Aggrieved Chinese citizens discovering the lawsuit

Last year, 4.6 million consumer complaints were filed. Now, amid a spate of product recalls, Chinese find the climate more conducive to challenging state bodies.

By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 2, 2007 edition

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Beijing - It's a parent's nightmare: a routine vaccination gone wrong. For Liang Yongli, whose bright-eyed daughter suffered brain damage and paralysis after a mandatory shot, it triggered a four-year search for compensation, justice, and an explanation.

He tried to sue the hospital for malpractice, and lost. Medical authorities in southern Guangdong province said there was no link between the vaccination and his child's condition. So he took his campaign to the media and traveled thousands of miles to Beijing by bicycle to petition the central government, without success.

Then in April, a court accepted a lawsuit filed by Mr. Liang together with the parents of two other children who had also fallen ill. The suit alleges that vaccines were to blame in all of the cases. Last week, the court began hearing the case against provincial and city health agencies and a state-owned drug company, based on laws concerning product safety and inspection.

In recent months, a series of product recalls, from pet food to tires, has sullied the image of Chinese exports abroad. At home, China also faces a drumbeat of complaints from consumers aghast at the harmful food and drugs approved by a graft-ridden regulatory system. Last year, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce received 4.6 million complaints over substandard products and services.

In this climate, plaintiffs like Liang may stand a chance of success, after years of trying. His case is part of a growing wave of consumer challenges to China's state bodies, says Liu Kaixiang, a law professor at Peking University.

"In recent years, people have the idea that if they encounter problems, they can sue the government ... [but] it's not easy for ordinary people to win these lawsuits," he says.

Spotlight on regulators

Liang's lawyer, Tang Jingling, who agrees that it's an uphill battle, says he wants to shine a spotlight on China's regulators as well as provide answers to the anguished families.

"With the efforts of these families, the case should help improve food and medicine quality," he says.

While consumer activism is on the increase in China, the legal system isn't bound by precedent and is squarely under the control of the Communist Party. That makes it hard to force change from the bottom up, though not impossible.

Vaccination programs in China have been dogged for years by fake or contaminated vaccines.

Over 300 children were hospitalized last year in Anhui province after a receiving hepatitis A shots of dubious origins. One of the children later died. Last week, police arrested a gang in northeastern China that was selling counterfeit rabies vaccines and blood proteins, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

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