721 My Encounter in Case Handling | Zhang Sizhi

Today, I learned that Mr. Zhang Sizhi, an outstanding lawyer, passed away in Beijing at 13:25 on June 24, 2022, at the age of 95.

I just re-read his oral autobiography "Thinking about the Walker" in May this year, and I also purchased and read his "We Lawyers" and "My Defenses and Dreams" before.

Looking through the memory, I recalled seeing Mr. Zhang Sizhi twice.

On May 31, 2008, I listened to his speech "I'm a Lawyer in Beijing" in Beijing Sanwei Bookstore.

On July 17, 2014, I listened to his speech "My Experience in Handling Cases" at the Hong Kong Book Fair. The speech video is still available on YouTube.

In that year, I published the text of the lecture for the public account of "Economic Observer Book Review", and I found it and shared it as a commemoration.

Zhang Sizhi: My case-handling experience

Editor's note: In June 2014, Hong Kong Oxford University Press published Zhang Sizhi's oral autobiography "Thinking about the Walker". On July 17th, a lecture on the theme of "Lawyer Whispers: My Case Handling Experience" was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition. The guest was Zhang Sizhi and the host He Liangliang. The following is an edited transcript of the lecture, with some abridgements.

He Liangliang: Today's protagonist is Mr. Zhang Sizhi, a lawyer. I hope everyone will read this book by Mr. Zhang, because after reading his book, you will have a deeper understanding of Mr. Zhang and the construction of the rule of law in China. Let me ask three questions first: First, why must lawyers participate in the construction of China's legal system? Second, why is the situation of lawyers so difficult in the process of the rule of law in China? 3. What are Mr. Zhang's expectations and prospects for the future of China's rule of law construction?

Zhang Sizhi: I am a very bad speaker. I have neither knowledge nor knowledge, so I am a little nervous and may talk nonsense. You can leave the stage if you are not happy. I have prepared a speech, which I generally follow according to Mr. Ho's instructions. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

At this moment, I am speaking in the land of freedom, but I am sighing in my heart, and I am afraid that it is difficult for you to understand. This proves that although I am based on freedom, I have doubts and even fears. At this time, in the face of friends from all walks of life, in the face of a complex situation, and an environment that I am very unfamiliar with, I would like to thank the organizers of the book fair for the honor and care they have given me. So as me, how should I communicate with you and what should I say? From my own experience, I realized that as an individual in society, if you want to solve problems and make a difference, if you don’t consider the situation at the time, if you don’t understand the situation, you will suffer a lot and it will be difficult to win.

There is a short story in "Thinking of the Walker". I attended Zunde Middle School, a private middle school in Xi'an, in high school. It was a church school. I once skipped a class there, and my opponent was a British priest. After leading a school-wide strike for nearly a month, the British finally gave in and reversed their original decision to expel a graduate. On the surface, the students seem to have won, and we are quite proud. However, we were too young at that time, our thinking was very simple, we lacked understanding of the opponent's strength, intentions, and deployments. It can be said that we did not understand the situation at all. In the end, they forced me to transfer schools during the winter vacation. That lesson made me begin to understand that if you don't study the comparison of power against others, and if you don't find out what kind of tactics your opponent is using, how can you not be fooled and suffer!

Our lawyers are not only the defenders of the real order, but also the promoters of the peaceful order. Lawyers and order are like fish and water. I was born more than 80 years ago, because I could not understand the situation for a long time, and I was fooled and controlled by others. I used to be so ignorant and stupid. I entered the profession of a lawyer in the mid-to-late 1950s. At that time and after the system was rebuilt, I was free and could not perform my duties independently, and would be subject to various constraints in practice. Even if you are blocked outside the court door, the court door will not let you in.

Some people say, why can't you see death in "Thinking of the Walker"? Ladies and gentlemen, as an attitude, method, or raising it as a strategy, I think it is a helpless choice, a product of the times, and reasonable. Because on specific issues, death will have a certain effect, but I think it is too rigid if it is regarded as a principle that must be followed and is generally applicable to all lawsuits?

