A court with appeal

A domestic violence case recently aroused a fierce online debate. The husband, surnamed Deng, struck his wife, surnamed Zhou, more than 20 times with a knife, and was sentenced to four years in prison. Some people say the punishment is not heavy enough, assuming that the injuries were serious, while others say it is in accordance with the law given the actual severity of the attack.

The discussion became heated after the broadcast of Your Honor, a 10-episode documentary about the work of judges, especially in relation to court trials and the execution of judgment, which aired recently on streaming platform Tencent Video.

Coproduced by Tencent Video and media company TVZone Media, the documentary illustrates dozens of cases tried by the people's court of Tianxin district in Changsha city, Hunan province. Crew members set cameras in the courtroom to record the process after getting permission from people in the courtroom.

They chose dozens of cases from the thousand they filmed, specifically ones which "are related to people's lives, like education and relationships, have clear endings, or have interesting quotes from the judges or other people concerned", according to Li Zhiyu, the general director of the production.

Li bears in mind a saying from Tan Jianhui, former director of the Tianxin people's court, "Behind each case is a jianghu (society)", when she met Tan for the first time in 2020. As filming progressed, she gained a deeper understanding of that.

"On the surface, the cases are full of colorful individuals, bizarre realities, judges who are ready to tackle problems and the final judgments, and behind them are issues of the modern society, like people's anxiety over body image, and the risks of the quickly growing streaming industry," says Li.

"Since last year, we have made a series of documentaries about society, including this one, which chooses the angle of a profession to view social issues. We want to spread professional knowledge, encourage the audience to think about these issues, while enhancing their understanding of different jobs, and, thus, benefiting the public," says Zhu Lexian, director of Tencent Video Documentary Studio.

According to Li, many popular sights of Changsha are in the Tianxin district, attracting a large number of tourists. As a result, there are many people there and the number of cases reflects this. The Tianxin court oversaw 23,146 cases in 2020, and each judge needed to preside over more than 400 cases that year.

Like many others, she viewed judges as serious people, but filming this documentary changed her mind. She began to realize that the seriousness is a feature their job bestows upon them.

"If some people devote themselves to a job, they will be influenced by it as well. Many judges have lively personalities, but every time they wear the robe, they become serious. That helps them to quickly solve conflicts and gives people a sense of security," says Li.

"I hope the production can become a bridge to help the public learn about judges, and in turn, their understanding and attention can help judges to better carry out their responsibilities," she adds.

Speaking about the heated online discussion on the judgments of some cases, Li says that she, too, had doubts at first, but after communicating with the judges, she not only understood their decisions more clearly, but realized there is a difference between law and reason.

"Law-making needs to consider the majority, instead of some individuals, but we, as bystanders, often sympathize with individuals without considering other facets, so we may feel that some judgments fail us," says Li.

The last episode covers a case about back pay. An old man surnamed Chen couldn't get his salary from his former boss, a man surnamed Liang, who was the legal representative of the company that employed Chen, but had no stake in it. He was, therefore, unable to fulfill Chen's requests. So, with no other recourse, Chen occupied an apartment of Liang's, refusing to leave unless he received his salary. However, Liang's many other economic disputes had led to this particular apartment being auctioned to pay off debts, so the Tianxin court ordered judge He Zhengyong to vacate it for the new owner.

Instead of forcing Chen to leave, He patiently talked with him, learned about his difficulties, such as having a son with cancer, and consulted with the relevant court about helping Chen to get what was due to him. He was told, however, that the company had gone bankrupt, so Chen would have to wait. In the end, the new apartment owner decided to lend money to Chen, and promised to help him get his salary back if Chen agreed to move out.

"Just as the saying goes, 'kindness is the best law'. People resort to courts to solve conflicts, but if everyone could be kinder and more tolerant to others, the possibility of conflicts would reduce tremendously," says Li.

When filming the case about domestic violence, Li wanted to interview the injured wife. But when she saw the woman sitting alone before the court session, and got to know she had difficulty talking to strangers, she gave up on the idea.

"From the perspective of a director, I definitely want to show more things to the audience, but sometimes you'll find that the people concerned do not like to talk. So here is a conflict: I don't want to be a bad director, but I also don't want to offend people.

"Respecting the people means that it is sometimes necessary to give up some material. I believe the audience will understand our good intentions," says Li.

The documentary will soon air on WeTV, the overseas version of Tencent Video, which is available in more than 110 countries and regions, and Tencent Video's official YouTube channel.