Zhang Zhi-Dong And The Transformation Of Chinese Modern Legal System

Since the 1840s, the Chinese legal system with long history met with the challenge and lash from the west. Some men who lived in the late period of Qing Dynasty began to divert their attention to the outside world, study the western legal system and reform the old feudal Chinese law in order to adapt to the complicated and changeable world, promoting the transformation of Chinese modern legal system. Zhang zhi dong , an important official of the late Qing, was one of the proneers. The author tries to make a deep study on Zhang's legal thought and practice, probing Zhang's contribution to the transformation of Chinese modern legal system. The thesis consists of three part: 1) an analysis on the motive power existing in Zhang that made his legal thought modernized; 2) a systematic exposition on the content and practice of Zhang's legal thought; 3) an objective analysis and evaluation on Zhang's thought and practice of legal system. During the transformed course of Chinese modern legal system, Zhang's thought and practice were conservative to some extent, but on the whole they not only from the theory but also from practice promoted the transformation of Chinese modern legal system.