ONLY 205 of the Chinese Communist Party’s 99m members serve as full members of its Central Committee. Reaching such giddy heights (the top 0.0002%) is not always a privilege. Of late for example, it has meant spending four days in July closeted in a Beijing hotel poring over an epic resolution on “Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernisation”. The Economist
In beijing a quarter-century ago, Chaguan witnessed a rare event: a criminal court finding a defendant not guilty. Back then, over 90% of Chinese criminal trials ended in convictions. This time the accused—an alleged armed robber—walked free. A lack of hard evidence and his refusal to answer police questions proved decisive. So did his defence lawyer’s plea that it is better to acquit a guilty man than to risk the “horror” of jailing an innocent. The Economist