Chen as a Barefoot Lawyer

Chen as a Barefoot Lawyer

Chen Guanchgeng, Barefoot Lawyers, Lawyers (Blind), China

Since 1996, with help from family and friends, Cheng Guangcheng has been providing legal consulting services for the handicapped and farmers free of charge. Barefoot lawyer has become increasingly popular, almost a "profession," among China's peasants. A phenomenon that is an offshoot of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s in China when the legal profession was considered bourgeois, the courts were abolished, and courts were no longer being enacted, according to an article by Elsie Kalaw-Santos paying tribute to Chen on Great Men and Women of Asia series in 2008. Furthermore, she said that the legal profession was revived along with Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms only in 1979. Specifically, 'barefoot lawyers' assist villagers in filing complaints against local officials. They usually have had basic formal education and have studied the Comprehensive Law of the People's Republic of China. The law that establishes the framework and principles of government and lists the fundamental rights and duties of Chinese citizens. These 'lawyers' also read law books and keep themselves abreast of current events through newspapers.

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