Law and Legality in China: The Testament of a China Watcher

Fr Laszlo Ladany, SJ, published only one book is his lifetime ("The Communist Party of China and Marxism, 1921-1985"), but became widely known as the doyen of "China-watchers" through his editorship of "China News Analysis" in Hong Kong. On his death in 1990 he left this survey, demonstrating his knowledge of the Chinese people and of Chinese and comparative legal history, one of his own earlier special subjects of study. His ultimate concern is to illustrate the antipathy of Mao Zedong to law, even in a form renewed according to Marxist doctrine, and to age-old customary Chinese concepts of acceptable behaviour; this created a mental and spiritual void in a whole generation of Chinese with possibly irreversible and certainly unpredictable consequences. This work is a thought-provoking introduction to the study of Chinese history, politics and culture. Two German sinologists have edited the work and provided short opening and concluding sections.