A young man who sacrificed a leg for his ideals of national salvation and freedom of speech; a father who knits sweaters for his children in a shabby home; a mentor who teaches and teaches tirelessly; a preacher who interprets the spirit of the law; a man who works for the rule of law. As social practitioners who are working hard to build China, the historical meanings represented by these symbols and images are very important.
In an ordinary residential building on the South Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, the principal Jiang Ping has lived in seclusion there for more than 10 years.
This place is far away from the China University of Political Science and Law in Changping District and the Graduate School of China University of Political Science and Law in Jimenqiao. Jiang Ping chose a lonely but not silent life.
The reporter visited Jiang Ping several times. A docile big dog always accompanied him, and different cacti decorated the table. Gentle yet upright, this is the implication of the character of a great legal scholar.
He has sparse white hair and is in good spirits in his eighties. He talks to reporters eloquently and eloquently. His strong concern for the law makes this old man frown at times, but his voice is still deafening. : "The development of the rule of law in China is taking one step back and two steps forward, or is it constantly moving forward. Of course, we must also see that some places are going backwards now."
Although Jiang Ping only existed from 1988 to 1990 He served as the president of China University of Political Science and Law for two years, but the title of president continues to this day. This kind of "treatment" is rare among the presidents of China University of Political Science and Law. An alumnus who graduated from the University of Political Science and Law in 1990 lamented to reporters: "Jiang Ping is the eternal president, and he is the spiritual symbol of China University of Political Science and Law."
A few years ago, the smooth characters "Rule the World by Law" inscribed by Jiang Ping stood on the On the Jimenqiao campus, this represents Jiang Ping’s lifelong ideal and has become the ideological destination of Chinese legal scholars.
Jiang Ping said solemnly: "This is also my Chinese dream." Jiang Ping's love and care for his students has never been forgotten by He Weifang.
In 1984, China University of Political Science and Law celebrated its first anniversary (the name of Beijing University of Political Science and Law was changed in 1983). He Weifang and a group of graduate students were dissatisfied with the food in the cafeteria and launched a strike during the school anniversary. He and several classmates destroyed the cafeteria. The door was blocked and everyone was persuaded to join the strikers. The young and energetic He was debating with school officials in the crowd. As the crowd gathered, he was eloquent when he was suddenly pulled out by a strong hand. He looked up and saw that it was Teacher Jiang.
"Wei Fang, can you not always regard yourself as the leader of the opposition?" Although Jiang Ping's tone was dissatisfied, his eyes were still gentle, "Things must be resolved step by step. This method can also work "How much effect does it have?"
A year later, He Weifang stayed at China University of Political Science and Law and had the opportunity to listen to Jiang Ping talk about the past: "When he talked about the hardships he had experienced, his tone was calm, but it was some reflection. The beautiful details of human nature are unforgettable to him, and this positive and optimistic outlook on life is the most infectious part of Teacher Jiang’s character.”
Jiang Ping, who returned to the lectern of Beijing University of Political Science and Law, has gained a reputation for his knowledge and character. In his words "reused at special points in history."
The biggest problem facing the reopened Beijing University of Political Science and Law is the lack of teachers and teaching materials. During the "Cultural Revolution", everyone was desolate. The older generation of teachers who were labeled as rightists are very old and can no longer display their abilities; while the students who stayed in the school in the 1950s and 1960s were "politically popular" but poor in teaching.
Jiang Ping, who was once praised by Mr. Qian Duansheng as "one of the two most talented people in politics and law", has become a scarce resource. "There are not many people who have returned from the Soviet Union, and I studied at Yenching University and have some English." He also had a certain foundation in Russian language, had experience studying abroad, and had studied a relatively systematic (law) course, which was very good at the time."
Jiang Ping broke through the forbidden area of ????the law and excelled immediately. The two courses "Roman Law" and "Civil and Commercial Law of Western Countries" introduced the concept of private rights into the country and brought the ideas that had been confined for many years into line with international trends.
He Weifang recalled Jiang Ping on the podium, "Mr. Jiang's class was really a pleasure. He stood on the three-foot podium, with a majestic appearance, spoke standard Mandarin and had a pleasant voice, and his conversation was full of enthusiasm. Confidence in knowledge, historical allusions and exquisite doctrines from more than 2,000 years ago nourish the minds of students."
During this period, Jiang Ping presided over the formulation of the first civil law in New China, the "General Principles of Civil Law". This landmark law affirms the private rights of Chinese people for the first time and is hailed as the "Chinese Declaration of Civil Rights" abroad. A number of separate laws on civil economy have been promulgated one after another, and the "blind spots" of market economy laws have been gradually filled.
