Tang Weijian is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, professor of the School of Law of Renmin University, vice-chairman of the research society of China Civil Procedure Law, special supervisor of the Supreme People's Court and member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

Tang Weijian (2nd L) poses for a photo with his students. [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

A proposal on pursuing people-centered justice and making efforts to solve the problem of costly litigation gained applause during the two sessions in 2014. It was proposed by Tang Weijian, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee in the judicial sector.

Tang graduated from the Department of Law of Suzhou University, and later he studied for his master's degree and doctorate at the China University of Political Science and Law. Tang is one of the first PhD graduates to have majored in civil procedure law in China, and is the first post-doctoral fellow in civil procedure law in the country. After years of professional practice, Tang has had a profound understanding of the law.

Giving suggestions on the special regulations of civil litigation related to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan

On Sept 19, 2022, the CPPCC National Committee held an expert consultation on the construction of the diversified dispute resolution mechanisms in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Tang delivered a speech on suggesting an amendment to the civil procedure law and adding special rules for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan related civil litigation.

He said that he believes that if the judicial proceedings of civil and commercial cases involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan simply apply the judicial procedure of foreign-related civil and commercial cases, it will result in many problems and would not meet the special needs of civil and commercial cases involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Tang had conducted in-depth investigations and surveys and exchanged ideas with relevant experts before the consultation meeting, where his suggestion was praised by the chief of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) attending.

Gaining fruitful achievements in proposals

Tang has served as a member of the CPPCC National Committee for three consecutive terms and has submitted 96 proposals in 15 years, with two proposals winning the outstanding proposal award. He has also given two speeches at the Great Hall of the People. By utilizing his professional knowledge, Tang has performed his duty to help improve the building of the rule of law.

Tang's first outstanding proposal was submitted during the 2017 national two sessions, and was focused on improving the express delivery dispute settlement mechanism.

In the second half of 2015, Tang received an invitation for a biweekly consultation meeting from the Committee on Social and Legal Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee. The meeting was intended to give suggestions on the revision of the regulation on express deliveries, which was released by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council in November 2015.

Tang learned that China's express delivery business volume accounted for 40 percent of the world's total in 2015, ranking top in the world. However, problems such as rough sorting, slow delivery speeds and package losses had become a barrel that hindered the development of the express delivery industry. Tang decided on the main theme of his speech: how to fully protect consumers' legitimate rights, allowing them to not only rapidly solve disputes but to also save time and costs in safeguarding their rights.

Tang began to collect materials and sought advice from experts and professional personnel in the express delivery industry, as well as participating in surveys and symposiums organized by the CPPCC National Committee.

After the consultation meeting, Tang improved the content of his speech and submitted the proposal during the national two sessions in 2016. On July 24, 2017, the draft regulation on express deliveries was published by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and largely adopted Tang's suggestions. On Sept 6 of the same year, Tang’s proposal was listed as an outstanding proposal of the 12th CPPCC National Committee. This was the first time for Tang to win this award.

Tang's second outstanding proposal was related to the Civil Code.

He visited the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) for research and attended relevant seminars and meetings.

During the national two sessions in 2020, he submitted a proposal on strengthening procuratorial supervision and safeguarding the implementation of the Civil Code. The relevant department of the SPP gave high praise to Tang's proposal. On Sept 20, 2022, Tang’s proposal won the outstanding proposal award of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.

Improving the legislative process of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law and the Individual Bankruptcy Law

Tang developed a keen interest in the bankruptcy system while studying for his doctorate. His doctoral thesis, themed on bankruptcy legislation in China, was the first doctoral thesis about the Bankruptcy Law of China.  

As a member of the legislative drafting group, Tang fully participated in the legislative work of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law enacted in 2006. After becoming a member of the CPPCC National Committee, he submitted a number of proposals on improving China's bankruptcy law.

In addition, Tang also paid high attention to personal bankruptcy legislation. During his doctoral studies in 1995, he published an article on ideas on establishing a personal bankruptcy system, which was the first systematic suggestion of personal bankruptcy legislation in academic circles. In 2009, he submitted a proposal on the enactment of the personal bankruptcy law, and later submitted several more proposals calling for the formulation of the law.

Promoting the legislative process and system improvement of procuratorial supervision and public interest litigation

From 2009 to 2013, Tang served as a temporary deputy director of the civil administrative procuratorial office of the SPP. During this period, he gained rich experience in strengthening the legal supervision function of procuratorial organs.

Tang participated in the revision of the Civil Procedure Law in 2012, as both an expert and a scholar and a representative of law revision of the SPP, providing suggestions on the overall supervision of procuratorial organs.

Tang also noticed that procuratorial organs would typically pay more attention to the supervision of criminal cases and less attention to the supervision of civil and administrative litigation cases. Therefore, he suggested for procuratorial organs to pay equal attention to the supervision of criminal and civil cases. His suggestion and relevant proposal advocated for the revision of the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates and internal institutional reform of procuratorial organs.

Public interest litigation is another key field of Tang's study.

During the national two sessions in 2008, Tang included building a public interest litigation system for the first time in his proposal. In the same year, he submitted a proposal to the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang on establishing a system for China's procuratorial organs to initiate public interest litigation, which received a lot of attention from the committee.

It was submitted as a proposal of political parties and groups during the two sessions in 2009.

In 2017, the Civil Procedural Law and Administrative Procedural Law were respectively revised and added to the system of procuratorial organs to initiate public interest litigation. Later, Tang focused on the establishment and improvement of the system and submitted many related proposals, which greatly advanced the legislative process and system improvement of public interest litigation.

An active participant of judicial reform

As a CPPCC member for 15 years, Tang has made remarkable achievements in the participation in and deliberation of State affairs on the rule of law in China. His proposals, suggestions and articles have promoted the amendment of relevant laws and helped improve China's procuratorial supervision system.

As a member of a non-Communist political party, Tang has also received brilliant achievements. In 2015, the General Office of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang sent a letter to Renmin University, in which they praised Tang's outstanding contribution and participation in the administration and discussion of State affairs. In 2019, he was awarded the Capital Labor Medal and won the title of role model of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.