Legal aid provides the assistance of lawyers and solicitors to people who could not otherwise afford legal services.

A center for the protection of disadvantaged people, such as the elderly, the handicapped and the poor, was established in Wuhan University in Central China's Hubei Province in 1992.

Since then, nationwide, China has established more than 2,300 governmental legal aid organizations with over 8,000 professionals offering legal assistance expertise, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Justice.

So far, all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and over 85 percent of the prefectures have established legal aid institutions.

Last year alone, some 300,000 people in the country received legal aid in nearly 180,000 various cases.

The establishment of a legal aid service is an important component of social security and human rights protection and has offered a basic guarantee of legal equality for every single citizen, according to Xiong Qiuhong, associate researcher of the Law Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Seven leading universities including the Tsinghua University, Peking University and Renmin University of China in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai introduced legal clinic education three years ago as part of their efforts to join the legal aid service.

Beijing Bureau of Justice signed agreements on legal aid co-operation with the law schools of Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China at the end of last year.

Under the agreements, juniors and seniors from the two law schools will offer legal aid in some civil cases under the guidance of teachers who have qualifications in law. The law schools will cover the costs of handling the cases and the bureau is responsible for co-ordination.

Governmental support is far from enough to provide the huge poor population of China with legal assistance, said Sang Ning, vice-director of the Legal Aid Center under the Ministry of Justice.

Sang said his ministry is exploring a way in which institutions of higher education could participate in legal aid.

"The institutions of higher education have the advantages of both talent and theory. They will be able to offer more powerful intellectual support for the legal aid cause in China," said Qiang Wei, vice-Party secretary of Beijing.

"Such co-operation is one of the most direct services that higher education and research institutions can offer to society," said Cheng Tianquan, a teacher at Renmin University of China.

A child of a rural migrant worker was hit by a car on the streets of Beijing last year. The migrant worker, with a low income, could not afford a solicitor to help him sue the driver for compensation.

Liu Zhen, a law student from Renmin University of China, helped him win the case and receive adequate compensation.

"I have attained a deeper understanding of the sense of social responsibility as a legal worker through my participation in legal aid," Liu said.

The Law School of Tsinghua University established a legal clinic to help solve consumer disputes in 2000 and established another legal clinic to help protect laborers' rights in 2001, offering free consultation service.

"Through the legal aid network, the students can get a better understanding of the needs of the people at a grassroots level, the process of how to apply the law, sharpen their professional skills and enhance professional ethics," said Chen Jianmin, a teacher of the Law School of Tsinghua University.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2003)