As part the judges’ exchange between the German states of Thuringian and Saxony and the Chinese provinces of Shaanxi and Sichuan, a delegation of ten judges from Thuringia and Saxony visited Shaanxi and Sichuan from 24 to 29/11/2019. The visit centred on the question of amicable settlements of proceedings, collective legal protection, administrative supervision of judges and the digitalization in the judiciary.
At the start of the programme, Mr Tan Xiaofeng, Vice President of the High People’s Court of the Shaanxi Province, welcomed the guests at the People’s Court of the District of Beilin in the city of Xi’an. The court’s President, Mr Zhang Linming, briefed the guests on amicable settlements of proceedings in China. After this, Mr Thomas Babeck, a judge at the Erfurt District Court, outlined the German perspective on this topic. In the afternoon, the delegation visited the People’s Court of the District of Huyi, also in Xi’an. There, following talks given by Dr Claudia Heinz, a judge at the Erfurt District Court, and Mr Li Yunfeng, President of the host court, the participants exchanged information on the topic of collective legal protection.
The delegation continued its discussions in Sichuan province. In Chengdu the programme included a visit to the High People’s Court. Here the delegation was greeted by the President of the Court, Mr Wang Shujiang. The theme of the workshop that followed was “Administrative Supervision of Judges”. Introduced by the President Xiong Yan, Mr Ouyang Dandong, Head of the Administrative Chamber of the Sichuan Province High People’s Court briefed the participants on the role and position of the Chinese Chairpersons of the Chamber in judicial supervision. Mr Markus Schlüter, Presiding Judge at the Higher Regional Court in Dresden, reported on the situation in Germany. The delegation then visited the People’s Court of the Longquanyi District in the City of Chengdu. Here the delegation took part in a criminal hearing concerning theft and fraud. Afterwards, the judge dealing with the proceedings, Ms Yang Jia discussed her approach to the hearing with her German colleagues.
On the following day, the delegation visited the Intermediate People’s Court of the city of Chengdu. They were greeted by Mr Xu Dongqi, Vice President of the court and Ms Xu Hong, head of the court’s office for information technology. At the subsequent workshop on the topic of “Digitalization in the Judiciary”, Ms Gong Yunwei, special advisor of the court’s general office, reported on the establishment of “smart courts” in Chengdu. Ms Sibylle Peters, a judge at the District Court in Zwickau and permanent representative the Director, and Ms Andrea Zimmermann, a judge at the Higher Regional Court in Dresden reported on the current application of information technology in the ordinary courts in Germany.
On the final day the delegation visited the People’s Court of the Tianfu District in Chengdu. Accompanied by Ms Xu Ermin, Vice President of the court, the delegation first attended an exhibition on urban planning and development of the new city district of Tianfu. The hosts then introduced the German delegation to the complaints service centre and the high-tech meeting room of the court. The visit concluded with the delegates’ participation in a civil court hearing and their discussion of the hearing with their Chinese colleagues.