On May 13, Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), held a symposium with a delegation led by Zhang Hongsen, chairman of the China Writers Association (CWA), at the SPC. The two sides exchanged views on optimizing their coordination mechanism, and jointly enhancing judicial protection for literary creation on rule-of-law themes.

Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People’s Court, meets with a delegation led by Zhang Hongsen, chairman of the China Writers Association, on May 13. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Zhang Jun noted that both judicial work and literary creation are centered on people, sharing the common pursuit of fairness, justice, and the promotion of truth, goodness, and beauty. He emphasized that courts at all levels should further strengthen judicial protection to support literary creation and help strengthen public confidence in the rule of law and in Chinese culture. 

Efforts should be made to develop “Fengqiao Experience” in the new era, better leverage literature’s role in cultivating social values, and promote traditional Chinese legal culture through subtle and constructive cultural influence, thereby guiding the public toward moral integrity and proper conduct and strengthening preventive governance at the source, Zhang Jun said. 

He also stressed the importance of improving mechanisms for protecting writers’ lawful rights and interests, with a focus on strengthening intellectual property rights protection, so as to provide a stable legal environment that allows writers to focus on creative work without distraction. 

He also called for further study on new trends in literary creation in the digital era, more effective use of exemplary cases for public legal education, and stronger support for national and social governance through judicial practice, while enabling literary creation to better contribute to high-quality economic and social development.

Zhang Jun further highlighted the need to enhance collaboration with writers to better utilize judicial resources, including case databases, and to present typical cases in ways that make the rule of law more accessible to the public. He added that efforts should be made to continuously improve mechanisms for ensuring and evaluating judicial fairness, so that people can genuinely feel fairness and justice in every case.

Zhang Hongsen said that the CWA has been actively promoting high-quality literary development in the new era, with a focus on producing impactful works and nurturing talent. He noted that a growing number of court-affiliated writers have produced works that combine legal insight with humanistic depth, helping to convey the values of the rule of law through literature.

He added that promoting rule-of-law development is a shared responsibility across society, and the CWA will continue to guide writers in developing creative works under this theme, constantly strengthen protection of writers’ rights and interests, and foster a healthy literary environment. 

Noting that the online public opinion environment and advances in artificial intelligence have posed new challenges to the protection of writers’ rights and interests, he expressed willingness to deepen cooperation with the SPC to improve coordination mechanisms for copyright dispute resolution and enhance industry-level governance in alignment with judicial protection. Such efforts will help improve industry standards, stimulate creative vitality, and contribute to the building of China’s cultural strength and the construction of a law-based China, he added.

SPC Vice-President Gao Xiaoli, CWA Vice-Chairperson Wu Yiqin, as well as department heads of the SPC and the CWA, also attended the meeting.