My legal career may be summed up in this: the time is right. My client, Mr. Li Zuopeng, once said that I was just "beating the side drums". I was very unconvinced when I first heard it, but after thinking about it carefully, his metaphor is indeed reasonable. Li Zuopeng was one of the defendants of the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary cliques in 1980. Li Zuopeng was Lin Biao's cadre, and he was a naval political commissar and deputy chief of staff at that time.

Regarding the "two cases", I will only introduce two specific situations to my friends here. One was the meeting with Jiang Qing. At that time, I was assigned to meet with Jiang Qing and asked me to defend Jiang Qing. The prison authorities set up a very decent meeting room. At that time, Jiang Qing walked slowly to her own seat, and slightly tilted her upper body very respectfully, giving me the feeling that she was salute, and then subconsciously stroked her black hair. Why do I emphasize black hair, because many people rumored that Jiang Qing's hair was a wig, no, it was really full of black hair, and there was no white hair at that age. Then I stood still, I raised my hand and said: Sit down. She nodded and sat up without saying a word, listening intently to our introduction to her, looking very polite. Not long after that, she said to me, your voice is too low, I can't hear clearly, my ears are bad, and it was damaged by radium treatment in the Soviet Union. He was the first person in our country to use radium to treat a disease.

She said: I want to sue the Ministry of Public Security. They raided me, kidnapped me, and left me on the concrete floor for six hours. At this point, I may talk about her sadness, and the more I talk about it, the more angry I am. At this time, I had to interrupt her. She went on to say: I asked you to tell them, not me. Their positions on Ye and Deng are different from mine. If they were the same, I would not come here. We were not speculative, and in the end she rejected me, thinking that I could not be her lawyer.

Let's talk about Li Zuopeng's case. The day before the trial, the prison authorities reported that Li Zuopeng was writing every day, saying that he was writing the final statement, but he was very secretive, and no one knew what he was writing. At this time, the president of the special court, the then chief of the staff, was afraid that what he wrote would involve the highest level, and in the end, he was afraid that it would involve Mao Zedong. Those of us are asked to extract Li Zuopeng's so-called final statement. So we went, and it turned out that Li Zuopeng wrote it, but it was sewn into the jacket, and no one could take it away.

We failed, but the problem is not that, the problem is that our approach is too bad. For me personally, this was the biggest failure of my legal career. According to the court's intention and the court's order, the defendant's self-defense materials were obtained from the defendant and handed over to the judge, so that the judge could plan a countermeasure in advance. Where can there be justice and morality? Where is the conscience of a lawyer? What's more, the incident happened in 1980, when the lawyer system was restored, was the first appearance of Chinese lawyers in the world. We actually made such a scandal.

Here I cannot explain it with Chinese characteristics, nor can I defend it with obeying the organization and taking the overall situation into consideration. I say this not to express my repentance, but to hope that future generations will take this as a warning. The healthy development of mainland society urgently needs favorable social and political conditions and a judicial environment. Today, the politics is not democratic, the judiciary is not independent, and lawyers are not performing their duties correctly, but this kind of painful reform cannot be accomplished overnight or overnight. Therefore, what we need is tenacity. If we act too hastily, we may have the bad effect of haste and not achieve it. The successful progress of the case may have a good effect of quantitative change.

At present, there are indeed some people with ulterior motives mixed in in the legal circle. But in essence, we have a group of very good young talents who are striving at the forefront of the rule of law for rights protection. Because of their conscience, they never lose their morals even if they fail, and their spirits are not beaten. Due to physical constraints, lawsuits in mainland China often fail to say what they should say, and distinguish what they should say, but after all, they have inherited the tradition of the sages, "to die in peace, to live without silence".

