Ever since China opened up to the world in 1980's, the Shanghai Municipal Government, led by the Communist Party of China and the State Council, makes great effort to build the city into an international economic, financial, trade and shipping center. With the cooperation and hardwork of Shanghai people, the city is progressing to its goal as a global metropolitan. The new team of leaders of the Shanghai government took office in February 2003. "The power of the government is entrusted by the people; the interest of people is above all," as Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng promise in his inaugural. Guided by the Shanghai Party Committee, the city's new leadership vows to strictly perform its official duties; to make significant progress in self-improvement, and to intensify the shift of its role from administrative to public service. The Shanghai government will build itself into a service government that would share with the people all their happiness and troubles; a solid responsible government that is efficient, honest and diligent; a law-abiding government that respects legal system and rules strictly and impartially.

Legal Aid: More Commonly Known by Shanghai People

03/16/2004

Recently, Wen Guorong, a retired worker in Shanghai¡¯s Baoshan District, was reimbursed for RMB 3,000 of remuneration for labor which was owed by his original working unit for ten years with the help of the Baoshan District Legal Aid Center. Since his debt was totally reimbursed at last, the 78-year-old Wen gave a silk banner with words¡°advocating for people, caring people¡±to the Center.

In the past January to October of 2003, the legal aid centers in the districts and county of Shanghai have dealt with 2866 legal aid cases of such kind totally, among which 1286 are civil cases, increasing 50% in quantity as compared with that at the same time last year. Over 700 Shanghai citizens safeguarded their rights and interests by virtue of legal aid. Issues in life involving support of the aged people, children fosterage, compensation for damages and labour disputes are solved one by one.

The more and more requests for legal aid indicates the much more rights safeguarding awareness of Shanghai people. According a survey conducted by the Shanghai¡¯s Office of Administering City According to Law at the end of 2002, only 1/3 of Shanghai citizens will choose the legal channel but 45% of the total interviewees will choose the government or the CPC channel when being asked the question¡°what is the first assistance channel in your mind when your rights and interests are infringed¡±. It indicates the idea of¡°almighty government¡±under the planned economy is still in many people¡¯s minds.¡°Another function of legal aid is to lead people to solve problems by force of law, free the government from the those civil disputes, and get to know safeguarding their own rights and interests through legal channel¡±, said Shen Wei, Director of the Municipal Legal Aid Center. In the past two years, the Center cooperate the government department for ombudsman work consciously to solve around 300 cases that involve legal disputes every year.

Now, more and more innovations are made in the legal aid¡¯s operation system in order to get close to people and facilitate people. The municipal judicial administration website and some of other government websites have set the links to the online application for legal aid. Through this channel, the legal aid is expanding its effects on every aspect of social life. At present, there are total 254 legal aid working points in Shanghai. Minhang District creatively sets up a¡°judicial morning market¡±and a¡°judicial night outpatient service¡±which integrate the legal consultation and legal aid effectively and lay a foundation for people getting close to legal aid. Since this year, all lawyers in active service in more than 300 law firms in Shanghai can act as agents in litigations with legal aids, which reserve a high-quality and powerful¡°service corps¡±for legal aid. In the present cases of civil actions dealt with by the Municipal Legal Aid Center, one third of them are actions in which lawyers act as agents.

The Shanghai government 2006