Liu Xiaonan and Wang Liwan
We realized upon being commissioned by Professor Zhang Wei, Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Perspectives on Human Rights and Good Governance, to edit this special volume on “Equal Rights and Anti-Discrimination” that this would be a challenging task.
On the one hand, though anti-discrimination research in China started late, it has developed very quickly in recent years. It is well known that the localized anti-discrimination research in China began around 1993, and became a noticeable research orientation in 2007–2008. Its landmark event took place in 2008, when the Constitutionalism Research Institute at China University of Political Science and Law and scholars from various fields of jurisprudence jointly drafted an Anti-Employment Discrimination Law (Expert Recommendation Draft) and launched legislative lobbying through various channels. Since 2010, the Constitutionalism Research Institute at China University of Political Science and Law has held annual anti-discrimination research conferences, which has gradually promoted the formation of an anti-discrimination community composed of scholars, judges, lawyers, social activists and public welfare personnel. On this basis, the Constitutionalism Research Institute at China University of Political Science and Law has edited and published proceedings on anti-discrimination since 2011, and the Anti-Discrimination Law Review (Annual Journal) since 2014, which has become the first academic journal with the theme of equal rights and anti-discrimination in China. Many articles in this volume are from the Anti-Discrimination Law Review. Therefore, the biggest challenge we were faced with in choosing articles was how to select the representative achievements of anti-discrimination research in China from the numerous articles.
On the other hand, although China’s anti-discrimination research shares common positions and approaches, its internal division of labor has been greatly refined, covering the considerable research on discrimination against specific groups (women, disabled persons, homosexuals and transgender, etc.) and research on discrimination in specific fields (public post recruitment, education and public service, etc.), as well as in-depth discussion and comparison with international experience in terms of the fundamental theory of anti-discrimination with a large number of legislative and administrative proposals being put forward. In practice, Chinese jurisprudential circles, legal practitioners and public media have carried out various forms of activities in the fields
This volume is characterized by its comprehensive and in-depth presentation of the latest thinking on equality and anti-discrimination in China. It is worth noting that the anti-discrimination research and practice in the field of law are synchronized with political reform and economic development in China, in which experts and scholars, public media, research institutions and non-governmental organizations play a very significant role. Fundamentally speaking, the awakening of the citizens’ rights consciousness and rights protection activities of disadvantaged groups are the driving force of anti-discrimination research and practice in the field of law. This volume can be regarded as a true portrayal of the above-mentioned joint efforts. As a starting point, it hopes to arouse more English readers’ attention and reflection on China’s anti-discrimination issues.
Translated by Zhao Hongfang, a teacher of the School of Foreign Languages at China University of Political Science and Law.