To investigate the problem from the current reality, I think the key is to let people speak. After Lu Xun wrote "The Memorial for Forgetting", an excellent reporter advised Mr. Lu Xun to be good at self-protection. You are too sharp. Mr. Lu Xun responded at the time: someone in China has to stand up and speak. Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping both said one sentence: let people speak, the sky will not fall. Now our rulers should have such arrogance!

Q & A session

Reader: Readers in Hong Kong are very concerned about Pu Zhiqiang and Gao Yu. How are they doing? What do you think of the Hong Kong people calling for a referendum?

Zhang Sizhi: How are they doing? The problem is both simple and complex. What do you think about their conditions in prisons in mainland China, what will they be like? I haven't been to the detention center in Beijing for about a year, but I went once last Friday. A lot of changes have taken place this year, and this change is that the living conditions of the detainees are much better than before. They have one meal of dumplings, two meals of noodles, and two meals of rice a week, and steamed buns on other days. According to what the prison officials told me, the prisoners would definitely be able to eat enough. This is the case. Ask them how their situation is, this sentence is both concrete and abstract, I don't know how I should answer. Anyway, if I were in there, I would be very uncomfortable. I think it's better for me not to answer the second question, because I'm really unfamiliar with the referendum. I just saw it on the TV screen. It's not serious to say anything about hearsay. .

Reader: I am a young lawyer from Shenzhen who has just entered the profession. I would like to ask you a few questions: First, what is your assessment of the progress of China's legal system in the past ten years? What are your expectations for the construction of the rule of law in China in the next ten years? Second, as a young lawyer, you have professional ideals, but you are also facing realistic pressure to survive. How do you think you can balance the two?

Zhang Sizhi: Your question makes me feel kind, because it is both your question and what we often think about. I'm not thinking about it emotionally, but thinking about it intellectually. No matter how good or perfect a political party is, as long as it is a one-party dictatorship, there can be no judicial independence. Without judicial independence, the legal profession cannot develop healthily. I think this is the simplest reason. But if I am the executor, I have to see and hear people's dissatisfaction frequently. Only dissatisfaction can make progress.

The team of Chinese lawyers is not huge, but it is already very complicated. Young friend, I believe you are a good person, but you should always be alert to the lawyers around you, how many bad guys there are. I don't feel bad about our lawyers, I feel ashamed. Don't be afraid of people telling you to do things to survive. What if we don't survive, how can I do anything? To do things for survival, but in the process of survival can not be fooled.

He Liangliang: Mr. Zhang mentioned many times in his book that lawyers in China are restricted, and they are not even allowed to enter the courtroom or see cases. Is this still the case?

Zhang Sizhi: Yes. However, after all, I have a high reputation, so they can only use small tricks, such as saying to me: You are too late to participate in this case, the trial will start tomorrow, we have appointed a lawyer, are you coming for the second instance? This is a situation. In another case, the court knew that I was here, and the dean led the team and ran into the mountains and forests to open the trial, saying that it was a local trial. What can you do?

Reader: Mr. Zhang, I read that when you were defending Wang Juntao in the book, when I read the file, I found that a leader of the student movement put the blame on Wang Juntao, saying that everything was ordered by him. Can you tell us who he is?

Zhang Sizhi: You are embarrassing me with this question. From my original intention, I want to speak and dare to speak. But after all, after decades, who will not make mistakes, his fault is that he still does not admit his mistakes. You may not know much about the situation. In fact, people who know the situation will know who they are.

Reader: You mentioned a detail in your book. A local lawyers association once issued a document saying that because this court is too dark, we will not represent all criminal cases. I would like to ask you to talk about the situation of the Mainland Lawyers Association?

