Protecting the Reputation of National Heroes: New Uncertainties in China's Civil Defamation Law

• In Event: Global Perspectives in the Governance of Freedom of Expression

Abstract

In the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or mainland China, the General Provisions of Civil Law (GPCL) came into operation on October 1, 2017. Article 185 of the GPCL introduced a novel measure: imposing civil liability on acts infringing the reputation or several other personality rights of heroes and martyrs and causing harm to the public interest. A year before, in October 2016, the country’s Supreme People’s Court highlighted several court decisions concerning the Langyashan Warriors as model cases for protecting the reputation and honor of national heroes. These two recent moves by the Chinese authorities have brought fresh uncertainties to PRC civil defamation law and are indicative of the country’s rapid deterioration in freedom of speech and academic freedom and of a worrying degeneration in judicial practices in an increasingly inhibitive political environment.
 

Author

• Mei Ning Yan, The University of Hong Kong