Now Available

State Prosecutions of Speech in the

People's Republic of China

Cases Illustrating the Application of National Security and Public Order Laws to Political and Religious Expression

Volumes I and II

Available for free download from:

• SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4168412

• Stanford Law Library: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/14172685 

Volume One contains unofficial translations of over 100 documents produced by agencies of the government of the People's Republic of China between 1998 and 2020. Volume Two contains the original Chinese language versions of these documents. These documents provide a glimpse into how judicial and law enforcement authorities investigated, prosecuted, punished, and (occasionally) acquitted individuals who engaged in political and religious speech-related activities during that period. 

The documents selected include reeducation through labor decisions, police administrative punishment decisions, trial transcripts, prosecutorial indictments, judge's case summaries, and administrative, criminal, and civil court judgments. 

All of the documents were obtained from publicly available sources, including books such as the "Reference to Criminal Trial: Model Cases on the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up" published by the Supreme People's Court, as well as online sources, including unofficial websites both inside and outside of China, as well as official government websites and social media accounts, and the government-established China Judgments Online database.

In addition, this casebook also contains appendices with translated excerpts from the laws and regulations commonly cited in the aforementioned documents, as well as a Chinese-English glossary of the terms commonly used therein.

The materials in this casebook were selected, compiled, and translated by William A. Farris, who has worked as a lawyer and in-house legal advisor in Beijing, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and Taipei. It was prepared by him in his personal capacity, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of his employers – past, present, or future – and their endorsement is not implied and may not be inferred.

You can follow me on my Twitter account: https://twitter.com/wafarris, or you can contact me regarding the casebook via e-mail at wafarris@hotmail.com.