Cai's rational idea

Ding Jian has been away from us for more than 10 days.

Teacher Ding Jian is an ordinary university professor, but he is an extraordinary person. He made unremitting efforts to realize and safeguard people's rights all his life, and he devoted all his life to promoting national progress. He devoted himself to the great cause that really concerns the long-term stability and national rejuvenation of the country! These days, the public has expressed their strong public opinion through various forms, which fully shows their high affirmation and respect for him, including my deep respect for Mr. Ding Jian. Before I met Ding Jian, I was a fan of his theory. Since I have known Mr. Ding Jian, his theoretical thinking, practical exploration and even his will, character and mind have shocked me again and again. Follow his career before his death; After he left, it is the common wish of many of our schoolmates to continue to struggle for his unfinished business.

In Ding Jian's teacher, China's intellectual spirit of "taking the world as one's duty" is integrated with the social responsibility of contemporary public intellectuals' independent thinking and critical spirit, which runs through all his theoretical thinking and practical exploration. As a result, he made a unique contribution to the study of China's socialist democratic constitutional theory, and was called "the first person to study the system of China People's Congress". After his death, many people commented that he would be a historic figure in the constitutional history of China. I think this evaluation is objective and fair. The people's democratic rights must depend on the effective implementation of the Constitution. Teacher Ding Jian believes that "the provisions of the Constitution that guarantee human rights such as freedom, equality and personal dignity should be regarded as the basic value or goal of all legal orders." The title of one of his articles is "The Constitution is for Use". His research on the constitution is not textual research in the study room, but focuses on the practical problems in real life: opposing employment discrimination, stopping low-cost compulsory expropriation of residents' land and real estate, calling for relief of the rights of hepatitis B virus carriers, striving to promote villagers' autonomy and promoting judicial reform. Teacher Ding Jian's academic research and practical exploration are always closely related to the protection and realization of the rights of China citizens, especially the disadvantaged interest groups.

In 2003, as a bureau-level official, he publicly supported the legislative proposal of unconstitutional review put forward by three doctoral students in response to the Sun Zhigang incident. With the vigorous promotion of him and a group of scholars, the National People's Congress has made progress in protecting human rights by abolishing the old law and replacing it with a new one, although it failed to promote the establishment of a constitutional review system in China. He has made unremitting efforts to oppose employment discrimination. Teacher Li Dun of Tsinghua University once recalled that Teacher Ding Jian invited experts from many departments to participate in the research, and jointly completed a research report of more than 6,543,800 words, such as "Current Situation of Employment Discrimination in China and Anti-discrimination Countermeasures", and put forward the Anti-Employment Discrimination Law (expert's suggestion draft). Since 2005, he has organized students to go deep into the society, publicized at job fairs, conducted anti-discrimination legislative training for local people's congresses, and jointly promoted anti-discrimination reporting training for journalists with Rule of Law Weekend and Southern Weekend. By 2008, 2009 and 20 10, he continued to investigate the current situation of employment discrimination among college students and civil servants. On September 20 10, when Cai was seriously ill, he also presided over a "Seminar on Experiences and Methods of Promoting Equal Employment Opportunities" attended by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), the State Council Legislative Affairs Office, the State Council Women and Children Working Committee, All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the Supreme People's Court, universities, research institutions and non-governmental organizations.

Teacher Ding Jian believes that the realization of people's rights is not given by anyone, but won by citizens' active participation in public affairs. To this end, he deeply studied the theory and practice of citizen participation, and closely combined promoting research with solving problems. Just more than 20 days before his death, he dragged his already weak body and initiated and participated in the seminar on "Preservation, Abolishment and Establishment of Urban House Demolition Regulations" on 654381October 26-27. He made a keynote speech at the meeting with the great pain of patients beyond the will of ordinary people, and actively advocated citizens' participation in the decision-making process of demolition. The essence of the rule of law is to govern the country according to law. If the constitution wants to guarantee and realize human rights in real life, it must enable the people to control public power. He once said that before and after the 13th National Congress, he participated in the field investigation and theoretical research of China's political system reform, and that experience made him more committed to promoting constitutional construction from the reality of China. As a fundamental law, the constitution can only be called "legal system" if it is not really implemented, and it is difficult to become "rule of law", which has existed since ancient times. It is the consistent academic thought of Ding Jian to control public power by implementing constitutionalism. He has made a lot of efforts over the years.

