I had an epiphany of sorts on my September 2009 trip to China. As many of you know, I have a real interest in observing the development of rule of law in China. There are several different ways that you can observe the situation: You can read intellectual studies on how China should best implement rule of law. You can hear and read what human rights and American governmental organizations will say and watch the ways that they will try to pressure China to change. Of course, all of this has its value, because we use some of these same tools in our analysis of current trends in China.

My revelation happened while in a taxi with a couple of the guys on our travel team. As I’ve been doing a lot of reading about rule of law and how it practically works in a society, the benefits it produces, I was in this taxi and a really big thought hit me. It had to do with Rule of Law in China……. The Wikipedia page on Rule of Law defines it like this, “The rule of law, also called supremacy of law, means that the law is above everyone and it applies to everyone. Whether governor or governed, rulers or ruled, no one is above the law, no one is exempted from the law, and no one can grant exemption to the application of the law.” And while China desperately needs Rule of Law, needs to implement Rule of Law and would see tremendous benefit for its people because of Rule of Law, I am getting a stronger sense all the time at how hard it is going to be to actually get the job done.

For those of you who have ridden in a Chinese taxi, you know that the experience can be thrilling at times and downright scary other times. Because I had in the taxi with me people who had never been to China before, they were offering comments about the drivers driving from a first-timers perspective. As we were driving down the road, it was clear that things like red lights and pedestrian crossings meant very little to this driver. One of the guys on the team said something like, “Man, it sure seems like he’s making up his own rules as he goes.” As I thought about that for a minute, it really hit me: ‘Yes, he is making his own rules as he goes, and in fact, when I think about it, many in China make up the rules as they go.’ Whether it’s driving, in business, in public safety, etc…. it doesn’t matter. This rule of man has a very long history in China. In imperial times, the Emperor was the Son of Heaven, and his word was like hearing the very words of God. When he gave power to a local official, then that official had the final word. And so it’s really no wonder that Rule of Man still prevails so deeply with the Chinese. They are taught it from childhood and it really is encoded into their Chinese DNA of what makes them what they are.

Making the transition from Rule of Man to Rule of Law will be a long and hard transition. It will most likely take several generations. There are for me three ‘takeaways’ from my minor epiphany for us in the West: First, we need to exercise patience as China makes this transition. Second, we need to continue to dialogue with, engage with and ‘teach’ the Chinese the benefits of a system where the laws on the books are the same everywhere and cover everyone. Thirdly, we do the first two because we know that China is worth our time and that there are 1.3 Billion who need us to positively impact China for Christ.