“i didn't think i'd been in trouble for so long, and it finally worked out!” in recent days, sun masakura, a neighbour of a village in yanlin town, and sun were rich (alias) with a smile when they signed a handshake on the people's settlement agreement. After four judicial proceedings, which remained deadlocked, the pluralistic mediation force led by the ljulin justice department of the cantonal judicial service managed to achieve “successful settlement”, providing a replicable sample of practice for grass-roots governance。
The origin of the dispute: the old tree's title is at stake, the neighbor's face is divided
Things are going to start in the '60s and '70s. Sun masakura's father planted two elm trees and three yang trees after his home. In 2023, when the rural residences were registered, the area in which the trees were located and the associated public corridors were incorporated into the property certificates of the neighbouring grandchildren, confirmed by sun mankura, thus creating a danger for the two sides. In august 2025, the long-standing conflict between the two families was completely exacerbated by the logging and sale of trees without their consent。
Since then, the parties have been unsuccessful in their negotiations on the matter and have even filed numerous prosecutions, but the contradictions have not been resolved. The original harmony neighbours have become the “challenges” of the unknown and the real challenges affecting the harmonious stability of villages。
Multiple attacks: "case one" enabling the "five hearts" to sharpen the ice
In march of this year, following a request for mediation, the yanlin judicial institute of the changzhou judicial department, under the umbrella of the town party committee and the government, launched a multi-media mediation mechanism, the “judicial institute + cgi+pdi + village council” and set up a special mediation workshop. In keeping with the people's republic of china's people's mediation law, the programme has been guided by the concept of “the government's commitment, social solidarity, justice, mediation and patience, and public submission” and has been designed to provide a solution to conflicts。
In order to ensure the normative and transparent nature of the mediation process, a “one-size-fits-all” information management system was introduced in the course of the programme, which created a unique electronic archive for the dispute. From the processing of applications, the gathering of evidence through investigations to the signing of agreements, the performance of monitoring and the real-time recording of work records and materials throughout the process, mediation progress has been achieved through “scrutinization” and the “retroactiveness” of the workflow, which provides a solid basis for regulating the resolution of disputes, and promotes cross-sectoral collaboration from “passive cooperation” to “active interface”, which has effectively enhanced the effectiveness of dispute resolution。
In response to the high level of tension between the two sides, the special session adopted a “back-to-face” structured approach to mediation: first, to communicate with the parties individually, to channel negative emotions and to listen to core claims; and, once the mood has recovered, to organize “face-to-face” verifications, which are supported by village councils, legal advisers, who interpret the law and clarify the boundaries of authority and responsibility. At the same time, the programme conducted in-depth visits to the village's informants, consulted relevant archives, provided a comprehensive picture of the dispute and used a “prosecution” approach to explain the importance of neighbourhood harmony in the context of similar local cases, leading the parties to move from “right-to-right” to “problem”。
Successful resolution: the convergence of reasoning and harmony, the basis of the case
After many rounds of patient mediation, the parties gradually opened their hearts and finally reached a settlement: the sum of $1,100 from the sale of the trees is divided equally between sun and sun, and the sum of $550 is paid on the spot; the parties have agreed to use the land legally on the basis of a certificate of authority from the existing premises, without recourse to past disputes, and have formally signed a people's settlement agreement。
In order to consolidate the results of the mediation process, the yanlin judicial institute of the cantonal judicial service did not stop at the conclusion of the agreement, but rather set up a permanent mechanism for “conciliation + return visits + common law”: regular telephone calls, visits at the home to verify compliance with the agreement and the restoration of relations with the neighbours; this dispute was used as an opportunity to conduct legal activities in the bailiwick, such as home-based authority, forest protection, etc., to guide villagers in their legal defence and rational conduct, and to reduce the occurrence of similar disputes from the source。
The successful resolution of the dispute was the vivid practice of the coronant judicial department of implementing the maple bridge experience of the new era. Through the governance model “multiple convergence, digital empowerment for effectiveness, and justice for all”, the realization of “boundary resolution and closure” has highlighted the important role of the administration of justice in resolving conflicts at the grass-roots level and in maintaining social stability, as well as the solid foundation of the rule of law for the high-quality economic and social development of the canton。
(crowd journalist, sun ya fei, correspondent wang lee)
