Mainland celebrates constitutional rights citizens are arrested for

A student prepares to lead a discussion about Chinese law during China’s first Constitution Day at their school in Beijing

Students in more than 400,000 schools across China recited the country’s 135-article constitution yesterday in a national celebration of the document that enshrines one-party rule as well as a series of freedoms that some are being jailed for exercising.
In Shanghai, propaganda officials are marking the first Constitution Day by screening movies, including “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Training Day” which depict corruption in the U.S. law enforcement systems, at a film festival to promote better awareness of the 32-year-old charter.
China’s new celebration, coming as the government continues to prosecute rights activists and dissenters, was decreed at the ruling party’s October plenum, which promised improved legal processes. So far, President Xi Jinping’s push for improved rule of law doesn’t include any mechanisms to decide when rights guaranteed by the country’s constitution, such as freedom of speech or assembly, have been breached.
“These are all basic human rights protected by the constitution; if that cannot be guaranteed, it’d be useless even if you designate everyday as a Constitution Day,” said Wang Jianxun, a Constitutional law professor at China University of Political Science and Law. “That would only become a nice-sounding but hollow echo.”
Xi’s administration has abolished labor camps, allowed citizens more grounds to sue the government, and is now promoting the constitution as it seeks to address public discontent with corruption Xi has warned threatens the party’s rule. That leadership is enshrined in the preamble to the charter, which was adopted by the National People’s Congress on Dec. 4, 1982, based on a previous version enacted in 1954.
There is little sign that Xi’s legal push has led to more tolerance of dissent. Gao Yu, a veteran journalist, was tried on Nov. 21 for leaking internal party documents on censorship to overseas media. On the same day, Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti lost his appeal against his conviction for promoting separatism with a website on Xinjiang and religious affairs. The two cases have been criticized for suppressing views deemed critical of or threatening to the ruling party.
While celebrating the constitution may be intended to bolster the legitimacy of China’s leadership, it could increase the challenge the leaders face in the future, according to Jerome Cohen, a professor of law at New York University who specializes in Chinese law.
“Chinese are highly intelligent people who will increasingly note the contrast between the promises in the Constitution and the realities of daily life,” he said. Ting Shi, Bloomberg