Zhang Sizhi: I may be more pointed. I don’t think an organization like the Lawyers Association can even handle a vase in our country. It’s not a problem that doesn’t work, but a problem that doesn’t work well at all. The Lawyers Association really can't ask for it. It's because it costs our lawyers' money. There are very few bar associations that actually serve lawyers. The All China Lawyers Association is only a subsidiary of the Ministry of Justice, and the Lawyers Association has a party committee, which we can understand. However, the party secretary of the Lawyers Association Party Committee is without exception the head of the judicial department. The problem is not that he is the head and he cannot do it, although he cannot do it according to the law, the problem is that he is not qualified as a lawyer at all. But no one in the Law Association dared to say a word.

Recently, the Beijing Lawyers Association has issued a series of relevant so-called internal rules and regulations. How serious are the restrictions on lawyers? Lawyers can't say anything. A lot of lawyers fought there, but to no avail, this is the Bar Association. Is this still called our mother-in-law? Evil mother-in-law. You mentioned the Lawyers Association in Yueyang, Hunan. The president of the Yueyang Lawyers Association is the real president. I wish that Lawyers Association will last forever. It is really good.

Reader: If Zhou Yongkang is to be tried in the near future, if the government asks you to be a defense lawyer, what preparations will you do?

Zhang Sizhi: I will be prepared to seek truth from facts. At that time, I thought that Zhou Yongkang was a defendant, and as a lawyer, I had to defend his rights as a defendant. But people will definitely not invite me, in fact, inviting me is not a bad thing for him.

Reader: Can you talk about Pu Zhiqiang's health?

Zhang Sizhi: Let me say two things. First, Pu Zhiqiang's health is not good. Second, the last time I saw him was last Friday, and he told me that he was getting better. Third, the prison authorities treated him favorably and sent him to the Friendship Hospital for a physical examination. Fourth, to be specific, I once sent a message that his leg was swollen. At that time, he thought it was because the arraignment took too long, 12 hours a day, and the leg was swollen. Later, I discussed with his wife. His wife is a doctor. She said that it was caused by prostatitis. Later, she went to the hospital for treatment. Now her legs are basically swollen. Fifth, his diabetes was relatively serious in the past, and he didn't care about it himself, so the condition was always in a state of deterioration. Generally speaking, his physical condition is very bad, so we asked for bail pending trial, which is the reason. As for the facts of the case, let's talk about the case later. It depends on how the situation changes. It's useless to talk about anything now. It's not that I'm avoiding the problem. There really isn't much more to report to you.

Zhang Yihe: Success does not need to be defeated or to fight - Preface to Zhang Sizhi's oral autobiography "Thinking of the Walker"

[Blogger's Note] The book "Thinking of the Walker", which was dictated by lawyer Zhang Sizhi and organized by Sun Guodong, will be published and distributed by Oxford University Press, Hong Kong. The preface of Mr. Zhang Yihe is now posted for people in the industry to have a sneak peek.

Barrister Zhang Sizhi is a beautiful person. The lawsuits are beautifully fought, even though they are old and lost, and they are repeatedly defeated; the people are beautiful, even though there are eighty-seven, small pointed-collar tight-fitting T-shirts in summer and white down jackets in winter; the articles are beautifully written, just look at the arguments he wrote. Words, you will know: those who are right are right, those who are wrong are wrong, those who are wronged will defend it, and those who fake it will expose it. A well-known Taiwanese lawyer described his demeanor as "a dewy white rose". Such rhetoric, exactly like describing a beautiful woman, is suspected to be inappropriate. In fact, this is what I said, which means that I have to always "bring crystal dewdrops" and "show straight spikes" on the muddy road.

Five years ago, at the recommendation of a friend of the Institute of Modern History of the Academia Sinica in Taipei, I bought the Four Memoirs of Wang Dingjun and brought it back to Beijing. From the first "Yesterday's Cloud", I couldn't put it down when I picked it up, and the more I watched it, the more excited I became. The third book, "Road to Guanshan" is my favorite, and I shed the most tears. The biography tells the story of the rough run of 6,700 kilometers during the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. "The Kuomintang and the Communist Party are like two mountains, and I am like a small river. It takes off the road from the mountain and comes out with twists and turns. This is a wonderful life." - Wang Dingjun's postscript said this sentence, I can't help but think of Zhang Sizhi, he also has Is it a wonderful life "to come out of twists and turns"? No matter from which point of view, he should also have a private memoir like Wang Dingjun. What's more, some of us who are not so wonderful are writing about their glorious experiences one by one, why doesn't he write?

