China's Legal Revolution, July 3 On PBS

On July 3rd, 9:00 pm Eastern Time, PBS will be running a documentary on the Chinese legal system, entitled, "The People's Court: China's Legal  Revolution." And is it just me, or is the guy on the far right of the site a near dead ringer for Lloyd, from the HBO series, Entourage?

PBS e-mailed me regarding the show, describing it as follows:

FROM NEIGHBORHOOD DISPUTES TO LIFE-AND-DEATH CASES, WIDE ANGLE FOLLOWS JUDGES, LAWYERS AND ordinary citizens SEEKING JUSTICE AS CHINA BUILDS A LEGAL FRAMEWORK FROM SCRATCH FOR ITS NEW MARKET ECONOMY, IN THE PEOPLE'S COURT

WIDE ANGLE Launches Its Sixth Season Tuesday, July 3 at 9 p.m. On PBS.

When a state judge brings her mobile court to a hillside village to resolve its first lawsuit, the entire community shows up for the public spectacle.  When a crusading lawyer risks government retribution to defend farmers rioting against a massive dam project, a teenager is tried and executed in secret.

It may be the court of "the people," but it's a long, long way from Judge Wapner's California courtroom.

As WIDE ANGLE returns for its sixth season of in-depth documentaries about issues that are shaping the world today, The People's Court takes viewers inside the courtrooms and law schools of China to provide an unprecedented and unexpected portrait of its rapidly
growing legal system.  The People's Court premieres Tuesday, July 3 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

Poised to surpass the United States as the largest economy in the world, yet facing mounting domestic and international pressure for fair and transparent framework of laws, China is racing to reshape the rules of society.  With Chinese from all walks of life taking to the streets in record numbers (official figures count an average of 200 incidents of unrest a day) to protest land seizures, corruption, pollution, or unpaid wages, China is under duress to provide a release valve for mounting social discontents.  "Rule of law," originally a Western concept, was recently adopted in China's Constitution for the
first time ever, and legal reform is high on the state agenda, despite the Communist Party's continuing monopoly on power. Above all, a market economy requires a reliable framework of property rights, without which international investors cannot do business with China. 

In the past quarter century, the country has opened nearly 400 law schools, trained hundreds of thousands of judges and lawyers, and launched education campaigns to encourage people to bring their grievances to court rather than taking to the streets.  Few nations have ever attempted to create a new legal system so quickly.  Yet the transformation is incomplete and the judiciary far from independent. Senior judges are appointed by, take orders from, and receive their paychecks from the Communist Party.  Hundreds of Chinese lawyers have been jailed in recent years for challenging state
leadership or taking on overly sensitive cases.  More than 99 percent of criminal cases end in convictions.  And China executes more prisoners every year than the rest of the world combined.  The People's Court reports the shocking story of the recent secret trial and execution of one of the 100,000 peasants who protested the loss of their land to a
huge hydroelectric dam project on the Dadu River. 

WIDE ANGLE was given exclusive access to film in Chinese courts -- a first for a Western documentary.  Profiling itinerant judges, law students, a human rights lawyer, and ordinary citizens, The People's Court examines China in flux, revealing the lengths to which Chinese people must go to obtain justice and raising crucial questions about
their present system of law:  Is it possible to get a fair trial in China today?  Will the "rule of law" transform Chinese society into one that protects the legal rights of all citizens?

After the film, WIDE ANGLE anchor Daljit Dhaliwal will conduct an interview with a foreign policy expert to examine the global implications of China's legal reforms and connect the dots for American viewers.

Though it certainly sounds interesting and I most certainly will be watching it, I am a bit skeptical it will be able to tell us much in its one or two hour slot.   I will report back.