This project focuses on the extent to which and the manner in which Chinese courts are being used today. The thesis of the project is that Chinese courts have emerged in ways apart from the intent of the power elite's who set them up and that divergence is significant for what it says about the value of judicial reforms not only in China, but for authoritarian regimes everywhere. The research evaluates the manner in which the Chinese state has shaped its courts with in the last twenty years (1978-1998), how civil cases are being adjudicated, and the possible radiating effects from tan evolving court system. The research relies on documentary and ethnographic data collected from the municipal courts in Shanghai (N = 20) and Beijing (N = 20). Results form the study will advance our understanding of the interrelationship between culture and law, and test the disputed proposition that china culturally eschews the use of formal law, the varied purpose that courts can serve in a transitional economy like China's, and whether and how an institution that is establish for one purpose can take on a life of its own, apart from the purpose of he power elite that set it up. %%% This project focuses on the extent to which and the manner in which Chinese courts are being used today. The thesis of the project is that Chinese courts have emerged in ways apart from the intent of the power elite's who set them up and that divergence is significant for what it says about the value of judicial reforms not only in China, but for authoritarian regimes everywhere. The research evaluates the manner in which the Chinese state has shaped its courts with in the last twenty years (1978-1998), how civil cases are being adjudicated, and the possible radiating effects from tan evolving court system. The research relies on documentary and ethnographic data collected from the municipal courts in Shanghai (N = 20) and Beijing (N = 20). Results form the study will advance our understanding of the interrelationship between culture and law, and test the disputed proposition that china culturally eschews the use of formal law, the varied purpose that courts can serve in a transitional economy like China's, and whether and how an institution that is establish for one purpose can take on a life of its own, apart from the purpose of he power elite that set it up.
