A total of 29 press conferences were held by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) in 2019. They reflected the top court's commitment to impartial justice for the people by focusing on such key issues as people’s livelihood, judicial reform and the business environment.

During a SPC press conference on Dec 25, the top court demonstrated its country-wide cross-regional case filing system by live-streaming two local courts more than 5000 kilometers apart helping a litigant successfully file his lawsuit in just 15 minutes.

The system is part of the SPC’s effort to greatly simplify its judicial service procedures for the people. In fact, of the 29 press conferences, seven were focused on issues directly related to people's livelihood.

On a press conference held last February, the court released three documents on judicial relief in an effort to provide support for financially-strapped people in the litigation process.

On May 31, the day before Children's Day, the court published ten model cases on the protection of minors, showing its resolve to crack down on crimes against them.

In August, the court unveiled its blueprint for building a one-stop diversified dispute settlement mechanism and a one-stop litigation service center at a press conference, marking the beginning of the modernization of China’s litigation service system.

The court also laid out a five-year plan for removing obstacles in enforcing court judgments at a press conference last June, aiming to solve this problem with a step-by-step approach.

Apart from announcing measures to improve its work for the people, the court also took advantage of press conferences to showcase the progress of China’s judicial reform.

Last February the court released a white paper on judicial reform at a news conference, outlining its work for the next five year with 65 concrete measures.

Two months later, the court issued two documents on people’s assessors, clarifying their training, evaluation, rewarding and punishments. The documents serve as a milestone in advancing judicial democracy and impartiality.

Near the end of 2019, the court announced its decision to revise the current provisions on evidence used in civil litigation at a press conference in an effort to press ahead with the trial-centric reform of China’s litigation system.

The court also introduced to the world its achievements on developing an Internet judiciary in a white paper published at a press conference last December in Wuzhen which hosts the World Internet Conference every year.

At a press conferences held last year the court addressed such significant issues as the Belt and Road Initiative, the business environment, intellectual property rights protection and environmental and natural resources disputes, which are of interest around the world.

For example, using several press conferences, the court released a series of judicial interpretations on corporate bankruptcy, time limits on trials of civil and commercial cases and foreign investment and judicial support for the building of the Belt and Road, all of which were aimed at building a law-based business environment for both Chinese and foreign enterprises.

The court also held a press conference to report on progress in environmental and natural resource trials, and to publish a set of typical cases in an effort to set up unified trial standards for courts across the country.

To display its determination to protect intellectual property rights in China, the court held a press conference during last year’s intellectual property publicity week at which it released a white paper along with ten major IP-related cases and 50 typical cases.