Power and Justice (Dispute Resolution and Plural Authority in Rural Society)

Author: Zhao Xudong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: This book conducts an ethnographic field study on an ordinary village in North China from the perspective of legal anthropology. The author attempts to delve into the "pluralism" of authority in the rural society, as well as the establishment process and conditions of various forms of authority. Additionally, the author seeks to find a pathway for communication and harmonious operation between national law and the "customary concepts" of local communities. Zhao Xudong was born in Chengde City, Hebei Province, in 1965, with ancestral roots in Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province. He graduated from Hebei Normal University in 1992 with a master's degree in psychology and obtained a Ph.D. in law from the Department of Sociology at Peking University in 1998, specializing in social anthropology. Currently, he is employed at the Department of Sociology and the Institute of Anthropology at Peking University, while also serving as a visiting scholar at the College of History at Nankai University. He has published over twenty research papers.
Excerpt: In 1989, a case of a son refusing to support his mother occurred in the village. The elderly woman was named Zhang Jingmei, who was seventy years old at the time and had been widowed. She had three sons: the eldest, Li Siren, had moved to Gedaotou Village, three kilometers northwest of Li Village, to establish a household. The second and third sons, Li Enjiang and Li Sihai, both lived in Li Village. The mother orally submitted the following complaint to the Fanzhuang Court:
"I have three sons. The eldest, Siren, has settled in Gedaotou Village. The other two, Enjiang and Sihai, live in Li Village, and our property, including farmland and pear trees, has been divided between them. However, after the division, they refuse to support us elderly parents. Their father died of exposure in a newly built, cold house at Sihai's in November last year. They have also treated me terribly, and around the time of the New Year, they even prevented me from returning home. My eldest son couldn't stand it and went to a neighbor's house in Li Village to bring me back, where I stayed at his home in Gedaotou Village. In the meantime, my second son, Enjiang, visited me twice at my brother's place. But now, I have been away for more than half a year, and Sihai still refuses to let me enter his home. My eldest son, Siren, has repeatedly gone to Li Village to persuade them, and I have also spoken to them at length, but to no avail. In light of my unbearable suffering, I have no choice but to file a lawsuit against Sihai and his brothers. Regarding their despicable behavior of 'needing them when alive but abandoning them when dead,' I have the following demands:
(1) They must pay support, as they were personally raised by our parents;
(2) They must return the property taken from us, or, if not, build two rooms for me in Gedaotou Village;
(3) The pear trees we own generate 3,000 yuan annually, and they should pay at least 2,000 yuan to me, based on the lower-middle level in Li Village. If this is not feasible, then the trees should be returned to my name, and all the money earned since the division should be fully refunded to me. No other demands."