The Chinese are speaking out, standing up for their rights.  Since they received formal legal citizenship in the last decade (previously they only had natural citizenship, meaning they did not have individual rights), they have begun to feel like they can take their issues directly to the government and be heard.  Though it is far from a perfect process (China’s Ministry of Public Security reported 87,000 cases of public disorder 2005), it seems like changes are occurring.

Though it seems small, the case of Zhou Xinghua of Henan, China strikes my fancy.  She is a 55-year-old woman who does not want to give up her right to work at a local state-run bank.  Currently, China has had a law since 1978 that requires common workers to retire at 50 if female and 55 if male.  Workers at state institutions must retire at 55 if female and 60 if male.

Zhou Xinghua sees two problems with this law.  First, she was forced into retirement well before she felt ready to stop working.  At the moment, the cultural expectation for a 55-year-old woman is that she must stop working and take care of grandchildren—Ms. Zhou isn’t ready for that.  Her second complaint is that men get to work longer than woman.  She sees this as gender discrimination.  So, at this point, all Ms. Zhou wants is to be able to work as long as a man, or until she is sixty.

Though told she could not possibly win and was initially rejected by local courts, Zhou Xinghua has hired her law-student son as her lawyer and taken her case to the Intermediate Court of Pingdingshan.

It seems like a small thing, but I am excited to see this kind of process happening in China.  A citizen sees something as unfair and is allowed to peaceably take her case to the government and seek justice.  She has not been censored or put in prison for questioning the government’s policy.  Ms. Zhou may not win the case, but the processes of law in protecting rights on a case-by-case basis is growing in China.  I think that this process, that of allowing citizens to be heard and to possibly influence policy, is a key to the continued stability of China and the slow down of those tens of thousands of cases of public disorder.  The people must feel that the government is listening.

And many Chinese who have read about Zhou’s case feel that she is doing something wonderful.  Zhou told reporters that; "I have received hundreds of letters from women my age since my case was made known to the public."  She added, "Many of them went to great efforts to find me only to say 'thanks' for what I have done. It has been a touching experience."