Law no shelter for the powerful

BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- When it comes to China's law-based governance, an idiom that goes "The law is no shelter for the powerful" comes to life because the law here doesn't harbor the mighty.

The expression, "Fa Bu E Gui," was elucidated by Han Feizi, a great legalist philosopher some 2,300 years ago. It greatly contributed to various political strategies in Chinese history.

Having witnessed how grassroots people struggled to defend their rights, Han said that the law should not favor the powerful, and should be fair, impartial and non-discriminatory, treating everyone equally, just as a carpenter's ink line would not tilt at bending points.

The idiom has been passed down as a basic principle in rule of law in modern times.

In socialist China today, promoting overall law-based governance is part of the four-pronged comprehensive strategy for the country's development. For example, the massive anti-corruption campaign has targeted both the "tigers" (high-ranking corrupt officials) and the "flies" (low-ranking corrupt officials).