On October 1, 1949, Wu Changzhen and her future husband Geng Yitai walked in the parade at the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China. Geng Yitai was also the commander-in-chief of the college students. When Chairman Mao shouted "Long live the people", the happy crowd in Tiananmen Square suddenly burst into laughter, singing and cheering one after another. Wu Changzhen felt unprecedented excitement and excitement!
In September 1948, Wu Changzhen went north from Nanjing, Jiangsu, and Geng Yitai went to Beijing from Tangshan, Hebei. They were admitted to the Law School of Beijing Chaoyang University together. After their studies, both of them entered the newly established China University of Political Science and Law, with Xie Juezai as the president. The two became friends and lifelong partners who talked about everything. From 65438 to 0954, they graduated as the first batch of law students in New China. Due to the establishment and adjustment of colleges and universities in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, four years of college study became six years. Saying goodbye to their student days, they walked into the campus of Beijing University of Political Science and Law (now China University of Political Science and Law) and both stepped onto the podium. Wu Changzhen taught civil law and Geng Yitai taught criminal procedure law.
But at this time, the ultra-left trend of thought began to surge, and personal destiny could only drift with the tide. In 1958, the Civil Law Teaching and Research Office was abolished, and Wu Changzhen switched to teaching Mao Zedong's works and ancient Chinese. Shortly after the "Cultural Revolution", the school was closed, and the good years were wasted.
In the early 1970s, amid calls to crush the Public Security Bureau, teachers and students from Beijing University of Political Science and Law were sent to work in Anhui, and were disbanded on the spot a year later. Geng Yitai was assigned to work in the Anhui Provincial Public Security Department, and Wu Changzhen returned to Beijing to stay and take care of her young children. She had to retire early because she didn't know when these days would end. She was only in her forties at that time.
In 1978, Beijing University of Political Science and Law was restructured. Paper scrapping order revoked. After several years away from his beloved podium, Wu Changzhen returned to the podium with passion. "I sigh that you have spent too much time and have not achieved fame. When the scholar is old, the opportunity will come." At this time, Geng Yitai had been transferred back to Beijing to work and entered the Minzu University of China. He is a Manchu and has been working hard in the field of minority law ever since.
For decades, they have had the opportunity to leave the podium. When I was involved in drafting the Civil Code in the 1950s, I saw how quickly and well she organized the materials. The National People's Congress wanted her to stay in the office. After the first revision of the Marriage Law in the 1980s, the All-China Women's Federation also intended to retain Wu Changzhen and asked her to serve as the leader of the China Women's Cadre School (the predecessor of China Women's College). She declined politely, saying: "I can't be an administrator." The same was true for Professor Geng. In the early 1980s, an old president of the Beijing High Court who knew him warmly invited him to work in the court. He politely declined and was still lingering on the rostrum. They have two sons and a daughter. The eldest son works part-time as a law teacher in Japan, and the eldest daughter-in-law is engaged in the legal profession. The youngest son is also studying law. He works at China University of Political Science and Law. Only his daughter works in finance and has nothing to do with law.
Experienced the drafting and revision of many laws
Wu Changzhen experienced the drafting and revision of many laws throughout his life. In 1955, she participated in the drafting of the Civil Code. The drafting group was disbanded in 1957. At that time, *** drafted more than 500 articles. , Tong Rou, Yang and others participated in the drafting, with Wu Changzhen being the youngest. When foreign guests came to China at that time, they always asked whether China had laws. Drafting laws has become an urgent task in New China, and civil law has attracted much attention. Drafting is very difficult. The civil code of old China has been abandoned, and the civil codes of other countries are still rare in China. So I collected a lot of information to see what the civil laws of the United Kingdom, the United States, France and other countries were like. * * *I collected a dozen books and then organized and drafted them according to project breakdown.
The lack of information was not the most difficult to overcome, but the political concepts of the time. The guiding ideology at that time was that civil law must be subordinate to politics, and the words "private" and "debt" could not appear, so there were many concerns when drafting. For example, how to write the general provisions is a big problem, and "sales contract" and "ownership" are both difficult. In order not to mention "private ownership", ownership is defined as "state ownership, collective ownership, and individual ownership." It stipulates that "rural homesteads and houses can be owned by individuals", but "cars are not allowed to be owned by individuals." Compared with the Property Law passed in 2007, many concepts have undergone tremendous changes.
In the 1960s, the Supreme People's Court organized the second drafting of the Civil Code, led by Shi Huaibi, Sun Yaming, Zhu Shiping and others. However, legal nihilism prevailed at that time, and the drafting work was always in the discussion stage and soon disappeared.
