Between August 5-25, 2019, the Government of Beijing Municipality conducted a 20-day questionnaire investigation on the legal regulations for promoting of civilized behaviors, so as to provide reference for the formulation of a new legislation in this field. The questionnaire mainly included such questions as what kind of civilized behaviors should be advocated and encouraged and what kind of uncivilized behaviors should be prohibited and punished by new legislation. Recently, Professor Li Zhong, Head of the Department of the Rule of Law Strategy of CASS Law Institute and CASS Institute of International Law, and Professor Liu Xiaomei, a research fellow at CASS Institute of International Law, were interviewed by the newspaper Beijing Daily on the questionnaire investigation and the proposal legislation. In the interview, Professor Liu Xiaomei pointed out that, the primary task in the process of formulation of the legislation is to distinguish between morality and law, pay attention to the relationship between existing regulations, highlight the key points, and ensure the precision of the legislation. The legislation on the promotion of civilized behaviors must be based on strong public opinions. Uncivilized behaviors such as spitting and littering were once thought to be only moral issues. But with the development of society, they become more and more public in nature and harmful to public interests, and therefore should be brought into the scope of regulation by law. with respect to evidence-taking and enforcement, the new legislation should optimize and integrate law enforcement resources, and apply technological means and legal norms to clarify and simplify evidence-taking procedure and conditions, and establish a system of reward for reporting both civilized and uncivilized behaviors. In his interview, Professor Li Zhong stressed that some existing legislations in this field were adopted long time ago and can no longer meet the needs of rapidly development society. Especially the punishments for uncivilized behaviors provided for in these legislations are two light, leaving very little room for the new regulations, as their subordinate legislation, for improvement, and therefore should be revised in due time.
Professor Li Zhong and Professor Liu Xiaomei: suggestions on the adoption of regulations for promoting civilized behaviors in Beijing