Collection in Memory of Mr. Xie Huaitu

Author: China Legal Publishing House
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Xie Huaiti was a renowned legal scholar and educator in China. Despite enduring hardships throughout his life, he remained unwavering in his commitment to contributing to the development of China's rule of law and legal education. His passing is a significant loss to the legal community in China. This book is a memorial collection in honor of Xie Huaiti, including tributes from his family members, peers, and middle-aged scholars.
A Life of Righteousness and Friendship – In Memory of Comrade Xie Huaiti
Chen Hanzhang I met Comrade Xie Huaiti relatively late, in the early 1980s. To be more precise, it was after the Civil Law Drafting Group organized by the Law Commission of the National People's Congress of China was dissolved in 1982, when I began working on civil law research at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. However, I had long been familiar with the name of Comrade Xie Huaiti. I knew he had profound expertise in law and was fluent in four or five foreign languages, having already made a name for himself in the legal field at a young age. I also knew that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he had taught at the Central Political and Legal Cadre College but, during the turbulent political climate of the 1950s and 1960s, he, like many intellectuals who were overly bookish and unaccustomed to political waters, faced nearly catastrophic consequences for speaking out and was "banished" to Xinjiang to perform manual labor and other tasks unrelated to his legal expertise. There, he spent two decades of his prime years that could have been even more fruitful, until the "Gang of Four" was overthrown and the central government resolved to rectify the chaos and clear historical injustices. Only then was he transferred back to Beijing to resume his legal career.
Through years of close collaboration with Comrade Xie Huaiti, I gained a deeper understanding of his character and scholarship. He was inherently straightforward and somewhat aloof (not in a derogatory sense), and I never heard him speak a single word of flattery or praise toward any prominent figure. He maintained a respectful yet egalitarian attitude toward superiors and a warm, approachable demeanor toward colleagues, without the arrogance or indifference often seen in older individuals. Even when addressing the mistakes, shortcomings, or weaknesses of certain colleagues, he often adopted a tolerant stance. However, his deep aversion to the various vices and phenomena in society was often evident in his words, and at times, his criticism could be quite sharp.
Comrade Xie Huaiti was five years older than me, and in both knowledge and experience, he was far more accomplished. Yet he always showed great respect for me, and I, in turn, deeply respected and revered him. Over the past two decades, we never had any disagreements. This was largely due to our shared views on some fundamental theories of civil law and legislative issues. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, as Chinese academia was just breaking free from the shackles of extreme-left ideology but had not yet soared into the free sky of ideological liberation, a debate arose between the "Economic Law Perspective" and the "Civil Law Perspective." The former advocated separating economic relationships between "public" entities from the scope of civil law regulation, to be governed by what was termed "economic law," while the latter argued that civil law should be the fundamental law for all economic and personal relationships characterized by equal subjects. This debate was also reflected in the civil legislative philosophy, giving rise to the so-called "Small Civil Law" versus "Large Civil Law" controversy. I supported the latter position, which aligned with the traditional civil law view. At the time, the "Economic Law Perspective" was considered more "trendy" and widely prevalent, while the traditional civil law view seemed somewhat "conservative" and was even criticized by some enthusiasts of expanding the influence of the "Economic Law Perspective" as a "bourgeois legal perspective."
By the end of 1979, the ad-hoc Civil Law Drafting Group temporarily established by the Law Commission of the National People's Congress, led by Comrades Yang Xiufeng and Tao Xijin, adopted the traditional civil law model, which is known as