{"id":8178,"date":"2017-03-07T22:41:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T03:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=8178"},"modified":"2017-03-08T17:50:06","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T22:50:06","slug":"julia-lovell-the-cultural-revolution-on-trial-by-alexander-cook-review-a-sensational-moment-in-chinese-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/julia-lovell-the-cultural-revolution-on-trial-by-alexander-cook-review-a-sensational-moment-in-chinese-history","title":{"rendered":"Julia Lovell: The Cultural Revolution on Trial by Alexander Cook review \u2013 a sensational moment in Chinese history"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Yao

Irrational premise \u2026 Yao Wenyuan, a writer and member of the Gang of Four, is tried in 1980. Photograph: Tang Likui\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

C<\/span>hina\u2019s civil society has suffered badly in the political crackdown of the last four years: journalists are stifled by ever-tightening constraints; intellectuals are nervous of even saying the president\u2019s name in company, for fear of being seen as denigrating the cult of \u201cUncle Xi\u201d<\/span><\/a>. Above all, the Chinese Communist party (CCP) has rained down blows on the rule of law. Legal personnel have been held for months in \u201cblack\u201d prisons without access to counsel and been shackled, tortured, their family members harassed. On 14 January this year, China\u2019s chief justice aggressively emphasised that the law was subservient to party writ: \u201cWe should resolutely resist erroneous influence from the west: \u2018constitutional democracy\u2019, \u2018separation of powers\u2019 and \u2018independence of the judiciary\u2019. We must make clear our stand and dare to show the sword.\u201d<\/p>\n