Shanghai’s massive law publicity campaign carried out in creative ways

East China's cosmopolis Shanghai has adopted a variety of measures both traditional and innovative to disseminate legal information on a massive scale in order to fuel epidemic prevention and control.

As pointed out by Lu Weidong, head of the city's judicial department, Shanghai has pioneered an unprecedented law publicity program which is outstanding in its width, strength, depth and accessibility.

Intriguing posters 

In recent months, people in Shanghai have seen lots of eye-catching posters on walls and bulletin boards in their neighborhoods. Painted in different background colors, each poster carries a phrase which is adapted from a Chinese idiom to be epidemic-relevant and illustrated by legal information in about 100 Chinese characters on such much-discussed legal issues as counterfeit products, violence against medics and wages.

Posters like these offer a glimpse of how the city integrates traditional art forms with its law publicity campaign. In the district of Chongming, for example, the local judicial bureau presents law publicity content in the form of a traditional opera, while the district of Fengxian matches publicity content with the rhythm of ancient poems. In the district of Jing'an, popular with foreigners, law publicity materials are provided in eight languages.

"Traditional law publicity methods have always been popular with local people," said Zhang Xieding, head of the judicial bureau of Changning district. "These methods are the indispensable part of our law publicity campaign."

Online approach

During the epidemic prevention period, Shanghai residents often receive text messages from the city's judicial department calling on them to use its public legal service hotline, 12306, to have their legal concerns addressed.

The department has been cooperating with large telecommunication operators to alert people about relevant legal information throughout the epidemic.

"Because of the gathering ban during the epidemic, conventional law publicity ways are no longer feasible," said Liu Hui, head of the judicial bureau of Huangpu district. "Therefore, we shifted online to disseminate legal information."

Not long ago, officials of the city's judicial department and legislative body appeared on a TV program to explain new legislation on COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, China's first local legislation on the issue.

The department also opened a special column on its official WeChat account to share stories from the epidemic fight and enlighten residents on related laws and regulations through case interpretation.

Publicity matrix 

To enhance the effect of its law publicity campaign, the department invited celebrities and public figures to record short legal information video clips to be played in public places like subways, office buildings, hospitals and tourist attractions.

The tactic works. "The public legal service hotline has been jammed with phone calls these days as people become more zealous about seeking legal advice," said a lawyer who work shifts on the hotline.

What's more, Liu Ping, an official from the department, frequently appears at televised daily press conferences on epidemic prevention and control to respond to questions on hot legal topics.

The department also tries hard to keep public legal services available 24 hours a day on its various online platforms in order to respond to citizens' questions as quickly as possible. It also drafted guidelines on such top topics as fulfillment of contracts and labor relations.

"The constantly improved law publicity effect couldn't have been achieved without our publicity matrix which has fully demonstrated its depth and extent," said Song Lie, the department's deputy head.