Projects: Law of the Dragon

Law of the Dragon (2011)

Produced by Amber Entertainment/Drive Thru Pictures
Television series, 4 Episodes (30 min.)
Drive Thru Pictures (unreleased)
To be aired on BBC Four "Storyville", UK (2011)
To be aired on DR TV, Denmark (2011)
To be aired on SBS TV, Australia (2011)

Synopsis

"Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one."
Chinese Proverb

China's meteoric development in recent years has left some branches of government straining at the seams, while the creation and evolution of the Chinese economy and society is constantly raising new challenges for the authorities.

Law of the Dragon examines the way in which the legal system is trying to cope with these dramatic changes to Chinese life and society by following the fortunes of a provincial legal practice, the Tiger Law Firm of Chengdu.

Following on from the success of The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World, Law of the Dragon will once more bring a new perspective to the lives of the billion Chinese people who make up the twenty-first century's most powerful nation.

With rare access to the Chinese court system the series will also cast a new light – from below – on a regime whose judiciary is the subject of much international attention and concern.

This is the Law of the Dragon.

The Series

This 4 x 30 mins series is observational and character led. Our documentation of the legal firm will place the audience face-to-face with the daily issues that affect Chinese families and businesses alike. These will be juxtaposed and contrasted with the legal ramifications of the national dilemmas affecting the country as a whole, but at their heart they will be intimate portraits of the new cohorts of Chinese youth with all their confidence and exuberance, as much as the older generations who are struggling to adapt to an ever-changing world.

Family Law
Divorce: Divorce rates amongst couples in their 50s, 60's and 70's are very high in China because most marriages in those days were either arranged by parents or Party Officials.
Child Custody: The 1976 One-Child Policy has made many mothers extremely protective over their children. Children are parents' and grand-parents' 'pension plans', expected to pay for their elders journey into old age, so there is more at stake than just a status on the marriage certificate. Some women had forced sterilization after child birth to ensure no more children are born: as divorce numbers increase, many mothers are losing more than just a husband, but a child and a pension, their final years themselves.
Probate: The drawing up of wills in China generally still favours boys over girls. Boys bearing the family name may get a bigger share than the daughter of the family. Now a new generation of more confident, wealthier and more empowered woman are taking on these shibbololeths through the courts.

Business
Bankruptcy & Debt: As part of the fallout of the 'economy tsunami' many of the new breed of entrepreneur are finding out the hard way that the market – even in a controlled economy such as China's – can be down as well as up, and are threatened by a range of sanctions from sending in the bailiffs to imprisonment.
Labour Disputes: A relatively new phenomenon… there have been increasing numbers of protests by labourers who have turned up to work only find their factory has been shut down. Even though such protests are prohibited in China, this trend could continue.
Intellectual Property: China is known for its counterfeit goods, but increasingly as the economy develops from synthetics and mimicry to innovation and development, there is a new niche of copyright law emerging, in a country that is so poor in regulating and protecting intellectual property.

Criminal Law
Theft & Fraud: As the gulf between the new rich and the so-called 'crimes of envy' are on the rise. Will the courts approach such cases with their usual draconian punishments, or will the agents of the people exercise more indulgence on behalf of the masses?
Corruption: How does a nation in which cope with outrageous and overt corruption? Can the courts turn a blind eye? How much corruption is there in the system itself?

BACK