[brnt]

If you have to be wary of not stepping into territory where the state will wield its heavy hand, then I just don't see how you can maintain it is functioning at a 'local' level. What's local? It's not like the Chinese state clearly delineates the boundary. And looking at the imprisoned lawyers, local authorities are not above blocking inconvenient litigation either.

I did not link to social media, nor do I use it, so please refrain from assuming it has any influence on the point I'm making. I'm sure perfectly fine litigation has happened, it would just be foolish to count on it. Maybe you're right that with an increasingly limited issue you luck increases.

[dumb1224]

I don't understand what you mean by 'wary of not stepping into territory where the state will wield its heavy hand'. I was simply giving examples of the part of legal system that I know of. Pardon my English, what I call 'local' is meant to be 'civil cases' like business and personal cases. And yes of course the legal system delineates those cases from national level cases. My original argument was that civil cases largely work well (unless you prove me wrong by statistics).

I didn't make any assumption of your information sources nor did I assert any influence of social media. It was only a general statement, not about anybody in particular. It was you who 'assumed' I didn't read any news etc. I fully respect all users' opinions here and would genuinely be interested to read any reference/articles to prove your points. I'll be surprised that the imprisoned lawyer cases were happening all the time in the lower courts.