Renowned Chinese composer Pan Longjiang has been embroiled in a copyright dispute over his work “Love Song of the Mortal World” for many years. He expressed that the experiences of the past seven to eight years have led him from complete trust in the party, the government, and the law, to now being thoroughly disappointed.
Pan Longjiang, a member of the Zhuang ethnic group from Guangxi, graduated from the Central University for Nationalities School of Music. His masterpiece “Love Song of the Mortal World” once swept the nation. “A Beautiful World” also won the Chinese Urban Original New Song Award.
For more than a decade, he has been fighting lawsuits across the country over copyright issues, winning numerous times. However, in the case in Shandong, he disagreed with the first-instance judgment, persisted in safeguarding his rights, but fell into a judicial black hole. On the morning of July 21st, Pan Longjiang was turned away when he tried to submit materials for retrial to the High Court of Shandong Province and the Supreme Procuratorate.
Pan Longjiang told Epoch Times, “I am a party member and also part of the system. I used to fully trust the party, the government, and the law. Although I have experienced seven to eight years of injustice, I still believed. It was not until I went to Beijing this time that I became thoroughly disappointed. The petitions bureau has now become a kingdom of judicial independence. I have witnessed this process.”
At 9:30 a.m. on July 22nd, Pan Longjiang arrived at the petition center of the Supreme Court in Beijing. Upon entering, he discovered that the Supreme Court had collaborated with police from five regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, and Inner Mongolia to arrest petitioners. “They colluded and openly broke the law.”
At 11:00 a.m. that day, when he visited the reception room of the Supreme Court, he was rejected by a female judge who said, “If there is new evidence recognized by the procuratorate that can overturn the original judgment, and the procuratorate lodges an appeal, we will only review it once.”
Pan Longjiang said that the staff members he encountered did not look at the petition materials, “That is why there are so many aggrieved and petitioning people in China, as the Supreme Court entirely stands on the side of the first and second trials.”
In the afternoon at 2:00 p.m., he went to the reporting center of the Supreme Procuratorate, where they replied, “If there is new evidence recognized by the court, we will only review it once.” He then went to the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the Discipline Inspection Commission, but was also turned away.
Feeling helpless, at 9:00 a.m. on July 23rd, Pan Longjiang went to the National Petition Bureau and was shocked by the long line of people. “Oh my goodness, there were at least hundreds of people waiting in line. Even if I stayed until closing time, I wouldn’t have gotten to the front of the line. So many aggrieved people.” He had no choice but to buy a ticket back to Guangxi.
Pan Longjiang also made multiple attempts to call the judicial hotline 12368, but found that his number had been blacklisted in Beijing and Guangdong.
This firsthand experience has completely changed his previous views. “The slogans of ensuring fairness and justice in every judicial case are all fake; they are everywhere making it difficult for ordinary people.” Pan Longjiang said.
He bluntly stated that the Chinese judiciary is completely corrupt, disregarding the interests of the country and its people. With this continued trend, the accumulative grievances in people’s hearts will only grow, leading to the creation of more societal events.