NCJ Number
107399
Journal
Mediation Quarterly Issue: 17 Dated: (Fall 1987) Pages: 69-82
Date Published
1987
Length
14 pages
Annotation
China has what is undoubtedly the world's largest and most comprehensive mediation system, which differs in some respects from mediation in other nations.
Abstract
Mediation is not merely a method of dispute resolution in China; it is also a method for exercising political and social values, the creation of a clear idea of social justice, and the normative and political intervention of society in the lives of individual citizens. The nation has only 4,000 to 5,000 lawyers but 1,000,000 mediators and 800,000 neighborhood mediation committees. Mediators are available 24 hours a day and receive pay only if they are taken from work to solve a problem for their factory or production teams. Chinese mediators are far more active as investigators and factfinders than their American counterparts. Chinese mediators also speak for society and act as moral forces. They also present Marxist principles and act as peacemakers between the parties. They do not wait for the parties to initiate mediation. No matter is considered too unimportant for mediation. The United States might benefit by establishing neighborhood mediation committees and workplace units. Additional recommendations and a description of Chinese civil courts and prisons.