Cultural values are of determining influence for the way law is viewed in a society. Culture is presented as a coherent form of communication that is part of group socialization. In the first part of this article three elements of the PRC's culture will be put forward as an analytical framework. The three cultural elements are the basic social relation between father and son, the notion of power, and the nature of reality. In the second part the discussions on law that were held at a forum in 1996 will be used to offer an overview of the different opinions on three different aspects of law: its relation to personal power, its relation to morality, and its relation to policy.
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