On the right track to the rule of law

While covering Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Europe last week, I took a break from my tight schedule and went on a whistle-stop tour of some of the many attractions in Rome. And I was taken in by the ruins of a court lying quietly in the city.

The place is a waste, in sharp contrast to the grand but somber Colosseum. Beyond the iron bars to keep off curious visitors, weather-beaten stones and broken sections of finely sculpted pillars lay asymmetrically aligned on the dusty floor, reflecting the lost dignity of the court. A small notice board standing lonely tells the modern world that the relics belong to a place where civil disputes were settled and legal documents were archived in the days of the Roman Republic.

All of a sudden, the pile of relics seemed to come alive, rising even higher than the archways of the Colosseum. The place in front of me was a transcultural legacy of the republic.