A Reformer with Ambitious

Zou was appointed vice-president of Shanghai High People’s Court in 2012. The year also witnessed the juncture of China’s judicial reform. In 2014, Shanghai was chosen to pilot a program of the reform and Zou Bihua, as the director of the program, embarked on his road to reform.

Zou Bihua chats with residents while visiting a Shanghai neighborhood. [Photo/people.com.cn]

In the research and investigation, he referred to massive data and upheld the method of making decisions on the basis of statistics. Scientific management, as for him, should be involved in the reform.

He spared no efforts to promote the reform of judicial personnel and the operating mechanism of judicial power. Some even told him enough is enough. It would not be wise to offend so many people. But he said, “How can the benefits of all be ensured in a reform?” Eventually, all he cared about was the reform. On December 10, 2014, the platform of lawyer litigation service of Shanghai courts was put into service, one day before Zou Bihua died of a heart attack on his way to a meeting.

There is a line in The Shawshank Redemption, Zou Bihua’s favorite film that says, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.”

Zou Bihua, a judicial reformer, always continued to hope.