In early China, ordinary people had a ＂right＂ to demand for justice and they often exerted that ＂right＂. Due to the nature of our sources, which are preoccupied with the concerns of the governing elite, the ordina...In early China, ordinary people had a ＂right＂ to demand for justice and they often exerted that ＂right＂. Due to the nature of our sources, which are preoccupied with the concerns of the governing elite, the ordinary people＇s voices are often lost, but even the scanty evidence that we have suggests that ordinary people did not always passively wait for justice to be delivered to them by the authorities. On one hand, the elites recognized that all human being had the sense of justice and its expression was a natural tendency, on the other hand, ordinary people and elites actively demanded justice at least in three ways： they cried out to redress the injustices they had encountered; they honored the impartial judges for their honesty and fairness; and they protested against injustices through collective actions.展开更多
文摘In early China, ordinary people had a ＂right＂ to demand for justice and they often exerted that ＂right＂. Due to the nature of our sources, which are preoccupied with the concerns of the governing elite, the ordinary people＇s voices are often lost, but even the scanty evidence that we have suggests that ordinary people did not always passively wait for justice to be delivered to them by the authorities. On one hand, the elites recognized that all human being had the sense of justice and its expression was a natural tendency, on the other hand, ordinary people and elites actively demanded justice at least in three ways： they cried out to redress the injustices they had encountered; they honored the impartial judges for their honesty and fairness; and they protested against injustices through collective actions.
