China's 26th Dynasty

 

Today, the public officeholders in China are still referred to as “父母官,” literally meaning the “father and mother officials.” On the other end of the hierarchical spectrum, the people still address themselves as “老百姓,” literally meaning “old hundred surnames.” It is a term that emerged with the founding of the Qin dynasty that ended feudalism in China. The nobility and the slaves disappeared, and in their stead emerged the class of the “old hundred surnames,” a submissive population of probably the world’s first centralized state.



It is why the three student representatives, supposedly fighting for democracy, nevertheless knelt on the steps of the Great Hall while holding a petition paper over their heads—the typical manner of the subjects seeing the emperor—when petitioning for a dialogue with the government officials.

Many of China's government departments have "Letters and Visits" offices to receive complaints. The complaints system allows citizens to report grievances to authorities, who are then supposed to instruct other government departments to resolve the problems. It is a throwback to China's imperial days when citizens could plead their cases all the way to the capital if they couldn't get justice at home.

Today, the petitioners' thinking is heavily influenced by this tradition. They're looking for an upright and sympathetic official to personally intervene in their case. One recent survey found that only 2 percent of petitioners in Beijing had their cases resolved by the "Letters and Visits" system. But many petitioners have no other choice, as the local courts and media tend to be under the control of local governments. Petitioners complain that the "Letters and Visits" system often hands their cases right back to the local officials who cause the problems in the first place.