A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
(Un)Doing Constitutionalism: The Cases of Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyong
Authors: Hermann Aubié, Xinhong Wang
Publisher: Routledge
Publication year: 2016
Journal: Asian Studies Review
Journal name in source: Asian Studies Review
Volume: 40
Issue: 3
First page : 377
Last page: 393
Number of pages: 17
ISSN: 1035-7823
eISSN: 1467-8403
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2016.1194806
Based on the cases of Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyong, this article reviews the Court judgments and discussions about the criminal charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “disrupting public order” used against Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyong respectively. Through a review of the discourses of Chinese legal scholars surrounding the two cases, we focus on the conflicting arguments regarding the Chinese Constitution and the Constitutional right to freedom of expression. This article concludes with an analysis of the political meaning of the two cases by revisiting the debate about the implementation of a Constitutional review and by reflecting upon the political contention between the government’s recent re-ideologisation of the Constitution and the growing calls of Chinese citizens who advocate Constitutionalism as a proxy for political reform.