I told him seriously.

He said to me earnestly, "I will write it."

So, I asked someone to bring a set from Taiwan and give it to him seriously. I warmly suggested: "Don't talk about the case in detail, don't be too professional, just write about your own experiences and feelings. Don't just write about yourself. I hope to see social changes and a generation of sentient beings from your writing. Look at the collective experience of the Chinese and the entanglement of cause and effect."

I kept saying it.

He nodded vigorously.

After that, it was four years of urging! Every time we meet, we greet each other a few times, and then ask a series of questions: "Did you write it?" "Where did you write it?" "When will it be finished?"

Every time he smiled slightly and said faintly, "Write it."

At the end of the year, I will be Mu Renzhi, and he will be Yang Bailao, performing a two-person turn. He always ends up with a handwritten letter from him that ends with an apology.

My temper is coming! He simply said bluntly: "Don't get involved in any cases in the future. For you, one more case is not too much; one less case is not less; if you don't do it, other lawyers can do it. However, your memoirs can only rely on Own."

He still whispered, and smiled slightly: "Write it."

Always talk and write, but never see him write. I complained to Mr. Shao Yanxiang: "Song Shijie is fried dough sticks, and he (referring to Zhang Sizhi) is also fried dough sticks. He is already eighty years old, so don't hurry up and write! If there are three long and two short, what a pity."

I don't want to, Mr. Shao replied: "Zhang Sizhi's family has longevity genes, who may walk ahead of whom."

At the end of 2011, I received an apology letter from him as usual. In the last paragraph of the letter, he said: Because of my poor eyesight, my reading and writing have been greatly affected. I took a long sigh, put the letter away, and no longer pressed him, and he changed from writing a pen to an oral record. The recorder was Mr. Sun Guodong, the editor-in-chief of Lawyer's Digest, and the two cooperated harmoniously.

On the surface, he said that he was not "pressing", but he was actually thinking about it in his heart. In 2012, I couldn't help but say to him, "Can you show me a few chapters from your dictation for me to look at?"

Zhang Siyi agreed, and immediately asked Sun Guodong to bring over the first drafts of chapters such as "Family History", "Wang Juntao Case" and "Bao Tong Case". I started to read it from the article "Bao Tong Case - Fortunately, I've Been Defended". First lie down and watch, but soon I can't lie down, sit up, my heart beats, I sweat, it's too exciting! It's like chewing on a marijuana leaf and continuing to get excited. It's really good stuff!

One day in May 1989, two people in Beijing were detained: one was detained at home, his name was Zhao Ziyang; the other was detained in Qincheng, his name was Bao Tong. The article "Fortunately I have no loss" is a perfunctory post on May 28, the night when Bao Tong lost his personal freedom. In a politically important case, the entanglement of political figures is complicated and subtle, and can often only be pointed out. I can't explain it. Zhang Sizhi wrote it with a curved pen, telling the whole story with the details of the story, and the charm. For example, the necklace on a certain lady's neck, whoever you are, you will never forget it. Zhang Sizhi The characteristics are old and hot, the lawsuit is old, and the writing is hot. The pen is light and the color is heavy. With a light touch, a "standing committee member" is erased, and a "prime minister" is easily ticked. As long as the core content of the case is involved, there is no relaxation. After the court debate, Zhang Sizhi summed up Bao Tong like this, he said: "The court debate is not as intense as imagined. I am very satisfied with Bao Tong's performance. This gentleman has a very clear mind. He speaks in a well-structured, focused and comprehensive manner. Not a word of nonsense. If one day he can really face Li Peng, how could Li be his opponent? Regarding the public prosecutor's speech, I gave four opinions on the issue of evidence, which were impromptu speeches, from which I can see my legal opinions on the Bao case. The core content is to clarify from the legal point of view that opposing the head of government does not mean opposing the government; opposing the government does not mean overthrowing the regime, and cites the opposition to Hua Guofeng as the 'head of government' in the name of criticizing the 'two ordinary people'. No one considers counter-revolutionary examples to prove it. "Of course, being justified is also losing. It doesn't matter!" You don't need to be proud if you succeed, you don't need to fight if you lose, and the sky has eyes. "

