Special courts' independence, transparency praised

Special courts in Beijing and Shanghai that hear administrative cases involving regional governments are winning praise for their independence and transparency.

Last year, the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court tackled nearly 1,400 such cases, about seven times the number in 2014, said Wu Zaicun, president of the special court, which was set up in December 2014.

In the past, these disputes were handled by a court at the district level. However, as part of China's judicial reform process, these cases have been sent to an intermediate court under a pilot program. The government lost 18.6 percent of the cases last year, a 6 percentage point increase year-on-year, Wu said.