4 - The Right to Freedom of Thought in China

Summary

In the late 1940s, Chinese diplomats skillfully highlighted complementary aspects of Chinese philosophy to align with Western human rights concepts during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By emphasizing compatible cultural elements and ignoring inconsistencies, they successfully integrated Chinese cultural values into international human rights norms. This achievement was made possible by the diplomats’ education in both Chinese and Western traditions and the Chiang Kai-shek government’s preoccupation with the civil war, which allowed diplomats more autonomy. Despite this success, Confucian thought declined after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese Constitution does not explicitly mention freedom of thought, listing guiding ideologies that serve mainly as political declarations rather than practical legal principles. In contemporary Chinese court cases, the main theoretical issues around freedom of speech involve determining the boundaries of expression and whether statements constitute legal wrongs. With the development of social media and technologies, the line between public and private life has blurred. Chinese courts have touched upon the question of which ideas deserve legal protection, particularly in religious cases, but this question remains inadequately addressed and warrants continued research.