First of all, he pays attention to the practical development and legislative perfection of grassroots democratic elections and villagers' autonomy. During the period of 1987, when Mr. Ding Jian was working in the research office of the General Office of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), he went to various places specifically for the issue of villagers' autonomy and directly investigated rural grassroots cadres and farmers. The investigation report they wrote caused great repercussions and directly promoted the smooth passage of the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees (Trial). After the promulgation and implementation of the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees from 65438 to 0998, the law needs to be further improved. Teacher Ding Jian has made a lot of efforts to this end. In 2009, he suggested that the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) should formulate a special Election Law for Villagers' Committees as soon as possible at the China Forum on Legal Construction of New Countryside hosted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Revolutionary Committee, so as to better refine and improve the election procedures. 20 10 1 after the revised draft of the organic law of villagers' committees was announced to the public and opinions were collected, an academic seminar on the revision of the organic law of villagers' committees was co-chaired with Mr. Zhang and important opinions were put forward.

Secondly, Ding Jian thinks that a feasible way to control public power is to control the government's purse. If people want to achieve supervision and control, public finance must be transparent. Before and after the National People's Congress, Mr. Ding Jian repeatedly called on NPC deputies and the public to pay attention to promoting the transparency of the government's public budget. Moreover, he mobilized and relied on local party organizations and local people's congress comrades to participate in this work, and chose Minhang District and other places in Shanghai to take the lead in piloting. At the same time, he repeatedly dragged his sick body to various places for knowledge training on reading government budget statements. In the last few days of his life, he barely supported listening to his assistant's report on the preparations for the Guangdong Training Conference in early February of 65438+, and put forward requirements for his work.

Third, to control public power under the NPC system, we need to give full play to the role of NPC deputies. Teacher Ding Jian highly supports the local reform and exploration to improve the NPC deputies' authority and give full play to their role. From paying attention to the democratic competition for NPC deputies, to studying the defects of the current NPC representative system, and then to promoting the revision of NPC representative law, Mr. Ding Jian has devoted great efforts and efforts. He has been very ill and weak. He also co-chaired an academic seminar on amending the Representative Law with Mr. Zhang, and carefully collected opinions from all sides and submitted them to the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) for deliberation. Teacher Ding Jian devoted his whole life to promoting the democratic constitutional cause in China, knowing that this is a difficult historical process and must be promoted rationally. On the one hand, he holds a rational thinking attitude and opposes one-sided and radical emotional practices. On different occasions, he stressed that to promote the democratic political construction in China is not to "start a new stove", but to fully tap the potential of China's fundamental political system-the people's congress system in developing democratic politics, expand the institutional space for people to be masters of their own affairs, and promote constitutional construction through reform and improvement of the people's congress system.

In the process of promoting democratic politics, Mr. Ding Jian did not give in to power and dared to speak out. In order to promote democratic constitutionalism, in 2007, Mr. Ding Jian organized the "17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and China Political Development Theory Seminar". In 2008, he presided over the "Seminar on Reflection and Prospect of China's Political System Reform for 30 Years"; In 2009, he presided over the "Theoretical Seminar on the Prospect of China's Constitution". Teacher Ding Jian is a well-deserved researcher and actor who pushes China towards constitutionalism. People think that Mr. Ding Jian is a scholar who pursues democracy and constitutionalism tirelessly, and that the most outstanding quality of him is the spirit of freedom that dominated his life. In my opinion, what Mr. Ding Jian pursues is not his own small freedom, but the great freedom to realize and protect public rights. The hardships of farming since childhood made him deeply realize the valuable importance of freedom and rights to ordinary people in China. At a friend's party, everyone took photos of their childhood. Teacher Ding Jian showed everyone a mottled and shabby photo, which he said was his first photo when he was in primary school in graduation photo. This photo accompanied him all his life and witnessed his life. We were with a group of Chinese and foreign friends. He recalled emotionally the hardships of working in rice fields when he was 6 or 7 years old when he was a child, saying that he had to walk a long way to school every day. He never forgot that he came from the bottom and always had the same deep feelings for the people at the bottom as his relatives. It is precisely because of this feeling that his research on constitutional democracy does not focus on the classical textual research of scholars, but always pays attention to the real problems with deep realistic concern, because the essence behind the real problems in constitutional democracy is related to the protection and realization of people's rights.

