Constitution Publicity Campaign Shows China's Resolution in

BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) — More than 1 billion mobile phone users are expected to receive text messages introducing China's Constitution this week.

Passengers at over 2,300 railway stations and on 2,500 high-speed trains across the country watch publicity films on the Constitution.

Several judiciary departments hold "open day" for public visits and several animations and videos about the rule of law are being aired nationwide.

All these are a part of the arrangements during the second "Constitution Week," a publicity campaign running from Dec. 1 to 7.

This year's campaign is focused on not only promoting the spirit of the Constitution but also advancing the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance, an important topic at the fourth plenary session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee in late October.

A decision adopted at the plenum has stressed the popularization of the law, raising public awareness of the rule of law, improving the system of public legal services and strengthening public support in law-based governance.

"We want to make the Constitution part of people's everyday lives," Justice Minister Fu Zhenghua said at a press conference Tuesday when introducing the activities and events hosted in the week.

"We are broadcasting legal knowledge that is close to people's daily lives and explaining the laws and regulations related to hot topics of public concern with more straightforward language and in more interesting forms," said Fu.

China decided in 2014 to designate December 4 as national Constitution Day to raise public awareness of the Constitution, and in 2018, China extended the campaign to a week to further promote the rule of law.

Legal education among leading officials and teenagers is of great importance in the publicity campaign, as Fu called the officials the "key few" and the teenagers the future of the country.

"We have hosted several lectures on the Constitution, invited hundreds of law experts to give speeches, held a lecture tour for officials across the country and also invited them to observe court proceedings," said Fu.

To strengthen legal education among students, the Ministry of Justice has worked with the Ministry of Education to release a syllabus on legal education and added legal content, especially on the Constitution, into the current courses for students from primary schools to higher education.

Institutional arrangements were also introduced in recent years in engaging more law enforcement agencies in the campaign.

In 2017, China started to work on the responsibility system of "whoever enforces the law shall popularize the law" and almost all central government departments have got their share of duty in law popularization.

Calling the publicity of the Constitution a long-term task, Fu said China is willing to make the promotion and education of the Constitution more regular and institutionalized.

"We'd like to make every week Constitution Week, and every day Constitution Day," said Fu.

(Source: Xinhua)