Jiang Ping has served as the vice president since 1983. His personal experience has made him particularly cherish talents. After the Cultural Revolution, the first batch of students were focused on training and stayed in school to form the "first echelon". Legal talents spewed out after the "generation".
From the "poor legal science" in the early 1980s to the "prosperous legal science" in the 1990s, Jiang Ping regarded it as "a very original and vigorous period in legal education in his life." "In fact, my main contribution to the school was during this period."
In 1990, Jiang Ping, who had been in charge of the University of Political Science and Law for two years, was dismissed as the president of China University of Political Science and Law.
At the end of that year, Jiang Ping celebrated his 60th birthday. The political and law graduates spontaneously organized a birthday party for him, and everyone unanimously asked Teacher Jiang to perform a show. One of his prosthetic legs was not very flexible, but he walked forward firmly and sang an English song of the American labor union movement, "We Will Never Wave."
It has been exactly 20 years since he resigned as the president of the University of Law. Some details make Jiang Ping comfort himself.
One year when commemorating the anniversary of the founding of CUPL, the host read out the name of the president present, and when he came to Jiang Ping, the audience began to applaud continuously, "I understand the students' feelings towards me very well. I think this It is support for a principal with a sense of justice."
"Only bow to the truth", "Rule the world by law", "The army will spring in four years, and the law will last forever", "I can do everything I can." "That's the cry"... At Jiang Ping's 80th birthday, Huang Jin, the current president of China University of Political Science and Law, recited the old president's famous sayings. December 28, 2009, Jiang Ping’s 80th birthday.
I wonder if it was to comfort the disciples who came from all over the country, Jiang Ping optimistically set living to 90 years old as the "next goal". He said: "Although I lost 22 years when I was young, if If I retire at the age of 60, I can make up for the lost time by working for another 22 years. I will make up for it all in two years."
The 22 years that Jiang Ping was "careful about" have been condensed. It embodies his unforgettable tragedy and condenses the tragedy of Chinese law.
“From 1957 to 1978, I lost everything I should have lost and everything I shouldn’t have lost. At the lowest point, except for this life, everything else was lost.”
Jiang Ping’s lowest point occurred in 1957.
This year, under the rectification movement of "leading the snake out of its hole", Jiang Ping, who had just graduated from the Law Department of Moscow State University and returned to China to teach for a year, was labeled as a rightist overnight because he frankly expressed his views to the Beijing Institute of Political Science and Law. The "people's camp" is classified as the "enemy's camp" and is no longer allowed to engage in the legal profession that is a "tool of state dictatorship".
Jiang Ping, a simple student who gave up the journalism department of Yenching University to join the revolution and was among the first batch of students sent to the Soviet Union by the government, knew nothing about the domestic political situation.
Today, Jiang Ping still dreams about the thrilling scene of being classified as a "rightist", and he wakes up with lingering fears.
The label of "rightist" brought constant misfortune to the then 27-year-old Jiang Ping. His newlywed wife, whom he met in the Soviet Union, broke up with him due to political pressure.
While carrying a steel pipe across the railway in Xishan, Beijing, Jiang Ping was so tired that he didn’t even hear the sound of the train. He was swept under the train. He was lucky to survive, but he lost one leg forever.
Being labeled as a rightist, divorced, and having his legs broken, the disasters that followed one after another were “still bearable” in Jiang Ping’s view, but his perspective on the problem had changed. “I saved my life from under the wheels of the train.” , I think we should have an optimistic attitude towards life, how wonderful it is to live one more day!”
In the years that followed, Jiang Ping struggled to survive in hardships: he started teaching Russian in 1963, and the Cultural Revolution was He was transferred to the "May 7th Cadre School" in Anhui to work. In 1972, the Beijing University of Political Science and Law officially announced its dissolution and was assigned to Yanqing Middle School as a political teacher. He stayed there until the Beijing University of Political Science and Law was reopened in 1978.
In the meantime, Jiang Ping organized a family again, and his wife's father was also a rightist.
Student Jiang Ping once heard his wife recall the hardships of those years: Jiang Ping, who was doing reform work in Yanqing, was single and raising his son. The winter wind outside the Great Wall was biting and he had no money to buy cotton-padded clothes for his son. He turned his old coat into a cotton-padded jacket for his son. He even knitted a sweater stitch by stitch by hand.
