Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:30:50.334Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Controlling the Law: Legal Pluralism in China's South-West Minority Regions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2018

Katherine P. Kaup
Katherine P. Kaup*
Affiliation:
Furman University, South Carolina, USA. Email address: Kate.kaup@furman.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Millions of China's ethnic minority citizens remain subject to competing legal standards, even as state officials strive to strengthen a unified notion of state law. Minority customary law continues to bind many minority citizens in both civil and criminal arenas and often conflicts directly with state law. What happens when these laws conflict? Based on fieldwork in Yunnan, this article shows how local officials and communities navigate legal pluralism and what legal and policy provisions guide them. Granting local judges discretionary authority to set aside state law in favour of customary law, although seemingly undermining law enforcement, may in the long run be the best path to strengthening rule of law in China's minority regions.

摘要

近年来，虽然中国政府致力于树立统一法制观念，但众多少数民族群众仍受限于多重法律标准。在刑事和民事领域，少数民族习惯法对少数民族具有法定约束力，且不少条例直接和国家规定的法律法规相互冲突。通过实地考察云南地区的相关情况，本文解答了少数民族习惯法和国家法相互冲突时产生的一系列问题，介绍了当地政府官员和社会群体是如何对待法律多元主义，以及改善这一现状的政治条例和法律方针。从长期角度考虑，笔者认为虽然赋予地方法官更多的自由裁决权，允许其采用习惯法而非国家法可能削弱法律执行力，但从长远看来却是加强少数民族地区法治稳定的最佳方案。

