Thursday, September 17, 2009

Commentary: "Celebrating 60 With Confidence" (in Far Eastern Economic Review)

September 17 marks the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s call for a special pardon of prisoners that marked the 10-year anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Chinese leaders will have the chance to mark the country's 60th anniversary (coming up on October 1) in a similar fashion. In the essay “Celebrating 60 With Confidence,” published today on the Far Eastern Economic Review website, Dui Hua’s senior manager of research Joshua Rosenzweig examines the historical context and benefits of the 1959 pardon and comments on the possibility of an anniversary special pardon for this year.

Throughout 2009, Dui Hua has tracked discussion and debate on a special pardon in China, and the proposal was also analyzed in the Winter 2009 issue of our quarterly Dialogue newsletter.