I’ve posted several times about law-related Wechat (微信) public accounts.  They are an important resource for those trying to understand Chinese legal developments (or their absence) and their implications or impact. For the observer, it enables us to learn about new issues (or aspects of issues) that we didn’t know existed, and (depending on the topic), hear viewpoints other than the official one, or at least read hints of dissenting views. Those with the Wechat app on their smartphone can subscribe to these public accounts but it is also possible to find some these articles through an internet search.  Note that the “Mr. Yong” about whom I wrote in 2016 still lurks on Wechat, so articles published may disappear.

Below is an incomplete guide to some useful law-related Wechat public accounts–oriented to my own interests, to be followed up when time permits.  Please contact me through the comment function or by email with additional suggestions.

Official accounts

As I’ve written before Party/government authorities use Wechat public accounts to reach out to a public that is moving away from traditional media to their smartphones. SPC policy is encouraging courts to do so.  There is some but not complete overlap between articles that appear on an institution’s website and Wechat account. There is complete overlap when more political matters are involved. Even some articles published on institutional public accounts have a “netizen” tone and popular netizen slang and images, such as this one from the Qianhai Court public account.

Some large institutions (Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP)), have affiliated research, publishing and educational institutions, with each having a Wechat public accounts under its auspices. There is some overlap in articles, but others are unique to the Wechat account.

The SPC has its official account: Wechat ID: ch_zgrmfy; People’s Court Daily: Wechat ID: renminfayuanbao; SPC’s research institute, The Institute for Applied Jurisprudence, Wechat ID: fayansuo; National Judicial College’s Wechat ID:falvshiyongzazhi (Wechat version of their magazine, Application of Law (法律适用) & account of its case research institute (司法案例研究院), Wechat ID: sifalyjy.  There is also an account on diversified dispute resolution, linked to the Institute for Applied Jurisprudence: 多元化纠纷解决机制 (SIFAADR). The electronic database Faxin (法信) affiliated with People’s Court Press (which itself has a Wechat account: fayuanchubanshe) also has a Wechat account, Legal_information, as do the journals 中国审判  (Id: zhongguoshenpan) and人民司法 (renminsifa). (This list is incomplete).

Officially approved accounts but not official

Some individuals affiliated with legal institutions have Wechat public accounts (presumably with the approval of their institutional leaders), among them: account of a Pudong New area judge, 法眼观察 （fygc20140416)–here is a recent article on the large number of cases in his and 19 other local courts; 法影斑斓 , account of He Fan, judge in the judicial reform office of the SPC, Wechat ID: funnylaw1978; CU检说法 (CU-JIAN), account of a local prosecutor (see an article on prosecutor’s assistants) 稻花蛙声(paddyfrog), recent article on judicial reform as seen from the bottom of the judicial food chain;法治昌明 (fazhichaming), with a recent article on the toxic system of performance appraisals.

Supervision Commission

The two must read accounts for those trying to understand what is happening with the supervision commission pilots:监察委前沿 （jianchaweiqy）and反腐先锋 （recent article on the framework for the supervision commissions published here)

Others, many previously recommended

• Arbitration:  Wechat ID: cnarb1, account of Lin Yifei, mentioned in an earlier blogpost.  I highly recommend it to both practitioners and others interested in arbitration.
• Labor law:Wechat ID: laodongfaku (劳动法库) (with over 200,000 followers; Wechat ID: ldfview （子非鱼说劳动法);
• Civil law 海坛特哥 (haitanlegal), account of Chen Te, formerly of the Beijing Higher People’s Court, now a lawyer (高衫legal) [his earlier posts focused on medical law], Wechat ID: gaoshanlegal;  审判研究, Wechat ID: spyjweixin; 法客帝国， Wechat ID: Empirelawyers; 审判研究, Wechat ID: msspck.
• Criminal law: 辩护人Defender (bianhuren_net); 辩护园地 (zrflawyer); 刑事实务, Wechat ID: xingshishiwu; 刑事审判参考 Wechat ID: criminailaw;说刑品案 (xingshishenpan)
• International law: Wechat ID: ciil 2015 国际法促进中心
• IP law–知产力 (zhichanli); 知识产权那点事, Wechat ID: IPR888888.
• Aggregators–智和法律新媒体, Wechat ID: zhihedongfang; 法律博客, Wechat ID: falvboke,  法律读品， Wechat ID: lawread.

This brief blogpost, updated with content on the 18 April judicial interpretation on corruption offenses, supplements my earlier blogpost on legal Wechat public accounts.

Defender (辩护人), one of the leading criminal law Wechat public accounts recently published a list of the most widely read Wechat criminal law Wechat public accounts with user statistics (as of 15 April).

Given that criminal law is more sensitive that commercial law in China, posts that relate to more difficult topics sometimes disappear.

Some of the most useful posts in recent days relate to the 18 April judicial interpretation on corruption offenses.  Several posts package the judicial interpretation together with the statement by officials from the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and Procuratorate (SPP)–that statement gives important background information about the legislative history and intent of the drafters. Related posts put the interpretation into chart form, providing easy reference to all participants in the criminal justice system.  As might be expected, more sensitive analyses may disappear, such as this one An analysis  by Si Weijiang, a well known defense lawyer. A PDF version can be found here, so that readers may judge for themselves (斯伟江 • 迟来量刑标准调整：反腐高压下的调整).

Within the past week, this one was published, setting out the legal basis and jurisdiction of departments of the public security authorities to open a file (立案) and begin an investigation.  One of the departments focuses on anti terrorism (反恐怖部门), authorized to open a file for seven different crimes.

In March of this year, at the “Two Meetings,” Zhu Lieyu spoke out in favor of removing detention houses (where pre-trial suspects are held), from the jurisdiction of the public security authorities. Recent posts on some of these criminal law public accounts include one listing the titles, location, and telephone numbers of  detention houses in Zhejiang Province, and an earlier one in Defender with an open letter from 37 Yunnan lawyers drawing attention to the poor conditions in several detention houses in Kunming for defense counsel to meet with clients.

Other posts call attention to cases or categories of cases that might otherwise escape public attention, such as Chen Yichao, a Gansu company executive accused of corruption, and tried in recent days, whose assets were seized by the authorities and transferred to the personal accounts of the procuratorate and Party disciplinary officials investigating his case (in violation of relevant regulations) (and an analogous case from Anhui) as well as an article from a court website questioning the punishment of petitioners for extorting the government, and a judgment by the Jiangsu Higher People’s Court in re-trial proceedings overturning the conviction of a petitioner for extortion.  Another post that must be read is this one, about (former) officials from the justice system who have been tortured.

Another recent post lists embezzlement cases decided since Criminal Law Amendment (9) became effective, with the court, amount embezzled, and sentence.

For the many persons inside and outside of China who are trying to understand China’s anti-corruption system, these public accounts provide valuable information on what happens as cases go from Party disciplinary investigation to the procuratorate to court, and the arguments defense lawyers are making on behalf of their clients,including the exclusion of evidence obtained by torture.