For the bottom people, he did his best to help the society progress. Teacher Ding Jian invited me to have a small meeting together. This meeting is not an academic meeting, but a special meeting he convened to seek development help for a poor township where reform encountered resistance. Development needs funds, technology and projects. Teacher Ding Jian is a scholar, and he doesn't have these resources. He is a complete stranger to the cadres in this town and could have left them alone. But the cadres in this township looked for him everywhere, so he went back to his hometown and became friends. In order to get the cadres from this poor township to come to Beijing, Mr. Ding Jian even solved all the travel expenses and accommodation expenses for them. In order to hold this small meeting, Mr. Ding Jian called his friends for help many times.

It is precisely because Mr. Ding Jian has always closely linked emotional and theoretical research with people's interests in social progress that he has United a large number of experts and scholars from different academic fields to study problems together with a broad mind. Teacher Ding Jian spoke highly of the contributions of all scholars. He once told me that he was not familiar with financial theory when he studied the budget supervision of public finance. It was Li Weiguang of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics who helped him solve this problem. Many scholars have mentioned that although scholars have different opinions in their research, Ding Jian's teachers have learned from others and widely adopted various opinions. Therefore, many scholars got to know Ding Jian's teachers because of a specific research, but since then they have forged a long-term friendship and formed a long-term cooperation. Therefore, he is a rare person with great affinity and wide appeal in social academic circles. At the Kuangou Conference, Mr. Ding Jian organized a large number of the best scholars in domestic law, politics, sociology, history and economics to discuss the issue of constitutional democracy.

"Morality, teaching by example" is the endless pursuit of China literati since ancient times. Only those who devote their personal lives to social progress can finally reach this state. Teacher Ding Jian did it, and people erected a monument for him in their hearts. Therefore, on that cold morning, more than 65,438+0,000 people spontaneously came to see Mr. Ding Jian off. They came from Shenzhen, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Shanxiang, Sichuan, and the farewell team moved slowly forward. Hepatitis B virus carriers with rights protection, people who oppose land expropriation and demolition with rights protection, unknown netizens who have never met Mr. Ding Jian, and people who want to come from Heilongjiang. Therefore, at present, people from all over the motherland spontaneously voted for Teacher Ding Jian on Sina and China Internet TV websites in the selection activities that touched China's characters. ...

Teacher Ding Jian has come a long way, and his spirit will inspire us forever. We who are still alive should try our best to inherit his unfinished business. The only thing that we can comfort Mr. Ding Jian is to continue to promote the cause that Mr. Ding Jian is striving for.

"Every step is for freedom."

Cai's life is not complicated. From 65438 to 0975, he served as a coastal border guard in Fujian. From 65438 to 0979, he became the first batch of students of China University of Political Science and Law. 65438-0983 was assigned to work in the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army, and 65438-0986 entered the research office of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC). Since 2004, he has been a scholar at China University of Political Science and Law.

"He said that every step he pursued was for freedom." Zhang Lelun said. Cai felt that he was not suitable for the army and chose to leave, although there were almost no more enviable occupations than soldiers; He left the office, "because the school has more room for thinking and research."

When Cai entered the highest legislature, it coincided with the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in China. His former colleague at the National People's Congress, who is now a professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that Cai, who obtained a master's degree in law in Peking University at that time, was a young man with a "high starting point" and was highly regarded as the leader of the political group in the research office. From 65438 to 0987, Cai was responsible for the investigation of the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees (Draft).

