Courts' development and experiences in judicial reform in the past 40 years were outlined and continuation of reform and opening-up was stressed at a seminar themed "40 years of judicial reform" in Xiaogang village, Fengyang County, Anhui province, on Dec 27.

Xiaogang village was the birth place of China's rural reform and plays an important role in China's reform and opening-up.

At the seminar, Zhou Qiang, chief justice and president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), affirmed the development of the judicial system in the past 40 years and said courts should continue to adhere to reform and opening-up to deepen judicial reform and provide support for another round of opening-up in the new era.

Zhou pointed that in the past 40 years, courts have contributed to economic growth and social development invarious waysincluding informatization construction and international judicial exchange and cooperation.

Courts have built teams of professional judges and improved their ability to promote the principle of "justice for the people and judicial fairness".

He stressed that courts have made efforts to adopt artificial intelligent devices and applications inall kinds of judicial work, which promoted a modern system and required courts to continue to adopt modern technology tocreate a trial mode with Chinese characteristics.

The seminar, chaired by Jiang Wei, vice-president of the SPC, was also attended by Ren Haiquan, vice-president of the China Law Society; Yao Yuzhou, secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Anhui Province; Dong Kaijun, president of the Anhui Provincial Higher Peoples Court; and Wang Mengmeng, deputy to the National People's Congress,as well aspresidents of some higher courts and military courts, SPC staffand other experts and scholars.