Okay, so some might and it's rather difficult to get a full picture.
One other thing I have noticed is the high levels of trust you have in the central authorities in Bejing. This is not unique to you, I have seen similar in various news reports from China, about people saying what the government should do for them, yet are far more critical of local authorities. This is partially because the local governments aminister them more, and because the central government acts as their saviour from them.
It's quite nasty, tzarist Russia used the same technique - local nobles were hated, but the tzar was always there above them, caring* for the little man.
*read: doing a good job at pretending to care
Anyway, another question - is the only way to appeal a verdict of a lower court to actually travel to Bejing? It seems to me as if it is, but I need to ask.
McHrozni
When it comes to non-political issues, the central authority in Beijing
is fairly reliable; rulings tend to be based on rule of law, rather than on relationships, or being affected by corruption. I wouldn't say I have a
high level of trust...it is relative. I'd trust the Beijing courts more than most other courts in China; but not as much as I would Canadian courts.
Pretty much like the West, there are various levels, and you generally have to go through each level. So you'd do a local court, then a provincial court, then the national courts in Beijing. And yes, you'd have to go there (just as you'd have to show up in a courtroom in the U.S. if you were appealing a verdict). Generally, the gov't will cover costs (provide lawyer and cover room/board costs) if your case is felt to have merit, but you can't afford it yourself.
I'm sorry, McHrozni, but an awful lot of your comments seem to be from the perspective of a very black-and-white world. Like the "high level of trust in Beijing courts" thing.
Compared to other courts in China, yes, I have a higher level of trust (with the exception, as I said, of political cases); that doesn't mean I have a 'high' level of trust.
Part of the reason for having more trust in Beijing authorities is quite pragmatic...they're watched and monitored by both Chinese and foreign media far more closely than are smaller, regional courts. Abuses and bad verdicts will be revealed much more quickly, which would in turn erode the Chinese peoples' trust in those courts.
Consider back home...if a newspaper report revealed that a local mayor of a city, or a local judge, was caught in a corrupt act...it wouldn't bring down the government, nor the justice system. But if the President, or a member of the Supreme Court, were caught doing the same thing, it'd be a much, much bigger scandal, one that could have very serious repercussions for the entire system.
When it comes to political cases, it is different. Those are generally done behind closed doors, with little or no media access allowed, and verdicts often pre-determined. But even in those cases, the gov't is slowly losing the battle for control, as Chinese people become more and more informed about what is going on.
Case in point...a famous Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, has recently been targeted by the authorities for criticizing the gov't, and they've detained him, and brought all sorts of charges against him to try to harass him. Most recently, some nude photos he had taken were declared to be 'pornographic', and he was charged with producing pornography (still illegal in China); the news hit the internet immediately, and literally millions of Chinese started protesting online, and posting their own nude photos. The gov't has had to back down as a result.
China is just about the least black-and-white nation on the planet...it is so huge, and has so much diversity (in how much control the local gov't exercises, in what laws are in effect, in how reliable the courts are, in the levels of corruption, etc.) that the only way to understand it would really be think of it as many different countries/territories, each with their own traits.
Another good example of this is the gov't attitude towards religion. In some parts of China, any illegal religious activity will be squashed quite ruthlessly; in other parts of China, illegal religious groups operate openly and with impunity, with little or no gov't action taken away from them. Thus, 'house churches' (unregistered Christian gatherings, which are illegal under Chinese law) with only 10 people may be shut down in one part of China; while another unregistered church with hundreds of members may meet openly every week in another part of China, with no action taken whatsoever.
When I talk about different parts of China, or about the national gov't, I'm generally discussing them
relative to each other...not in comparison with Canada (since, due to the widely differing policies and practices, such a comparison is inevitably pointless), or any other country.
In addition, my perspective on China today is generally based on a comparison of China today, with China 20 years ago (when I first came here); because to understand where China is today, you need to understand where its come from, and just how much positive change has taken place. Again, comparisons with other countries, based only on "how both countries are at this point in time", are largely useless, except to engage in an ego trip about "how much better we are than them."
A better point of comparison would be how long it took the U.S. (a country founded on principles of democracy, freedom, and equality) to address issues of slavery, women's rights, racial equality, etc. A process that took well over a century. By comparison, the pace of change in China has been incredibly fast, accomplishing significant improvements in freedom and equality in a much shorter period of time.
