One hundred years ago some Shanghai lawyers shared a dream. To make this dream of a united legal system that would offer fair trials for defendants come true, they established China's first lawyers' association. This year their dreams and ambitions are being commemorated.

The concepts of defense lawyers and modern justice were introduced to China from the West early last century. Before that, although there were Chinese legal systems dating back thousands of years, the courts tended to deal out harsh penalties under a strictly feudal process. On December 8, 1912, the Shanghai newspaper, Shen Bao, reported that the Shanghai Lawyers' Association was founded on that day. This was one of the early steps introducing a rule of law to China.

Most influential

Today Shanghai has nearly 14,000 licensed lawyers working in 1,130 law firms. Last year they handled some 93,000 court cases and 32,000 negotiated settlements, according to the Shanghai Lawyers' Association.

"Today, the Shanghai Lawyers' Association is the biggest and most influential industry association serving the largest number of people in the city," said Liu Zhongding, the deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau. 

At its peak in the late 1920s the Shanghai Lawyers' Association had 1,300 members including many of the most prominent lawyers of the day. The association's most famous lawyers included Shen Junru, the first president of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China, and Shi Liang, the first Chinese Minister of Justice. In 1980 a number of the association's lawyers participated in the trial of the counter-revolutionary cliques of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing.

Back then lawyers were involved in trials and courtroom battles, actively promoting the progress of democratization in the country. But things were not all smooth for them. One famous case was "The Seven Gentlemen Incident" in November 1936. The Kuomintang government arrested seven prominent democratic and patriotic representatives and jailed them for what it described as endangering national security. Four of the seven were lawyers of the association. Members of the association went to battle for their colleagues using every possible means. Under the pressure of this and the publicity that ensued, the seven were eventually released.

The early lawyers' association, according to files found at the Shanghai Municipal Archives, rented an apartment at 572 Beile Road (now Huangpi Road South in Huangpu district) in 1929 and remained there until 1949. After 1949, the office building was turned over to the government. The association was shut down in 1952. In the political movements from the late 1950s to the late 1970s, many lawyers were persecuted and exiled to remote areas of the country. All the country's lawyer organizations and even the Justice Ministry were shut down during that period.

The Shanghai Lawyers' Association gradually faded from people's memory. Shanghai had no practicing lawyers for nearly 20 years until 1979 when the association was restored.

Hunt for the home

A few years ahead of its 100th anniversary, the association had been looking for its old home. "It was the birthplace of Shanghai's legal history," Sheng Leiming, the director of the Shanghai Lawyers' Association, told the Global Times.

Working with Shanghai's judicial authorities, the association spent nearly two years trying to locate the historically important home. Zhai Shiqi, the Party Secretary of the Huangpu District Justice Department, said they followed every bit of information and clues they had deduced from the archives and walked up and down Huangpi Road South again and again, but couldn't find a building that fitted the description. "We tried everything but we couldn't find it," Zhai said.

But in 2009 just as they were about to give up, the building found them. A branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) at 301 Fuxing Road Middle was being renovated.

Wang Dezhan, the manager of the Luwan branch of ICBC, explained: "We had planned to restore the building to its original architectural design. And then we discovered it had been the headquarters of the Shanghai Lawyers' Association for decades. It was a surprise for us." Later the association and the Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau confirmed that the building was the one they'd been looking for.

"The bank had added two floors to the original building and had removed the balconies, which was why we couldn't identify it," Zhai said.

In 2010 the association turned part of the building into a museum along with other memorabilia of Chinese law and its practitioners. Documents and artifacts were collected from around the country after officials talked to many of the original lawyers who were now living in various parts of China. The museum is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.

A famous trial

The stories of the early days of these lawyers make for fascinating reading.

Su Huiyu, a 78-year-old former professor at the East China University of Political Science and Law, appeared at the famous trial of the counter-revolutionary cliques of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing. He is the only Shanghai lawyer, who took part in the trials still living. He remembers every detail of the hearing.

"It was some time after the National Day holiday in 1980. I was suddenly told by the Ministry of Justice to go to Beijing immediately for important work. I had no idea what it was about until I arrived there," he said.

Su and nine other lawyers had been selected from across the country as the defense lawyers for 10 major defendants involved with the counter-revolutionary cliques. Five of the lawyers came from Shanghai.

It was the first time the world had seen defense lawyers in China since 1949. Many Chinese had no idea what defense lawyers did until that trial. "Today people are getting used to the idea of defense lawyers and the work of lawyers has touched every aspect of people's lives. But 30 years ago it was all new. Furthermore, we had to defend the 'bad guys.' How could we do this? There was a great deal of pressure on us," Su said.

"Many people couldn't understand why we would want to defend these criminals," Su recalled. Even some lawyers had problems with the work. Twelve lawyers were called but only 10 accepted the job.

Others initially baulked at the task, like Han Xuezhang, another Shanghai lawyer who appeared in the trial. At first she refused the case. Her husband was a famous legal scholar, but had been tortured and persecuted in the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), which was instigated by the defendants. Eventually Su and Han convinced themselves that they had to accept this "special task."

"I only thought about my duties through the perspective of law and that it was a defendant's right to a defense. More importantly we were supposed to encourage the development of the country's legal system. This case was of great significance for that," Su said.

Han and Su studied the defense principles from the Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo War Trials and composed a defense based on fact and law. 

Han passed away in 1997. She was the executive director of the Shanghai Lawyers' Association before it was shut down in 1952 and the first director of the association when it was restored in 1979.

The defense lawyers who appeared at that trial wrote a book about their experiences and the book, Special Defenses, was published in 2007.

Still developing

In a life devoted to law in China, Su has seen the development of the rule of law in the country. "Of course we cannot say that the dream of the old generation of lawyers has been completely realized in China today, but we have seen the situation improving little by little." 

He emphasized that although a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has been established today it is far from perfect.

Liu Zhongding, the deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Justice Bureau, said: "When we remember these pioneers in law, we should also remember their drive to pursue the rule of the law and their love of their country as well as their sense of responsibility for people. The road of the rule of law still has a long way to go in China."