From 65438 to 0978, the revision of the Marriage Law was put on the agenda. Because of his experience in drafting the Civil Code, the University of Political Science and Law sent Wu Changzhen to participate. The Marriage Law is the first law enacted by the People’s Republic of China and the first child of the People’s Republic of China’s laws, so it naturally attracts much attention. I have just participated in the work of the Marriage Law Revision Group here, and the drafting of the General Provisions of the Civil Law has also been started over there, and I want her to participate. Because I have a contract with the Marriage Law, I say sorry to the General Principles of the Civil Code. This experience of participating in legislation became a watershed in her academic path. Thereafter, she shifted the focus of her research and teaching to matrimonial law.
In the early 1990s, in preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, the National People's Congress formulated a draft plan for the "Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests." Wu Changzhen serves as deputy leader of the drafting group and director of the office. After three cycles of cold and heat, this pattern came out ahead of schedule in 1992. In addition, she also participated in the drafting of the "Law on the Protection of Minors" and the "Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of the Elderly".
In 1997, the Marriage Law was revised for the second time. Wu Changzhen participated in the expert group of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and became an expert on the legislative group of the NPC Legal Committee. After the first draft of the revised draft came out, Wu Changzhen went with the National People's Congress to Guangdong for a law enforcement inspection, accompanied by a reporter from a Shenzhen newspaper. The investigation found that extramarital sexual relations are serious in Guangdong. When a reporter asked how the Marriage Law handles this situation, Professor Wu expressed his opinion: "Husbands and wives should be loyal to each other. If there is a fault, they must pay the price. Only when there is no fault can they claim compensation." When the reporter reported, she appeared Words advocating the punishment of third parties. For a while, she said that her voice was "conservative" and "retrograde", but this was not Wu Changzhen's original intention. Unswayed by the temporary trend of public opinion, she still agrees and insists on including "mutual fidelity between husband and wife", "prohibition of spouses living with others", "damage compensation system" and other contents into the revised marriage law.
Next, Wu Changzhen devoted himself to the drafting of the Family Planning Law. But the law was very difficult to draft and ultimately never completed. Concerns at the time included whether the "one-child policy" could be mentioned. Once the "one-child policy" is fixed by law, what will happen if a large number of "second children" appear in the future? I have also considered legally stipulating "two children", but there are many hidden dangers. The law was drafted three times and finally had to be shelved.
The last time, in June 2003, Wu Changzhen participated in the compilation of the Civil Code. The drafting of the Civil Code is a systematic project to build the national legal system, and the task is very arduous. Its drafting and revision are still in progress, and Wu Changzhen looks forward to its early adoption and implementation.
Witness the gradual improvement of the status of Chinese women
In the 1980s, strange women often knocked on Wu Changzhen’s door, fell to the ground with a thud, and begged Professor Wu to make the decision for her. The reason is that her husband turned into Chen Shimei and abandoned her, but she refused to divorce her and died again and again. However, the court still ruled for divorce and asked Professor Wu to redress her grievances. Wu Changzhen had no choice but to explain that he was only a university professor and had only the right to express opinions and supervise, and could not interfere in judicial cases. Some women don’t understand that celebrities like Professor Wu Can can’t handle my divorce case?
Fewer and fewer women came to seek help. Chinese women have generally accepted the concept that "couples should divorce if their relationship breaks down" and can accept the reality of divorce. Of course, this is also because the social environment and people's concepts are changing.
However, the situation of harming women's rights and interests is still serious, and there is a long way to go to protect women's rights and interests, including people's ideological concepts that also need to be improved. For example, if a wife has an affair, it is called an "affair", a "shabby shoe" or a "bitch", which is a great shame and humiliation to the husband, and the husband has been "cuckolded"; when a husband has an affair, the public condemnation is much looser, and some people even think that he "I have the ability" and I haven't heard about what my wife wears. When women are raped, they will be ridiculed by the surrounding public opinion, and the victim will be humiliated again, and finally choose to commit suicide; some women commit suicide by jumping off a building to resist rape or are severely disabled. The perpetrators of such human tragedies are not just criminals, but also human thoughts. Wu Changzhen believes that legal protection is an important aspect, and the change of people's concepts is also an important part of protecting women's rights and interests.
Legal weapons protect women’s rights
In the process of economic diversification, the economic and social status of many women has declined, and they are subordinate and dependent on men. In marriage, women are often the biggest victims.
In his more than 50 years of legal career, Wu Changzhen has always paid attention to the protection of women's rights and interests, and has strongly criticized social phenomena such as "keeping a mistress", bigamy, "third party" intervention, and the increase in domestic violence. Women often went to her to cry out about their unhappy married lives. What she feels more about is the use of law to protect victims of rights in marriage: "Revision of the Marriage Law is imperative and the protection of women's rights must be strengthened."
In his later years, he devoted himself to public welfare activities
< p>Professor Wu Changzhen devoted himself to more than 30 social welfare activities in his later years. In the 1980s, Wu Changzhen took the lead in establishing the eighth law firm specializing in public interest litigation, which was the first law firm in China specializing in public interest litigation. Wu Changzhen participated in social activities and also insisted on charity. From the Supreme Court to the neighborhood committee, she was invited to give lectures, but she never charged a fee.