Words reflect a person's thinking ability and corresponding expression ability. Zhang Sizhi possesses these two abilities, and both are excellent. At the end of "Bao Case", it is said that Bao Tong "goes home after serving his sentence". A simple "going home" was dragged down by political "exceptional cases" for eight years. Zhang Sizhi was entrusted with the legal affairs of "going home according to law" for eight years. Since 1996, in order to set foot on the way home, Bao Tong wrote to him for help, saying: "I deeply hope that through your handling of relevant legal affairs, I will be able to have the personal freedom granted me by the Constitution. I believe in the law. I Ask the law for help." Faced with such a "legal affair" that is only seen in ancient and modern times, Zhang Sizhi said that he was "at a loss, not knowing where to go and who to find a job?" Letter to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, imploring the highest authority for guidance. The answer he got was also clear: "It has been forwarded to the chairman."

Bao Tong finally returned home, still under 24/7 surveillance. Without real freedom, he can be said to be the safest person in China.

"What is good in this body is still the fragrance" (Bao Tong's poem). Zhang Sizhi became Bao/Tong's friend, and they met every year no matter how many people were watching.

Twenty-five years ago, in the spring and summer, the students in Beijing took Tiananmen Square as the trigger point, and the square behavior of paying homage to Hu/Yao/Bang as the incident point eventually evolved into a "storm" and a "democracy movement" that spread across the country. . Students, cadres, citizens, intellectuals, and the mass media converged on Tiananmen Square. People are drawn together, their hearts are united, and they unanimously demand political reform, anti-corruption, anti-official collapse, newspapers and televisions to tell the truth, and they also demand an end to the politics of the elderly. As a result, the old man ended "them" with gunshots. He gave his life, and none of his demands were fulfilled. The leader of the democracy movement, he walked and fled, and everyone tried to look at the money after that. As for political reform, few dare to play this "Western stuff". The rest, there are scholars talking on paper.

"June 4th" has become a concern and a topic. In this topic, one person who cannot be avoided is Zhang Sizhi. For the defense of the "June 4th" case, Beijing organized a team to implement centralized case handling, which was generally the same as the "two cases" of Lin (Biao) and Jiang (Qing) in the past. Zhang Sizhi took over the Wang Juntao case.

Opening the thick file, Zhang Sizhi paid special attention to several major student leaders. He must know what they all said, how they said it at the time, and what was provided to the prosecution? He was shocked by one of the testimony, which came from a very well-known student movement leader. In his testimony, he said: "All my actions in Tiananmen Square and all my actions in the headquarters are under the command of Wang Juntao." Then, he gave a qualitative conclusion, saying: "Wang Juntao is my instigator." major! The shocked Zhang Sizhi didn't understand him, and couldn't understand him - he could "confess" himself, but he couldn't pull other people's backs! Wherever you go, it's the same thing.

That turmoil is also a topic that Zhang Sizhi and I often discuss. Speaking of pro-democracy figures and student leaders, I once said, "Many people, including me, think that the 1989 student leaders are the worst in China's previous student movements." Zhang Sizhi nodded without refuting. He told me: "Among these people, Wang Juntao is good. He said to the public security officers: 'You have asked me dozens of times about other people's questions. I tell you clearly that today is the last time to talk about this issue. Once, I will not talk about it in the future. What I can say is: For any issue involving other people, everything is subject to what the other party says. I will take responsibility and don't have to ask me again.'"