Cheng, former director of the research office, recalled that although the first supervision law in China was not promulgated until 2006, the "Several Provisions on Strengthening Law Enforcement Inspection in the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC)" drafted by the Political and Legal Affairs Group led by Cai was passed in 1992.

This year, 36-year-old Cai published his most important masterpiece, The People's Congress System in China, and became a well-known "scholar-type official" in the fields of system and law. Previously, no one systematically discussed China's basic political system. "In the office, there are not many people who can study problems in a down-to-earth manner." Wu, director of the Legislative Planning Office of the the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Law Commission, said that not everyone has made full use of these unique conditions. In 2002, Cai was named "Top Ten Young and Middle-aged Jurists in China".

Cai's name attracted more public attention in 2003. He organized and published some NPC officials and scholars' reports on the election situation in China, and directly intervened in the core issues of democratic politics.

At that time, the case of Sun Zhigang shocked the whole country. As an on-the-job official, he expressed his views in Southern Weekend and supported the unconstitutional review proposed by three young scholars from Peking University.

On the last day of 2003, this "scholar official" officially bid farewell to the National People's Congress and returned to his alma mater, China University of Political Science and Law. His wife Liu said that Cai's idea of returning to academia actually existed from the late 1990s.

"He is more ideal than an official and more pragmatic than a scholar."

Cai Yuan planned to go to Peking University, but for some reason she didn't get it. Later, Peking University hired him as the director of the Research Center for People's Congress and Parliament.

"He is different from a pure academic scholar. The truth he speaks is often simple and direct. The words he uses are clear and fluent. If you read his writing carefully, you will find that they all have deep feelings. " Wu, then dean of Peking University Law School and now executive vice president of Peking University, told Southern Weekend reporter.

One day in September 2003, a student of Zhejiang University, a carrier of hepatitis B virus, was sentenced to death on Monday for stabbing a personnel cadre. Netizens launched a joint action of161/citizens, demanding an unconstitutional review of the conscription regulations in 3 1 provinces across the country.

Xiao Guzi, the moderator of the website for protecting the rights of hepatitis B patients, called Cai, an official at that time, and got his encouragement and support: "Citizens' pockets can't be searched casually. How can citizens' bodies be searched casually?" Cai believes that physical examination, party member's requirement to join the Party and even the slogan of "younger cadres" may involve discrimination, but these people often don't realize it.

In June 2004, the Institute of Constitutional Law of China University of Political Science and Law, headed by Cai, was founded. At the same time, the project of "International Legal Cooperation against Employment Discrimination" was launched, which is still going on today.

In the annual appraisal, the "horizontal topic" of the Constitutional Research Institute is always among the best. In fact, since its establishment, the Institute of Constitutional Law of China University of Political Science and Law once had only one fixed researcher-Cai himself. Since June 5438+ 10, 2008, Liu Xiaonan has joined and become Cai's most stable working partner.

There are many topics in the Constitutional Research Institute, but the most important ones are anti-employment discrimination, public budget reform and the promotion of public participation. Liu Xiaonan said that Cai has an unfinished idea, which is to organize teachers and students to study a citizen's constitutional rights and then compile a book. "In his view, domestic constitutional scholars have done a lot of research on state power, but little on civil rights."

Cai hopes to solve practical institutional problems through specific projects. He has always been concerned about the judicialization and privatization of the Constitution. "He has an important point that the Constitution is useful. The foothold of his lifelong efforts is how to make the Constitution more useful. " Zhang said, a professor at Peking University Law School.

Cai 20 experts and scholars called for the abolition of hepatitis B discrimination in college entrance examination. A month later, the physical examination programs for admission and employment in various places were cancelled. Then, he sent the Anti-Employment Discrimination Law (expert's suggestion draft) to the National People's Congress.

