Law and human rights

China’s modern system of law is still immature and underdeveloped. The question of human rights, or more precisely, the lack of human rights – in China did not become an issue of serious international concern until the 1980s when China became more open and accessible to foreign visitors including academics, journalists, and the employees of international non-governmental organisations. On coming to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), under the terms of its prototype Constitution, the Common Programme, abrogated all laws that had been enacted by the defeated Guomindang and effectively dismantled what remained of the existing legal system. Prison conditions in China are generally acknowledged to be extremely grim. To outsiders, the Xi Jinping era saw a slowing down or reversal of the reform of the legal system, but the CCP leadership insists that continued reform is essential to the rule of law.