Eastern Custom Meets Western Law

n the Qianxi Women’s Center, an elderly peasant woman sits with a legal counselor getting advice on how to make her children live up to their obligation to support her in her old age. Their conversation mixes traditional Chinese piety with the ways of the West in a situation that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago.

"The situation is striking," says Phyllis Chang ’75 from her home in Beijing, "Because this elderly woman took the Eastern concept of parental support, and asked that her rights be enforced by law, which is a Western concept. Furthermore she asked a stranger for help, not a relative or town mediator as is customary. Lastly, that a peasant woman even understands she has rights, is a remarkable indication of change in the Chinese culture."

The Qianxi Women’s Center is just one recipient of funding from the Ford Foundation under Phyllis’s direction. Each year, she has about one to two million dollars to distribute to her programs–a relatively modest budget. "Nevertheless," she says, "over five to six years, $8 to $10 million will have some impact. We are still the most active donor working on legal reform in China today."

The Greatest Obstacles

Under Phyllis Chang’s tenure, the Law, Rights and Governance Program has primarily concentrated on two areas: judicial reform and law-in-action. "Two of the greatest obstacles to the rule of law in China," Phyllis says, "are the weakness of the Chinese judiciary, and the gap between law on the books and law in practice."

Thus, another of Phyllis’s grantees is the National Judges’ College in Beijing. Traditionally judges have not been well-respected in China, so this program encourages Chinese judges to learn not just the substance of the law, but legal skills and thinking, and how to view their role as a judge. "Again, this is not something learned overnight," Phyllis says. "We’re promoting a whole mindset about what a judge does, and what the job represents."

Another program aimed at judicial reform took place recently at the National Judges College, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The Chinese are moving toward a more adversarial model of courtroom trials, and wanted to learn more about how it’s done. Lawyers from America and Germany came to Beijing to stage a comparative civil and criminal trial for their Chinese audience. (Phyllis noted that in each case the German and American final verdict differed.)

The Women’s Law and Legal Services Center at Peking University is another of Phyllis’s grantees. Against huge odds, the Center has brought law suits on behalf of women who have been treated unfairly by their employers, or been victims of domestic violence, or are migrant workers who have traditionally had no voice whatsoever. "In three years the Center has shown that rights that exist on paper can be translated into reality," says Phyllis. "But it has been a difficult and often lonely fight for this pioneering, non-governmental organization."

Phyllis is careful to emphasize that the Ford Foundation is independent of all government affiliations. Nevertheless her work has been an inspiration to Paul Gerwirtz, a law school professor who has worked with the United States’ Presidential Rule of Law Initiative in China. "Phyllis is an incredibly dedicated and valuable person in this field," says Gerwirtz. "She has taught me a huge amount about how to approach working on legal issues in China. She knows the importance of proceeding slowly, and has looked for appropriate Chinese counterparts who have the ability to follow through on reform. People who don’t know China might not immediately understand the importance of this, but Phyllis knows China and is doing pioneering work with legal reform there."

Listening to Phyllis talk about her life since Exeter makes one realize she has often pioneered in one field or another. Among the first women to attend Exeter, she went on to be among the first at Dartmouth as well. Soon after college, she was one of the first independent American students to study in China. After a year of intensive Chinese, she begged the Law Department at Peking University to allow her to audit courses, and when they relented, became one of the first foreign students to study law in China. She went on to get her law degree at Berkeley, but couldn’t forget her time in China, and eventually returned to Beijing and began working for the Ford Foundation.

Phyllis laughs off the pioneer image. "I haven’t broken any records," she says. "But I have been fortunate enough to be among the earliest to try some things. It really hasn’t been that difficult." She thinks for a moment and adds, "Well there is one first that I’m rather proud of–small but satisfying. I was the first female class president at Dartmouth."

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