Five judges from primary courts and specialized courts met with Chinese and foreign journalists at a briefing held by the State Council Information Office on Sept 20. Under the theme “making fairness and justice tangible, ensuring people enjoy a stronger sence of gain”, they shared their experiences and insights in handling cases and resolving disputes.
“Every extra stretch of mountain road a judge travels means one less long trip for the people. Only by sitting on the same benches as the people can judges truly understand what is in their hearts,” said Long Jinpin, a standing member of the adjudication committee of Nanjian Yi autonomous county people’s court in Southwest China’s Yunnan province, while describing his 33 years as a grassroots judge.
For years, Long has carried the national emblem with him as he traveled across mountains and held hearings in village open spaces, farmers’ courtyards and fields. He established a mechanism linking court work with local community-level governance, successfully resolving a large number of disputes at the grassroots level.
Years ago, a woman with hearing and speech impairments was injured in a traffic accident and filed a lawsuit. Long accompanied her on a two-day journey to Dali Bai autonomous prefecture for a judicial appraisal, went to the traffic police department to obtain relevant documents, and tracked down the defendant, who had no fixed residence. He eventually helped her secure compensation.
“Whenever she saw me afterward, she would raise her right thumb and smile broadly. Although she could not speak, that thumbs-up meant more to me than a thousand words. It is the most beautiful ‘emoji’ I have kept in my mind,” Long said.
In July, Long was named one of the “People Who Moved China in 2025”. “In the years ahead, I will continue to safeguard fairness and justice and uphold the rule of law at the grassroots level,” he said.
Bai Yun, chief judge of the comprehensive division for juvenile and family cases at the Shanghai Jing’an Primary People’s Court, told journalists about a case in which the court identified a failure of parental guardianship during divorce proceedings. The parents had been arguing constantly and spending little time with their child, who subsequently became addicted to online games, suffered from low spirits, and experienced a decline in academic performance.
The court issued the parents a reminder on caring for minors and an order for family education guidance. It also brought together social workers, psychological counselors, the local women’s federation and the child’s school to form a support team and develop a tailored assistance plan. Six months later, the child’s condition improved, and the child was admitted to their preferred school.
“The case showed us that coordination among families, schools, and society was key to achieving positive results,” Bai said.
Bai has worked in the judiciary for 14 years. She has actively explored the implementation of a comprehensive adjudication mechanism for criminal, civil, and administrative cases involving minors, while advancing mechanisms such as psychological intervention, social supervision, and assistance with visitation. She also established a full-process supervision mechanism for cases involving elderly people, helped establish Shanghai’s first age-friendly courtroom, and developed distinctive judicial service programs for family affairs. These initiatives have also been accompanied by extensive public legal education, benefiting tens of thousands of people.
Ji Shengli, a member of the adjudication committee and chief judge of the fourth civil division of the Chang’an Primary People’s Court in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, has worked on the frontlines of adjudication and enforcement for more than two decades, handling more than 9,000 cases and traveling to villages throughout the foothills of the Qinling Mountains.
He has actively promoted and innovated upon the “Ma Xiwu adjudication method”, a community-based judicial and mediation approach developed in the 1940s by judge Ma Xiwu, making visits to rural communities, neighborhoods and factory premises to help resolve disputes at the source.
While handling one dispute between neighbors over a boundary, Ji led his team to conduct on-site measurements eight times. They visited elderly Party members and long-time residents to verify that a homestead had been encroached upon, and patiently explained the law and reasoned with the parties. Their efforts eventually led to the resolution of a dispute that had troubled the two families for more than a decade.
“Cases at the grassroots level cannot be fully understood by sitting in an office. Judges must conduct on-the-ground investigations to find out what really happened and identify the root of the dispute,” Ji said.
In cases involving migrant workers’ wages, pensions, property and other matters concerning people’s livelihoods, Ji has taken the lead in tackling difficult enforcement cases. He has helped recover more than 1.6 billion yuan in enforcement funds for the public. In addition to handling cases, he serves as a legal mentor at five universities and has delivered more than 30 public legal education sessions in communities and rural areas.
Lin Wei, vice-president of the Zhangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Fujian province, brought a display board showing before-and-after images of land restoration involved in a case of environmental pollution. The land was barren before restoration but became lush and green afterward.
The defendant had discharged pollutant-containing wastewater into the soil, while conventional restoration methods would have been too costly for the defendant to afford. Drawing on expert advice, the court adopted a more economical and feasible restoration plan: the soil was first treated with a washing technology, followed by the planting of vegetation capable of absorbing pollutants. After two years, the soil’s ecological functions were restored at just one-quarter of the cost of conventional restoration.
Lin has led her team in pioneering the ecological technology investigator system in the country, under which ecological experts are engaged to assist in case handling so that environmental damage can be accurately assessed and restoration measures can be effectively implemented. She also pioneered a judicial protection and ecological governance mechanism for blue carbon and adjudicated a case involving the judicial purchase of mangrove carbon sinks, the largest single transaction of its kind nationwide. More than 1 million yuan of the purchase payment was used entirely to plant mangroves, helping create a greener coastline close to local communities.
“While we adjudicate cases, we are also protecting our home and bringing peace of mind to the people,” Lin said.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are not easy. Although a judgment can determine rights, obligations and liabilities, it does not necessarily mean that a dispute has been truly resolved,” said Zhou Liting, a member of the adjudication committee and chief judge of the Fourth Division of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.
She said intellectual property adjudication must take into account the realities of business operations and help repair commercial relationships, so as to resolve not only the legal dispute but also the underlying tensions between the parties.
With 21 years of experience in intellectual property adjudication, Zhou has concluded more than 3,000 cases, including China’s first case involving infringement of a magic work and the country’s first unfair competition case concerning online lending ratings.
She participated in establishing a diversified mechanism for determining technical facts involving 14 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and properly handled a number of major patent validity and infringement cases involving leading enterprises in various industries.
In handling a dispute over the licensing of standard-essential patents involving parties from different countries, Zhou helped broker a global licensing agreement, resolving multiple related lawsuits in several countries and enhancing China’s influence in the international intellectual property field.
The five judges all work on the front lines of adjudication and enforcement. They have received honors including National Exemplary Worker, National March 8th Red-Banner Holder, National Greening Award, National Model Judge, and “People Who Moved China” award.
Their stories demonstrate the dedication and sense of responsibility of judges in the new era and provide diverse examples of how courts nationwide serve the overall interests of the country and administer justice for the people.
As China enters a new historical stage with the launch of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), courts around the country will continue to uphold strict and impartial justice, handle every case with care and commitment, promote substantive dispute resolution, and further enhance the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security.
