Portrait of justice: The spirit of Chinese law as depicted in historical and contemporary drama

Abstract

Some scholars doubt whether China has much of a legal tradition, and others have opined that China lacks legal subjectivity from a Western legal perspective. However, various dramas have delineated a legal culture and form of legal subjectivity in China present since ancient times. Unfortunately, relatively less research has been conducted on legal themes in Chinese drama, and even less scholarship has explored Chinese legal tradition through an art perspective. This article takes a modest step toward filling this gap. Selecting multiple cases from the creative industries in China, including ancient stage drama, films, and contemporary television drama across the span of hundreds of years, this article looks into the representations of legal tradition in Chinese performing arts and explores the spirit of law in Chinese society.