Home > Opinions > Celebrating 60 with confidence

Celebrating 60 with confidence

By Joshua Rosenzweig | Far Eastern Economic Review

Joshua Rosenzweig in a file photo taken in May 2006. Photographer unknown

Fifty years ago today, as China was preparing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, Mao Zedong sent a handwritten note to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the executive body of the country’s legislature, recommending the announcement of a special pardon to mark the anniversary. Mao summed up his support by saying, “It will make [all prisoners] realize that under our great socialist system, everyone has a future if only they can reform their ways.”

Two weeks from now on 1 October, the People’s Republic of China will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding, a milestone with special significance in Chinese culture. Representing a full cycle in the traditional calendar, 60 years is a time to reflect on past accomplishments and an auspicious moment to embark on fresh endeavours. Chinese history is replete with examples of major anniversaries and other auspicious dates being marked by pardons, and pardons have been a feature of many other Asian cultures as well.

It was thus unsurprising when, earlier this year, voices inside China began proposing that a special pardon be issued as part of the upcoming 60th anniversary celebrations. Prominent members of society—including eminent legal scholars and delegates to China’s highest representative institutions—have backed the idea, emphasizing that such acts of clemency are provided for in China’s constitution and can play a role in promoting the kind of “harmonious society” that is one of the central ideals of the current leadership. Proponents also argue that a special pardon would be proof of the confidence, stability, tolerance and prosperity that the Chinese nation most wants to present to the world as manifestation of its great progress since 1949.

However it’s not clear at this point in 2009 that China’s leaders feel secure enough to take the bold step of releasing tens of thousands of prisoners—even prisoners who have exhibited good behaviour and are no longer a threat to society. The government is dealing with outbreaks of ethnic violence, frequent large-scale protests over local government corruption and incompetence, and nagging worries—despite continued impressive growth figures—about the potential impact of the global financial crisis on China’s economy. Under these circumstances, Chinese leaders may feel more comfortable sticking to the usual anniversary programme of parading its military might on the streets of Beijing.

But it’s worth recalling that Mao Zedong’s pardon recommendation was made during a time filled with equal, if not greater, risks. Cold War tensions were at their height, while the Sino-Soviet split was emerging. Domestically the new government was still consolidating its power. China had just suppressed a major revolt in Tibet. A month earlier, Mao himself had just survived one of the most serious challenges to his leadership within the Party, a challenge brought on by worries that China’s “Great Leap Forward” policies had had a devastating impact on the economy.

Yet the 1959 pardon was successful in projecting an image of confidence and strength, and boosted popular support. Best remembered for releasing several dozen “war criminals”—most notably the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Aisingoro Pu Yi, who had headed the Manchukuo puppet government under the Japanese occupation—the tenth anniversary pardon benefitted an estimated 70,000 “counterrevolutionaries” and ordinary prisoners. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the great majority of those pardoned did not re-offend, and the pardon is credited with having a positive impact on the attitude, behaviour and willingness to reform of those who remained imprisoned.

Following the announcement of the 1959 pardon, provincial courts established special commissions of officials and party cadres to oversee the process of carrying out the order. Prisoners who had shown genuine reform were released or granted sentence reductions. Besides exhibiting good behaviour, before being considered for release prisoners also had to have already served a significant portion of their sentences—ranging from one-third for ordinary criminals serving five years or fewer to two-thirds for counterrevolutionaries sentenced to more than five years. Individuals whose death sentence had been suspended for two years or who had been sentenced to life in prison could also be considered for commutation to fixed-term sentences. The result was a major act of clemency by year-end, the scale of which has largely been forgotten, even in China.

China’s current leaders could take a cue from their predecessors’ confidence in the midst of uncertainty and recognise the value in complementing the images of martial strength with a gesture of compassion. A special pardon for Chinese prisoners would be a major humanitarian act that would send an unmistakable signal about China’s determination to build a harmonious society.

Copyright © 2009 FEER

Published in Far Eastern Economic Review