Fusen, the newly-appointed minister of justice spoke highly of the just-completed round of public campaigns, saying that the breakthrough achievement was made with the shift from simply spreading legal knowledge to imbuing the public with the notion of the rule of law.

(People’s Daily 02/01/2001)