Mediation in China: Bridging Tradition and Modernization

Summary

This chapter examines the continuity of mediation as a central feature of Chinese legal thought, from the imperial era to the present day. It traces how the practice has drawn on Confucian, Legalist and Daoist traditions, and contrasts that cultural embeddedness with Western alternative dispute resolution, which developed largely as a response to congested courts. The chapter identifies three phases: imperial mediation, oriented towards harmonious and litigation-averse communities; the Maoist period, during which mediation was repurposed as an instrument of political and social control; and the contemporary revival of mediation within judicial reform, aimed at reducing caseloads and preserving social stability. Across these phases, it argues, mediation has consistently served a dual function — a practical mechanism for settling disputes and a vehicle for transmitting wider social and political values — which explains the thread linking traditional and modern Chinese approaches to conflict.