A sociosemiotic approach to fundamental rights in China

Bibliographic Data

ID4474059
AuthorsLe Cheng (0000-0002-4423-8585, City University of Hong Kong, corresponding author), Shifeng Ni (City University of Hong Kong, corresponding author), King Kui Sin (City University of Hong Kong, corresponding author), Winnie Cheng (0000-0003-0709-0419, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume2012
Issue190
Publication date2012-01-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSemiotica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-1998 • E-ISSN: 1613-3692
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/sem-2012-0038
OpenAlexW2088009518
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited6

The legal term "fundamental rights" has been well recognized in international treaties and legislations. The present study investigates the stipulations on fundamental rights in the four versions (1954, 1975, 1978, and 1982) of and four Amendments (1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004) to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from a sociosemiotic perspective. The findings in this study indicate that the provisions in the Constitution are crafted in such a manner that the dominant social and political participants employ them to maintain their ruling position and promote social and economic developments. In the successive versions and Amendments to the PRC Constitution, the evolution of the provisions on fundamental rights not only demonstrates the development of fundamental rights in China, but also illuminates the underlying mediation mainly among the Chinese government, the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Chinese people. The connotation and validity therein is constructed through communication and competition among various participants. It is therefore argued that the status quo of fundamental rights in China is the result of mediation among the relevant participants under the impact of the social and economic development. The State and the CPC are thus suggested to loosen their grips to promote Chinese people's participation in the mediation process with more attention to the social and economic reality. This study also implies that the definition of a legal term is constrained by other sign systems and hence the importance of an understanding of terminological dynamicity

China · Communism · Connotation · Constitution · Fundamental rights · Government (linguistics) · Human rights · Law and economics · Mediation · Political science · Politics · Social rights · Sociology · Status quo · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism

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