As for Wang Juntao's remarks, I, as a legal illiterate, still don't quite understand it. Zhang Sizhi explained, and added: "It is very commendable for him to speak like this, and it is considered to be upright. Among the imprisoned student movement leaders, there are some who have made peace with others, some who have betrayed others, and some who have fallen into trouble. Testimonies like him are rare. "

Sentenced, Wang Juntao sentenced to 13 years in prison. Zhang Sizhi couldn't hold back his anger: all the evidence presented by the lawyer was ignored; not a single word of the defense reason was reflected in the judgment, and not a word was mentioned.

Close the court! Zhang Sizhi returned to the small hotel he rented, closed the door, and cried aloud, for himself, for his legal profession, and for the great motherland!

On New Year's Eve after the sentence was pronounced, Zhang Sizhi received a letter from Wang Juntao, which contained this paragraph: "I don't want China to carry the burden of 1989. I told Xiaotian (that is, Mrs. Hou Xiaotian), don't just see people The grievances and grievances of this country are slightly fluctuating. At the bottom of the society, where the upper class cannot see, thousands of people will go bankrupt and die of starvation and illness. The land under my feet has long been overloaded. When we pursue our own justice, we must consider the common people. Although I am only thirty-two years old, I have already seen things beyond the individual. The verdict, for me, is a kind of relief and consolation of conscience. I have a clear conscience. Of course, I still feel ashamed when I think of the dead." In defense of Wang Juntao's "subversion crime", Zhang Sizhi felt that although his defense was 7,000 words long, there was nothing exciting about it. After reading the letter, he felt the weakness and lack of his defense.

Mainland friends and the news media highly value Zhang Sizhi's title as the team leader of defense lawyers for the two major cases of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing. That is a prominent identity, and it is a prominent "lawsuit". Zhang Sizhi later defended Wang Juntao, Bao Tong, Gao Yu, Wei Jingsheng and many other sensitive individuals with useless enthusiasm and ineffective labor. These cases are either "big" or "required", and whether they win or lose, they can become a lawyer. Zhang Sizhi became popular to a large extent because of this, and other lawyers only had a "share" of envy and jealousy. Of course, there were also lawyers who expressed their disdain for political cases from a professional point of view. There is no way, just like Mei Lanfang's singing caught up with the beginning of Peking Opera, and Zhang Sizhi caught up with the recovery period of restarting the lawyer defense system 20 years after Mao Zedong's cancellation of the lawyer profession. a good time! A good time is for a good lawyer. If Zhang Sizhi is not popular, who is popular?

The talented lawyer Mr. Si Weijiang wrote an article for Zhang Sizhi's 80th birthday, "Do we need to look up to Zhang Sizhi? ", this article is dazzling because of its low-keyness among the many praises and longevity words. After reading it carefully, I agree with some of them. For example, he believes that the reason why Zhang Si can persist in his work for a long time is directly related to his wisdom and conservatism. "I am familiar with the world and people, and I am used to seeing the autumn moon and spring breeze." Lawyers are a practical profession and require professional knowledge; but knowledge alone is not enough, and in-depth investigation is required The facts of the case; investigation alone is not enough, it also needs something, which is the insight that is formed by the fusion of professional quality, social experience and personal intelligence. It is precisely Zhang Sizhi who is very insightful! Chatting with Zhang Sizhi, you liked to hear his analysis and judgment of the case, current affairs, and a specific person, often either in one sentence, or in one sentence. Guidance and criticism of young lawyers is telling. A case in Shandong was a big deal. As for its nature, Zhang Sizhi's claim was limited to "violent family planning" rather than "family planning", so he frequently greeted the lawyers who intervened: foreign media should be cautious, if the case wears a political hat. Hats, on the contrary, are not conducive to the solution of the problem. The results are unfortunate. The case caused a sensation at home and abroad, and the parties were tortured. Zhang Sizhi was so angry that he yelled at him as a "jerk". It is said that Zhang Sizhi is full of passion. I think his sobriety is more important than passion. He knows what he is doing and what he can do; he knows how to choose the time, say what he should say, and argue what he should argue; he has to stop or cannot stop. He, who is both a knower and a practitioner, has achieved the "unity of knowledge and action". Right now, there are not many such people.

