Courts hit by rising number of lawsuits

Judges under great pressure as people resort to litigation

BEIJING - With lawsuits soaring in recent years, due to significant social and economic changes, China's 190,000 judges are facing growing pressure, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said.

The number of court cases increased by at least 25 percent from 2005 to 2009, but the total number of judges remained almost unchanged, according to the first-ever annual report of the SPC released on Tuesday.