Keywords

rule of lawethnic minoritiescustomary lawlegal pluralismsouth-west ChinaYunnanlaw and society法治少数民族习惯法法律多元主义中国西南地区法与社会
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 236 , December 2018 , pp. 1154 - 1174
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Congressional-Executive Commission on China. 2005. “Special focus 2005: China's minorities and government implementation of regional ethnic autonomy law.” In 2005 Annual Report. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 13–23.Google Scholar
Erie, Matthew. 2016. China and Islam: The Prophet, the Party, and Law. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fang, Hui (ed.). 2006. Shaoshu minzu diqu xisu yu falü de tiaohua: yi Yunnan sheng Jinping miaozu yaozu daizu zizhixian wei zhongxin de tiaoli yanjiu (The Integration of Customs and Law in Minority Areas: Case Studies Research from Yunnan Province's Jinping Miao-Yao-Dai Autonomous County). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Fischer, Andrew Martin. 2014. The Disempowered Development of Tibet in China. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
French, Rebecca Redwood. 2002. The Golden Yoke: The Legal Cosmology of Buddhist Tibet. New York: Snow Lion Publications.Google Scholar
Gao, Qicai. 1996. “Lun Zhongguo shaoshu minzu xiguanfa wenhua” (A discussion of Chinese minority customary law culture). Zhongguo faxue 1, 71–80.Google Scholar
Gao, Qicai. 2017. “Xiguanfa de dangdai chuancheng yu hongyang – laizi Guangxi Jinxiu de tianye baogao” (Transmission and expansion of contemporary customary law – fieldwork report from Jinxiu, Guangxi). Fazhi yanjiu 5(181), 3–13.Google Scholar
Ghai, Yash, and Woodman, Sophia. 2009. “Unused powers: contestation over autonomy legislation in the PRC.” Pacific Affairs 82(1), 29–46.Google Scholar
Gu, Liangsha, and Geng, Haishen. 2017. “Xingshi hejie zhidu yu shaoshu minzu jiufen chuzhi lingyu xiguanfa de hudong” (The interaction between the criminal reconciliation system and minority customary law conflict resolution). Yunnan jingguan xueyuan xuebao 4(4), 124–28.Google Scholar
Hillman, Ben, and Tuttle, Gray. 2016. Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang: Unrest in China's West. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Watch, Human Rights. 2018. “‘Eradicating ideological viruses’: China's campaign of repression against Xinjiang's Muslims,” 9 September, https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/09/09/eradicating-ideological-viruses/chinas-campaign-repression-against-xinjiangs. Accessed 8 October 2018.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization. 1989. “Convention concerning indigenous and tribal peoples in independent countries (Entry into force: 5 Sep 1991),” https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C169. Accessed 10 September 2018.Google Scholar
Kaup, Katherine P. 2000. Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Kötter, Matthias, Röder, Tilmann J., Folke Schuppert, Gunner and Wolfrum, Rüdiger (eds.). 2015. Non-state Justice Institutions and the Law: Decision-making at the Interface of Tradition, Religion and the State. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Li, Jinguo. 2010. Fazhi shenye zhong de xiguanfa lilun yu shixian (The Theory and Practice of Customary Law from the View of Rule of Law Development). Beijing: Zhongguo zhengfa daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Liu, Xi. 2008a. “Lun woguo shaoshu minzu diqu fanzui shehui kongzhizhong de xiguanfa: yi falü renleixue wei shejiao” (On China's minority areas’ customary law controlling social crimes: the legal anthropology perspective). Shidai faxue 6(4), 105–111.Google Scholar
Liu, Xi. 2008b. “Minjianfa: yizhong shaoshu minzu diqu fanzui kongzhi de xiangtu Liliang – yi Yunnan Ninglang Paomapingxiang yizu diqu minjian jindu gean wei yangban” (Folk law: a type of local minority village crime control – a case study of a drug control case in Yunnan province's Ninglang Paomaping Yi minority village). Dongfang faxue 5, 88–95.Google Scholar
Liu, Yigong. 2004. “Zhongguo shaoshu minzu xiguanfa de tedian” (The characteristics of Chinese minority customary law). Lanzhou daxue xuebao 32(1), 109–114.Google Scholar
Minzner, Carl. 2011. “China's turn against law.” American Journal of Comparative Law 59(4), 935–984.Google Scholar
Niewenhuis, Lucas. 2018. “Re-education camps in China's ‘no-rights zone’ for Muslims: what everyone needs to know,” SupChina Sinica, 22 August, https://supchina.com/2018/08/22/xinjiang-explainer-chinas-reeducation-camps-for-a-million-muslims/. Accessed 4 October 2018.Google Scholar
Ou, Jianfei. 2006. “Shaoshu minzu diqu de cungui minyue” (Minority areas' village regulations). In Hui, Fang (ed.), Shaoshu minzu diqu xisu yu falü de tiaohua: yi Yunnan sheng Jinping miaozu yaozu daizu zizhixian wei zhongxin de tiaoli yanjiu (The Integration of Customs and Law in Minority Areas: Case Studies Research From Yunnan Province's Jinping Miao-Yao-Dai Autonomous County). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 135–212.Google Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall. 2002. China's Long March toward Rule of Law. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pirie, Fernanda. 2006. “Secular morality, village law, and Buddhism in Tibetan societies.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 12(1), 173–190.Google Scholar
Qubi, Shimei, and Ma, Erzi. 2001. “Homicide and homicide cases in old Liangshan.” In Harrell, Stevan (ed.), Perspectives on the Yi of Southwest China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 94–103.Google Scholar
Sautman, Barry. 1999. “Ethnic law and minority rights in China: progress and constraints.” Law and Policy 12(3), 283–314.Google Scholar
Tamanaha, Brian Z., Sage, Caroline and Woolcock, Michael. 2012. Legal Pluralism and Development: Scholars and Practitioners in Dialogue. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wang, Peiying. 2001. “Xi xingfa dui minzu quyu zizhi difangfa biantongquan de guiding” (An analysis of modification regulations in autonomous areas). Faxue zazhi 3, 49–51.Google Scholar
Xue, Menghan. 2017. “Shaoshu minzu xiguanfa yu xingfa” (Conflict and resolution of customary law and criminal law). Guizhou minzu yanjiu 38(191), 30–33.Google Scholar
Zenz, Adrian. 2018. “‘Thoroughly reforming them towards a healthy heart attitude’– China's political re-education campaign in Xinjiang,” 6 September, https://www.academia.edu/37353916/NEW_Sept_2018_Thoroughly_Reforming_Them_Towards_a_Healthy_Heart_Attitude_-_Chinas_Political_Re-Education_Campaign_in_Xinjiang. Accessed 4 October 2018.Google Scholar
Zhang, Dianjun. 2009. “Xingfa biantong quefa yujingde minzu zizhi difang xingshi sifa lujing” (Criminal justice approaches in national autonomous areas devoid of contextual adjustments to criminal laws). Guizhou minzu yanjiu 29(125), 1–5.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xiaohui. 1994. Zhongguo falü zai shaoshu minzu diqu de shixian (The Implementation of Chinese Law in Minority Regions). Kunming: Yunnan falü daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xiaohui, and Wang, Qiliang. 2003. “The change and function of folk law of ethnic minorities in modern society: an analysis of folk law in twenty-five ethnic minority villages in Yunnan.” Chinese Sociology and Anthropology 35(4), 33–81.Google Scholar
Zhongguo da baike quanshu: faxue (China Encyclopedia of Law). 1984. Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zou, Huanshi. 2014. “Qianxi nongcun xiguanfa yu guojia zhidingfa de yitong” (Brief analysis of the similarities and differences between village customary law and national law). Xiandai qiye jiaoyu 14, 512.Google Scholar