（Abstract）

First of all，it shall be clearly defined what perspectives shall be taken to observe the Chinese judicial reform and what standards shall be used to weigh gains and losses. If directly participating in the process of the Chinese judicial reform，one may think that great achievements have made over the past 20 years and that the Chinese judicial system only needs minor reforms instead of fundamental changes. If not，he may feel that the Chinese judicial system has fundamentalproblems and will not make progress without major reforms. Furthermore，he mayfeel that the Chinese judicial reform has not taken substantial changes during the past 20 years due to different limitations. Starting from the goals set forthe Chinese judicial reformers and their understanding about an ideal judicial system，each progress made in the Chinese judicial system reform shall be highly praised. However，if the general standards accepted by the advanced legal orderswere taken as references，it might be hard for people to understand why some fundamental problems such as independence of judges，life tenure judges and high salary，have not been solved after a long time since the Chinese judicial system reform began.

To put it simple，the substantial issue of the Chinese judicial system reform ishow judges and courts as officials and instruments in a transitional society approach to neutral and final authorities. In a more broad sense，it is a matterof how to approach modern politics from traditional politics，which is beyond the scope of this paper. This paper only touches some of the judge related issues.

Firstly，we must emphasize that profession of the judge is sacred and any society and any person shall respect the judges and treat them well. The Americans and the British call the judges ’YOUR HONOUR’ is quite justified. The lofty profession needs persons with extraordinary intelligence，rich emotion and high spirits. No one can easily take a position of the judge. Matching with the status of the judge，life tenure judge and high salary systems shall be adopted which are basic treatments.

Secondly，to raise best judges China must have basic conditions for a decent society，among which an honest society environment is a major condition. The honestsociety is a prerequisite for the decent society. The honest society may createhonest judges just as an honest person may become a decent person. Press freedom is also one of major conditions. A society without press freedom is not an honest society and thus may not raise best judges. Of course，a more important issue is to emphasize self-determination of the judges. The judges must be independent and self-determined. If a judge was always controlled by an invisible hand，he cannot be a best judge.

In relation to what kind of person can be judges，each society has its own substantial and procedural requirements. At least，a person who is desire to be a judge shall have values of right and wrong，equity，justice，kindness and evils，goodness and badness generally accepted by the public. He also shall be a personfull of construction ideas，sympathy and love，just as Tagore said，only those who love human beings may punish human beings. Furthermore，he shall be a very learned person since Bible says that judges shall get more knowledge. It might bemore ideal if there were some elites。

Thirdly，adequate position of judges in a society shall be clearly defined in order to avoid inadequate requirements for them. The courts are neutral judgingbodies and a part of state machinery，but not government departments. The functionof the courts as part of the state machinery is aimed at limiting power of thegovernment instead of cooperating with the government. The Judges are independent judges instead of governmental officials and civil officials. They shall beresponsible for case trials，parties involved in the cases，laws，judicial traditions，conscience，their own reputations and colleagues instead of governmental departments and legislative bodies. The courts are required to take responsibilityfor legislative bodies is affected by Francis Bacon. The argument that the courts shallserve all the people is found both funny and annoying. The people is a conceptof abstract collective noun，the judges are handling specific cases，therefore it is impossible for the judge to serve the abstract concept of the people. Furthermore，just as one writer said that the concept of the people is a worn-out hat，which will be put on head when necessary and put under bottom when unnecessary. It is also not suitable to ask the judges to hold on to an ideal or a religious belief. The duty of the judges is to hear cases and make judgments，they shallnot be asked to do anything irrelevant with the case trial and judgments. Onthe other hand，the judges are human beings and they shall be allowed to make mistakes. The point is to have channels to correct the mistakes.

If I was right，in light of Chinese current situation the Chinese judicial reform shall pay close attention to construction of intermediate（appeal）courts andraising of the judges，for in foreseeable future China is unlikely to raise a great deal of best judges for thousands of the gross-roots courts.

Translated by Li Xixia