As he gets older, Zhang Sizhi is becoming more and more like a godfather. He likes to criticize people, especially well-known lawyers, and his attitude is often very strict. This makes some people feel uncomfortable. A typical example is the criticism of Li Zhuang in the Li Zhuang case. He wrote an article titled "Playing with Evidence, Deviating from Justice". Publicly expressed "unacceptable and extremely disgusting" for Li Zhuang's abnormal performance in the court of second instance. He said, "I don't think as a lawyer, you can't deal with hooligans by hooliganism. You can't! For the time being, you may not suppress evil, and you can't use evil against evil." After Li Zhuang was released, he held a celebration banquet and held a discussion meeting. He didn't show up. Strict and demanding, is associated with their own abide by the concept. Zhang Sizhi believes: "Lawyers should demonstrate through practice that lawyers are responsible for the society and account for history." Here, he particularly emphasizes that as a lawyer, he dares to take responsibility for problems, and Li Zhuang is when he is "in trouble". Something went wrong. Zhang Sizhi did not understand for such an ugly performance in court. In my opinion, there is no need to understand.

Zhang Sizhi likes to drink good wine, like to wear beautiful clothes that fit well, and likes to joke with the ladies, offering a little courtesy from time to time. In short, very "fan children". This is the case in daily life and also in work. Zhang Sizhi proposed court etiquette and raised it to the height of quality to be considered. To this end, he checked himself and said: "I sometimes did not do well in court, and I often behaved like I was arrogant, sometimes even arrogant, too petty, and I didn't have a lawyer that everyone should have. Demeanor. But I also pay attention to recovering after the event. After the court is closed, I immediately go to the public prosecutor's seat, bow, shake hands warmly, and pay attention to the clerk. I think this should be the case."

Some people commented on Zhang Sizhi, saying that his personal experience is the history of honor and disgrace of Chinese lawyers and the history of the rise and fall of the rule of law in China. I don't know if this statement is accurate, but I know that Zhang Sizhi's legal career and personal life have always been accompanied by the cloud of China's unpredictable times, the violently swaying political line, and the long-term bad social environment. He is also like Wang Dingjun - walking through the canyon formed by the two peaks of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In the past, he left school at the age of 16 to join the army, entered India and Burma, and joined the expeditionary army; later, he spent 22 years in the right wing. Many people value and appreciate the series of major cases he has taken over, and I appreciate his running call for the people at the bottom of the society. In front of the power, he has pride; in front of the weak, he has tears. One lawsuit after another occurred and disappeared during the journey of his life. This is his joy and his suffering. No matter how diligent you are, the rule of law in China is always distant and hazy. Shocked to think about it!

I don't know since when, a saying "don't like Henan people" has become popular in mainland China. Unfortunately, Zhang Sizhi was born in Zhengzhou, Henan. However, there are many people who like this Henan people, including officials, colleagues, the media, and outsiders, such as me. Zhang Sizhi and I are good friends, and this has nothing to do with the law or work.

Zhang Sizhi loves to laugh, and there is always a bleak pulse in his eyes. I admire him.

Written in Shouyuzhai, Beijing in the spring of 2014

Zhang Yihe: Famous writer, researcher at the Institute of Chinese Opera, China National Academy of Arts. His writings, "The Past Is Not Like Smoke", "A Gust of Wind, Left a Sing Through the Ages", "The Past of the Actors", have been widely circulated and have a huge impact.