The importance of human rights

Editor's note: China Society for Human Rights Studies organized the Third Beijing Forum on Human Rights from Oct 19 to 21, where scholars and experts from home and abroad talked about many aspects of human rights. China Daily brings readers excerpts from some of the papers read by the participants.

Some basic issues of China

It is significant to note China's human rights enlightenment dating back to the 1970s is not the product of external driving forces as some scholars believe. In essence, the origin and maturity of human rights awareness among the overwhelming majority is the corollary following the transformation from citizen consciousness to civic awareness, thanks to the expansion of market economy. Put another way, the advent of China's human rights enlightenment and construction in itself is an endogenous product instead of the outcome of the oppression and inducement from external pressure.