| Petitioning is an important social action that is still taking place almost everywhere in China. This research used a document analysis method to research petitions in China: to search and analyze all internet news reports that reported petition cases in one year. In this research I collected more than 180 news reports with stories tracing back 30 years at most, and coded each of the reports with the keywords of people, events and outcomes. This article discussed what kinds of issues are frequently complained about by Chinese people in petitions, and what kinds of petitions are more likely to be solved. By analyzing the collected news the author found that petition issues with simpler social relationship while petitioned with milder ways were more likely to be solved, but there were also some specific samples that suggest otherwise. This research also analyzed reasons and backgrounds why petitions are so common in China. From this article, we could have a deeper understanding of the characteristics of Chinese society, as well as her current social problems. |
