iii. conclusion
To summarise, we may draw two pictures based on our analysis. The first one is
comparatively passive. In this picture, we saw that the Constitution could not be
referred to in civil and criminal judgments. A young female’s classmate stole her
name, but she had no way to reclaim her right to receive education supposedly
protected by the Constitution. We saw that billions of rural residents and working
migrants in Chinese cities were not given equal voting rights, as their urban
compatriots’ votes were valued four times more than theirs in electing representa-
tives at people’s congresses. Even so, the supposed ‘modern’ legislatures are not
capable of controlling the administration, which was free to hide its secrets in the
name of ‘national interest’. We saw that public authorities abused their discretion
too. They expropriated people’s homes to build roads, or even luxurious houses
for the affluent. Some affected persons lost their lives defending their properties,
and that was a tragic page in China’s constitutional history.
In contrast to that picture, a brighter picture can be drawn too. In this one, we see
Chinese legal reformers endeavouring to activate constitutional review in one way or
another. It should be remembered that a young man and anonymous persons have
sacrificed for the extraordinary experiment. The Internet also continues to contri-
bute to populist protest, to which the authorities must be more responsive to keep
laws in line with the Constitution. In addition, the administration has been aware of
the necessity to behave humbly towards the legislatures and the people. It has
enhanced its transparency and openness, and become more willing to accept exter-
nal supervision. The revision of China’s Electoral Law is another brighter part in the
second picture. Now Chinese citizens are entitled to substantially equal votes
regardless of their residentship. The representatives at people’s congresses are elected
by the same population ratios in both urban and rural areas; the ‘ 1 / 4 article’ exists no
more. There we also see that the 2004 constitutional amendments have strengthened
human rights protection, especially of people’s private property. The 2011 adminis-
trative regulation with respect to land expropriation and compensation in the public
interest has further restrained that administration from using violent means to affect
persons without judicial instruction. In the 2010 s, the experience of ‘one country, two
systems’ has also built up our confidence that the central government and the
societies of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan might sustain a more reciprocal
relationship in the future. If successful, that would certainly complete our second
picture with a mark of extraordinary beauty.
Charles Dickens might have loaned his words to Chinese constitutionalists: ‘it
was the best of times, it was the worst of times...we had everything before us, we
had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct
the other way’. There are twists and turns ahead, but China has come through the
first decade of the twenty-first century with many surprising achievements. In
concluding this decennial review, we are therefore optimistic.