A symposium on the content creation of Shuo Fa, or Talking Law, a multi-media column on public legal education, was held at People’s Daily on Dec 3. Zhang Jun, secretary of the Leading Party Members Group and president of the Supreme People’s Court, attends the symposium and delivers remarks. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

A symposium on the content creation of Shuo Fa, or Talking Law, a multi-media column on public legal education, was held at People’s Daily on Dec 3. Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), and Yu Shaoliang, president of People’s Daily, attended the symposium and delivered remarks.

Launched in June 2024, the column was jointly developed by the SPC’s Information Department, the Political and Cultural Affairs Department of People’s Daily, and People’s Daily Online. Over the past year, the column has published 66 episodes of legal education program, attracting more than 2 billion views in total. Many of the works have drawn wide attention and positive feedback from the public, as well as from legal and media professionals, achieving notable results in public legal education.

Wu Zeng, vice-minister of justice; Li Liang, deputy director of the internet communication department of the Cyberspace Administration of China; and Zhao Fei, deputy director of the domestic department of the All-China Journalists Association, highly affirm the column and offer suggestions for its further improvement. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Mo Jihong, director of the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and vice-president of the China Law Society; Xue Yisi, judge at the Putuo District People’s Court in Shanghai; Chen Kaihe, associate Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University; and Zhang Fuping, vice-president of ByteDance, deliver remarks at the symposium. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Wu Zeng, vice-minister of justice; Li Liang, deputy director of the internet communication department of the Cyberspace Administration of China; and Zhao Fei, deputy director of the domestic department of the All-China Journalists Association, highly affirmed the column and offered suggestions for its further improvement. These included tailoring content for different audiences, incorporating more cases with foreign-related elements, expanding from case-based explanations to discussions on broader social issues, strengthening audience interaction, deepening cooperation with leading media outlets, adapting to evolving internet communication trends, and enhancing both the depth and the appeal of the content.

Xu Juan, editor-in-chief of the political and legal reporting division under the Political and Cultural Affairs Department of People’s Daily, introduces the column’s content production and dissemination. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Speaking at the symposium, Zhang stressed that fair judicial adjudication itself is the most effective form of public legal education. He noted that in the new era, courts should not simply handle cases, but also articulate the legal reasoning behind decisions in an accessible manner. It is essential to uphold strict and impartial justice, achieve substantive dispute resolution, and fully perform adjudication and enforcement duties to proactively prevent dispute at the source, Zhang said. These measures aim to safeguard a sound rule-of-law environment and encourage a societal atmosphere of respecting, studying, observing, and applying the law, he added.

Zhang called for further efforts to develop public legal education programs such as Shuo Fa to strengthen public legal literacy and awareness, promote socialist rule of law, and foster a favorable social environment for fair and impartial justice. He urged closer cooperation between courts and major media outlets like People’s Daily to fully leverage the educational value of landmark judicial cases and convey the judiciary’s commitment to justice. 

He also called for continued efforts to create high-quality rule-of-law reporting and flagship communication programs, and adopt creative approaches in public legal education in the all-media era. These endeavors, he noted, will help enhance the public’s sense of fairness in justice and contribute to advancing the rule of law and building a socialist rule-of-law country at a higher level. 

Yu noted that People’s Daily will continue to strengthen cooperation with the SPC, further advance the online communication of the Communist Party of China’s innovative theories, actively promote core socialist values, and leverage the leading role of mainstream media to produce more substantive, engaging, and influential online content and build the column into a widely recognized brand in online legal education.

The symposium was chaired by Ye Zhenzhen, vice-president of People’s Daily and president of People’s Daily Online. Gao Xiaoli, vice-president of the SPC, Du Shangze, member of the Editorial Board and director of the Political and Cultural Affairs Department of People’s Daily, along with officials from the SPC, the Ministry of Justice, and People’s Daily, attended the event.