Rule of Law is a continuously contested concept, the utility of which is demonstrably confined to states embracing Enlightenment ideals. It has, in modern practice, become as much a term of judgment as an analytical inquiry, determining which governance regimes are "good." Its utility is limited (if in fact it is useful at all) to the study of non-western non-democratic regimes. In this paper I argue that rule of law talk should be replaced by the significantly broader and more objective (and empirically testable) concept of political legitimacy. I make my case through a critical examination of the rule of law literature on China, which I follow with a critical analysis of the literature on political legitimacy. I conclude that, in contrast to the value-laden, complex, and ultimately indeterminate concept of rule of law, political legitimacy, which ultimately pursues the same general goal, can be determined by answering a single objective question: Would a rational person consent to live in a given society? Analysis is thus decoupled from judgment, opening the window into broader theoretical and empirical studies of non-western nondemocratic regimes.
China historically paid more attention to improving patent quantities because policymakers wished to improve the patent qualities by stimulating patent quantities, and it focused on developing invention patents but paid little attention to utility model patents because many people believe that the quality of utility model patents is lower than that of invention patents. Varies studies discussed the issues of patent qualities, but little empirical evidence was developed to show the relationship between patent quantities and patent qualities or prove that the utility model patents’ quality is lower than the invention patents’ quality. An empirical analysis is helpful to find the impact of patent quantities on patent qualities, and comparing it with the impact of R&D investments on patent qualities will show which has a greater impact. By comparing them with invention patents’ quality, the statistical examination on the quality of utility model patents is also meaningful.
In China, it is difficult for an independent monitoring body to control administrative power. For power control mechanisms to work, the established power structure in China must be fully considered. The administrative reconsideration reform and non-lawsuit administrative execution reform, which have received much attention in China in recent years, show two different ways of thinking about power control. The dual-defendant system in the administrative reconsideration reform has a distinctly local character, whereas the non-lawsuit administrative execution reform tends to be more in line with the world’s mainstream model of independent judicial supervision. Comparing their results, the dual-defendant system has achieved an unexpected success, whereas the non-lawsuit administrative execution system has suffered setbacks. Summarising the successes and failures in practice revealed that the cross-control mode of administrative power embodied in the dual-defendant system in administrative reconsideration reform has cleverly configured the pressure of responsibility on different supervisory bodies, prompting each body to actively perform its supervisory duties. In contrast, the independent monitoring model emphasised in the non-lawsuit administrative execution reform neither strengthens the pressure of responsibility on monitoring entities nor brings actual benefits to them, so the reform is ultimately unsustainable. The conclusions of this comparison may provide lessons for similar institutional designs in China or other developing countries.
Across the globe, atypical, or nonstandard, employment can be found in many places. Since China began to undertake economic reforms four decades ago, dispatch workers have become a significant component of its workforce. Although China has a legal framework in place for regulating the labour-dispatch industry, the past decade witnessed instances of enterprise noncompliance and unfair treatment of dispatch workers. Accordingly, this study highlights the current situation of labour dispatch in China, outlines the current regulatory framework, and ascertains whether regulatory reforms are warranted to deal with issues arising from the tripartite relationship between the labour-dispatch entity, the labour-service user, and the dispatch worker.
Since its introduction into China, the Internet is said to bring in a robust force of commons in cyberspace. Under the ideology of 'sharing' and 'free flow of information', the Internet is making good use of users' free labor and their personal data. The unique business model has become the foundation of digital commons in China. Furthermore, we could figure out the rise of the Internet in China has been following the similar 'illegal' model all the time, thus causing copyright infringement and other disputes accordingly. This paper traces the early ages of cyberspace in China, trying to figure out how the private-public mixed nature of the digital commons came into being and discusses relavant legal issues during the process, shedding a light on the unique relationship between mode of production tranformation and legal regime.
