[File photo]

China’s Supreme People's Court officially launched its digital library on Nov. 22, in an effort to improve judicial transparency. The digital library serves as the country’s biggest online platform for juristic writings and records, offering public access to case information.

The digital library is divided into six sections, while eight databases and 15 special columns have been set up to offer more specialized legal resources, according to an announcement on the official website of the Supreme People’s Court.

“The library has a large collection of famous legal cases from Chinese history. Users can search for original records in classical Chinese. With the help of translation and supplementary materials provided by the library, they can get a better understanding of our country’s legal history,” said Huang Wenjun, chief director of People’s Publishing House, in an interview with Thepaper.cn.

According to Huang, the library has important and rare records of some famous cases, including the divorce case of Puyi, the last emperor of China, and the trial of the Gang of Four, Party officials who played an important role during the Cultural Revolution. The library has also collected 122 legislative documents from 12 dynasties, ranging from Shang to Qing.

“In addition to Chinese cases, some famous foreign cases such as the O. J. Simpson murder trial and Bush v. Gore are also included in the library’s collection. We have tried our best to collect the original materials, as well as offering readers Chinese translations,” Huang said.

Praising the advances made by the court in digitalization, the head of the court noted that they hope to further utilize legal resources and information, carrying out big data analysis in the legal field to promote China's societal and economic development.

“By monitoring users’ search results and page views, we can generate analysis in an effort to better understand the public’s focus on legal issues. This allows us to offer them better legal services,” explained Huang.