The deputy director of the National Law Office of the Law Commission said that they had received Cai's draft law. "He has always adhered to a goal." She said that although it will take some time for some laws to enter the legislative process, Cai's insistence moved her. "He is more ideal than an official and more pragmatic than a scholar."

Wu Zeng said that due to the promotion of Cai's legislative hearing project, this system has been promoted in many parts of the country.

Gu Hongping, director of the Financial and Economic Committee of Minhang District People's Congress, said, "Cai is a great man." Since 2007, Cai and the Institute of Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance have carried out public budget reform headed by constitutional scholars in Minhang District, Shanghai. The designer's creativity made Gu Hongping shine. For example, the preliminary hearing of the budget and the amendment of NPC deputies set up two "checkpoints" to ensure that the supervision can finally be truly implemented.

In June, 2065438+03, Cai still insisted on flying to Shanghai to discuss reform.

"Everyone is a promoter of reform"

Cai, who appears in front of the public, is always "full of vigor". This time, he was very ill. He refused to let the guests visit in front of the hospital bed, insisted on sorting out and sat on the sofa in the living room to receive them. Liu Xiaonan said, "He loves beauty", likes traveling and taking pictures. Xiangshan Hotel, one of the few works of China architect I.M. Pei in Chinese mainland, is often chosen as the meeting place because of its beautiful scenery.

Cai is recognized as a perfectionist, and his son Cai thinks he is a strict father. It is difficult for students to get his high marks, but his work partners and assistants are used to his serious personality and never praise him in person.

"He is not satisfied with anything," Liu Xiaonan said. "Every step and every detail should be reported to him." Almost every meeting, Cai has to rearrange the venue after seeing it. A few days before his death, he suddenly asked about the train to Guangzhou, although he had officially entrusted Zhou Wei, a professor at Sichuan University.

Cai also likes truth. For example, knowing that there was no peach juice in the stewardess's dining car, he still said "I want peach juice" and asked to see the suggestion book. "I didn't mean to be embarrassed. He thinks that airlines should provide diversified services for passengers. His foreign language is not good, but he started a small lawsuit in the United States for an inferior phone card. Traveling to Singapore, he took the tour guide who forced shopping to court.

"Law school won't teach you how to enforce small claims." Cai's lawyer Liu's wife said. Cai once wrote that magistrates' courts and small claims are effective experiences abroad.

Earnestness is also Cai's academic and work attitude. When he cooperated with Minhang reform, he had argued with experts in the financial sector on financial issues. He also argued with familiar reporters about news reports more than once. "But the second time I interviewed him, he seemed to forget." A rule of law reporter said.

"It's stupid, awkward and unpleasant." Liu's niece Wei Wu said of her uncle. However, no matter his former colleagues in NPC organs or academic circles, they all think that he has a special charm, "always bringing different people together"

As an official of the legislature, Wu He often attends seminars organized by Cai. Cai is called a "particularly pure person". "His character is upright and upright," Wu said of him. "He has been upholding democracy and the rule of law for decades."

Before the annual "two sessions" of the country, General Manager Cai calls experts and journalists to talk about the budget. On February 4th, 65438, Cai Hui gave a lecture on law popularization in colleges and universities. "Everyone is a promoter of reform." He said.

At the end of last year, Cai presided over the "China Constitutional Future Forum", and the speeches of the forum were compiled into a book "Towards Constitutionalism". 165438+ 10 19, another editor of the book, Wang Zhanyang, a professor at China Institute of Socialism, came to the hospital with a sample book. At this time, Cai couldn't carry the book, so she put it on her chest and stroked it repeatedly.

2065438+0165438 On the afternoon of 23 October 2003/KLOC-0, at the memorial service for Cai held by China University of Political Science and Law, his colleague Wang Renbo said, "There are people who study constitutionalism, but he is the only one who regards constitutionalism as his own belief and belief like Teacher Cai."

Cai's 23-year-old son Cai became a constitutional enthusiast under the influence of his father. He studied in France after finishing his undergraduate course at Peking University Law School. At the memorial service, he said, "If I go to my father's grave one day, I hope I can burn him a ticket."