WANG HUIYI dreamed of being a judge after watching judges in a Hong Kong TV series in the 1990s.

    In 2002, after Wang graduated from college, her dream came true and she became a judge at Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court.

    Wang’s dedication to justice earned her a national labor medal this year, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

    “Literally, administration cases are all about the people suing the government,” Wang said. She handled around 200 administration cases each year, which sometimes left her exhausted and made her question her job choice.

    In 2009, a case changed her mind. “That’s the first time I felt that the case files were alive,” she said, adding that the case was about a girl getting burned in an accidental gas explosion. When sitting in the courtroom, Wang felt that the girl had lost hope in her future.

    “Then I had a deep feeling that a single case may just be a 1,000th of a judge’s work, but it’s 100 percent of the plaintiff’s life,” Wang said, adding that her passion turned into patience and care and she began taking more time listening to people’s appeals and answering their questions.

    “I hope that by doing my job I can make people feel that the law isn’t a set of cold rules, instead it has warmth,” Wang said.

    Wang is often asked a question: can a judge really rule against the government and in favor of the people suing? Wang said the law is fair and impartial, and anyone committing crimes will lose the case.

    A case handled by Wang in 2013 was selected by the Supreme People’s Court as one of the top 10 administrative inaction cases nationwide.

    In the case, a homeowner in Nanshan District complained about his neighbor’s illegal construction to a law enforcement team, but after issuing a series of warning notices, the team didn’t follow up the case.

    Wang ruled against the law enforcement team. The case was selected because poor law enforcement hurt people’s trust in the rule of law, according to the nomination statement.

    Wang discovered that there have been a wider variety of administration cases in recent years, and apart from personal rights and property rights, people are starting to care about other rights such as education rights and competition equality.

    “It means that the people are increasingly trusting the law. Legal settlement is a good way to solve disputes and supervise the government,” she said.

    (Zhang Yang)