A court with appeal

Like many others, she viewed judges as serious people, but filming this documentary changed her mind. She began to realize that the seriousness is a feature their job bestows upon them.

"If some people devote themselves to a job, they will be influenced by it as well. Many judges have lively personalities, but every time they wear the robe, they become serious. That helps them to quickly solve conflicts and gives people a sense of security," says Li.

"I hope the production can become a bridge to help the public learn about judges, and in turn, their understanding and attention can help judges to better carry out their responsibilities," she adds.

Speaking about the heated online discussion on the judgments of some cases, Li says that she, too, had doubts at first, but after communicating with the judges, she not only understood their decisions more clearly, but realized there is a difference between law and reason.

"Law-making needs to consider the majority, instead of some individuals, but we, as bystanders, often sympathize with individuals without considering other facets, so we may feel that some judgments fail us," says Li.

The last episode covers a case about back pay. An old man surnamed Chen couldn't get his salary from his former boss, a man surnamed Liang, who was the legal representative of the company that employed Chen, but had no stake in it. He was, therefore, unable to fulfill Chen's requests. So, with no other recourse, Chen occupied an apartment of Liang's, refusing to leave unless he received his salary. However, Liang's many other economic disputes had led to this particular apartment being auctioned to pay off debts, so the Tianxin court ordered judge He Zhengyong to vacate it for the new owner.