Jiang Ping was once pessimistic about the future. In the late period of the "Cultural Revolution", he sold most of the precious legal books he brought back from the Soviet Union as scrap paper, which he regrets to this day. .
Isolated from the law from 1957 to 1979, Jiang Ping experienced the most depressing 22 years as an intellectual. He regarded it as "the biggest regret in life": "When I was able to contribute to China's rule of law, , I am already fifty years old, and the golden age of my life should be exactly the twenty years between my thirties and my fifties. I have lost the most precious time in my life.”
In 1979, I returned. When he arrived at the Beijing Institute of Political Science and Law, which he had been away from for a long time, gray hair had already climbed up Jiang Ping's forehead. A year ago, 79-year-old Jiang Ping collapsed from a stroke.
Due to timely admission, the operation was relatively successful in the end. Jiang Ping stayed in the hospital for more than two months. For half a month, although he was very clear in his mind, his language expression function was stuck and he could not say a word, which frightened many students.
He has never suffered from old age. Although his body has recovered, it is not as good as before.
"Saving life first, I'm really old." Jiang Ping's rare sigh worried many people.
From the "General Principles of Civil Law" and "Administrative Procedure Law" to the "Contract Law", "Company Law", "Trust Law", and in recent years, the drafting and promulgation of many laws such as the "Property Rights Law" Well, Jiang Ping, known as the “conscience of the Chinese legal community,” has spared no effort in campaigning for many years, playing the role of a “preacher” of the rule of law.
It has been 19 years since the first PhD students were recruited in 1991. In these 19 years, Jiang Ping has trained nearly 100 PhDs in civil and commercial law. These graduates have become influential young scholars, judges, and lawyers on various fronts. "These are all my very good students, but most of the students I trained are engaged in teaching and research, and almost none are officials, and even fewer are senior officials."
Jiang Ping has just recovered from his illness. He stood up stubbornly, appeared at a higher frequency to speak out, and participated in public and legal matters.
In December last year, five professors from Peking University wrote a letter calling for revision of the "Demolition Regulations", which caused a sensation. Jiang Ping successively published remarks in "Finance", "Southern Weekend" and other print media, and also appeared on Phoenix Satellite TV to express his support for the demolition regulations. modification.
"Principal Jiang is racing against time." His students revealed to our reporter that Mr. Jiang cherishes and desires time beyond ordinary people's imagination. He has always insisted on "only bowing to the truth" and neither Flattery is not flattering to superiors.
On October 25, 2008, during the question-and-answer session of a report meeting, an audience member asked him about his attitude towards the Yang Jia case. Jiang Ping said: "I completely agree with the second-instance verdict of the Shanghai High Court." An audience member immediately grabbed the microphone: "I disagree with your views on the Yang Jia case. If I had an egg in my hand, I would definitely throw it at you."
In the Chongqing "Nail House" Incident In the article, he believed that Wu Ping's family's reason for refusing to demolish the property "does not involve public interests" was untenable, and he was attacked by a torrent of Internet attacks. In Xu Ting's case, he also made statements that were not in line with "public opinion."
However, this did not damage Jiang Ping's image in people's minds at all.
He has defended freedom and democracy throughout his life, but does not agree with populism. "Those who practice law must be impartial and should pay attention to the interests of the masses, but shouldn't everything be based on the feelings of the masses as the highest feeling? I'm afraid not." ”
In Jiang Ping’s view, China’s true renaissance lies in private rights truly taking root in people’s minds, but the process will encounter difficulties and obstacles. “The biggest problem in China now is the conflict between private rights and public rights. It is my greatest hope that private rights are protected within public rights.” For example, our recent research on demolition law is about how to ensure the interests of private property rights in demolition.
As for the merger and reorganization of Shanxi's coal industry, he still has an independent opinion: It is wrong for government departments to use administrative coercion to merge private enterprises into state-owned enterprises, which violates the "Constitution" and "Property Rights Law" and other provisions for the protection of private property in laws and regulations.
“If this policy variability becomes a precedent, it may cause private entrepreneurs to feel insecure. This is a very dangerous signal.”
The sequelae of the stroke made Jiang Ping's speech slow down, "not as sharp as before." However, the 80-year-old man still continues to cry out for private rights, which is consistent with the ideal of "serving the country through public opinion" at Yenching University 60 years ago.
On December 11, 2012, Professor Jiang Ping and Professor He Weifang of Peking University Law School participated in the first session of the "Guanghua Scholars Forum" held in Taipei and were received by Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou.