The women's law-publicity tour to rural areas of China, and the coinciding activity of foreign women diplomats studying China's grassroots law-publicity efforts, was held in Dongshe, a village in Liantang, a town in Qingpu District, in East China's Shanghai Municipality, on November 24, 2024. Huang Xiaowei, Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), attended. Zhu Zhongming, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, delivered a speech.

Various activities were highlighted during the event, including a cappella singing, micro films, Shanghai-style plays, square dances, and multimedia storytelling. The activities were designed to help women and their families improve their legal awareness and promote the rule of law. There was also a fair, at which legal-counseling services were provided by various agencies and organizations, including Shanghai Women's Federation, the Office of the Cyberspace Affairs Commission of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, and Shanghai Municipal Agricultural and Rural Committee. Services were also provided by women's volunteer groups, including 12338 Hotline Volunteers and Shanghai's associations of women judges, procurators and lawyers. People participated in various activities. A ceremony was also held to promote east-west cooperation in women's law-publicity efforts in rural areas, and to encourage China's eastern provinces to help rural areas in western provinces improve the efficacy of their law-publicity work.

Forty foreign women diplomats or officials with United Nations agencies in China, including Milia Jabbour, Lebanese Ambassador to China, and Paulette Bethel, Bahamian Ambassador to China, and Chinese officials visited the law-publicity fair, and they participated in the various activities. Huang explained to the foreign guests that Shanghai is where the major concept of "whole-process people's democracy" was proposed. The event vividly demonstrated China's achievements in following the path of socialist women's advancement with Chinese characteristics, in encouraging multiparty participation in grassroots social governance, and in safeguarding women's human rights. It also presented the salient features of Chinese modernization. Huang expressed hope the international friends will visit more regions of China, to see more of the country, strengthen cultural exchanges and mutual learning, and work together to promote prosperity and development.

Huang said she appreciated the efforts of law-publicity workers and women volunteers, and she encouraged them to develop new ways to make their work more appealing. Huang urged the women who attended the event to study and abide by the laws, motivate their children and family members to become familiar with the rule of law, and contribute to the building of a more harmonious and beautiful, law-based countryside.

Hu Weilie, Vice-Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Lin Yi, Vice-President and Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, Huang Yan, Member of the Leading Party Members' Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of the PRC, Na Yanfang, Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, and heads of relevant departments of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), attended. Approximately 300 people, including women residents in Shanghai, women volunteers, rural law-abiding role models, representatives of local women's federations, and officials of relevant departments and women's organizations, also attended.

The women's law-publicity tour to rural areas of China was launched earlier this year by ACWF, CAC, Ministry of Justice, and MARA. It was designed to meet rural women's demands for legal resources and services, to provide law-publicity lectures and legal education in rural areas, and to deliver legal information and rights-protection services to the doorsteps of rural women and their families. The nationwide activity put emphasis on extending the program to 160 counties (each designated as a key county for receiving national assistance for rural revitalization) in 10 provinces, municipality and autonomous regions, in western China, and to Xizang and Xinjiang.

So far, 1.69 million law-publicity activities have been held in 420,000 villages, and they have involved a combined 32.69 million people. Further, 600,000 activities have been held online, and those events have generated 73.47 million online interactions. Reports on the activity, posted online, have received more than 700 million views.

(Source: Women Voice)

Editor: Cui Rui