On July 18, 1986, Zhao Zhirong and his wife from Yuehu District, Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, waited anxiously outside the delivery room of the hospital, as if time had frozen until a baby's cry broke the silence.
Their long-awaited baby boy was finally born, his little face was yellow and wrinkled, and he looked very cute.
Zhao Zhirong, a first-time father, looked at the baby in front of him, and a sense of responsibility arose spontaneously. He said to the baby affectionately: "It is better to teach a son an art than to give a son a thousand gold; It is better to teach a son an art, than to give a good name.
Baby, Dad will definitely give you a meaningful and well-known name, so that you will have smooth sailing and prosperity in the future! However, the name he racked his brains to come up with, but 20 years later, the Public Security Bureau ordered him to change his name, and even started a lawsuit because of it, what happened?
Zhao Zhirong, born in 1956, has a secondary school degree, but he very much hopes that his children can go to college and become a person with great achievements. He believes that English is the world's lingua franca and a compulsory subject for further education, so he decided to choose a name for his child from an English perspective.
After much thought, he searched through the English dictionary and finally chose the first letter "c" of the word "China", intending to use it as the child's name.
However, what he may not have expected is that 20 years later, the Public Security Bureau ordered him to change his name, and a lawsuit was filed as a result. What's going on here? Let's take a look.
"China" represents China and highlights the sense of identity of its own country; I expect my son to be proficient in English and open up the future with a global perspective. And there are many English words that start with "c", symbolizing the prosperity of the family.
Therefore, Zhao Zhirong chose "Zhao C" for his child's name, which has far-reaching and unique meanings. At that time, the household registration management system was relatively relaxed, and the staff had long been accustomed to all kinds of strange names, so the name "Zhao C" was successfully registered.
Over time, the name accompanied the baby boy into a great talent.
Zhao C has shown his excellent qualities since he was a child, and he is diligent and studious, especially in English and Chinese. In order to facilitate his son's life in other places, Zhao Zhirong used "Zhao C" to apply for a first-generation ID card for his son, and on June 16, 2005, he applied for a new ID card.
However, a year later, Zhao C ran into trouble because of the name. With the development of the economy and the increase in population mobility, the role of ID cards has become more and more important, and more and more people have gone to school, worked and settled in other places.
Zhao C's new ID card caused him some inconvenience.
Zhao C and his mother used to have little household registration flow and low frequency of ID card use, so the design of China's first-generation resident ID card is relatively simple, using mylar sealing, single-page card type, this kind of certificate not only has poor security and anti-counterfeiting performance, but also can only view information through paper pieces.
Although it is an effective tool for identification, its function has limitations and cannot meet the needs of modern society. Since 2005, the country began to promote the second generation of ID cards, the use of anti-counterfeiting film and printing anti-counterfeiting technology, built-in digital chips, greatly improving the anti-counterfeiting performance, information management and machine reading capabilities.
Because the second-generation ID card had just begun to be promoted at that time, Zhao C was just in the period of applying for the first-generation ID card, so he was notified to renew the ID card after only one year.
Zhao C and his mother returned to the Jiangbian Police Station of the Yuehu District Bureau of the Yingtan Public Security Bureau in Jiangxi Province, hoping to change their second-generation ID cards. However, during the information entry process, the police officer in charge of handling it told him: "Young man, I can't handle your documents, because the name of the resident ID card is not allowed to contain English letters, and the system cannot accept such input."
You may need to change your name and start again. Zhao C was very shocked and disappointed by this, he had always been proud of his name, but now he was discriminated against and ostracized because of this name.
He insisted on trying, and begged the police again to try again, thinking that it might be a computer problem or the system was slow to respond, but the police told him that this was the normal work and that the computer could not accept the input of English letters.
Faced with the problem of Zhao C's ID card, the family was distressed. His father, Zhao Zhirong, was unreceptive to the police station's request to change his name, insisting that his son's name was the work he had been thinking about back then, and that his son's excellent grades were also due to this name.
Zhao Zhirong is also an excellent lawyer, and he is well aware of the provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China on the right to a name"c"It's just a letter, and it doesn't go against public order and good customs.
Zhao C has a deep affection for his name, because this name has been with him for many years, and he has long been accustomed to and likes this name. Whether it's school or work, as long as he introduces himself, he can always attract everyone's attention.
His classmates and friends affectionately call him "CC" or "Sissy", a name that is both simple and melodious. What's more, his school status, awards, certificates, and insurance are all recorded under the name "Zhao C", and if he suddenly changes his name, it may bring some trouble that cannot be explained.
Nevertheless, on 6 July 2007, Zhao C submitted an application to the Yingtan Municipal Public Security Bureau to continue using the name "Zhao C", but was rejected.
The Public Security Bureau insisted that he change his name. Zhao C went home and told his father Zhao Zhirong, and then the father and son went to the Yuehu Branch of the Yingtan City Public Security Bureau many times to theorize. They talked about the relevance of the "c" character in Chinese from national law, but in the end they failed to change the decision of the Public Security Bureau.
In January 2008, lawyer Zhao Zhirong sued the Yuehu Branch of the Yingtan Public Security Bureau in court in order to protect his son's right to a name. It is said that this is because the "Regulations on Name Registration (First Draft)" to be promulgated by the state stipulates that simplified traditional characters, obsolete variant characters, foreign characters, Hanyu Pinyin, Arabic numerals, etc. cannot be used as names, and "c" is a foreign script, so the information entry system of the Public Security Bureau has circumvented it.
However, Zhao Zhirong's son's name happened to contain this letter, so it could not be entered. After many ineffective theories, Zhao Zhirong chose to go to court and asked the Yuehu Branch to allow his son to continue to use the name "Zhao C" and apply for a second-generation ID card for him.
Title: The country's first name lawsuit rights protection case: Zhao C won the lawsuit, parents have the right to decide the name of their children! Text: At 9 a.m. on June 6, 2008, a name lawsuit and rights protection case that shook the whole country kicked off in the Yuehu District People's Court of Yingtan City.
The protagonist Zhao Zhirong, who tried his best for his son's case, quoted scriptures and classics at the trial scene, and won an overwhelming victory in just over 20 minutes.
Soon after, the Yuehu District People's Court ruled that Zhao Zhi had won. There are two main reasons for Zhao Zhirong's victory: First, the General Principles of the Civil Law clearly stipulate that citizens have the right to decide, use and change their names in accordance with the regulations, and others may not interfere, misappropriate or impersonate.
Secondly, Zhao Zhirong has been using the name "Zhao C" for more than 20 years and has not adversely affected others and society, so he should be supported. This case is the first name litigation and rights protection case in China, and it also provides an important legal basis for other parents to protect their children's name rights and interests.
Second, although Article 4 of the Resident Identity Card Law stipulates that resident identity cards can only use standardized Chinese characters and numeric symbols that meet national standards, the "C" character is not only an English letter, but also conforms to the national standard symbol "left half-moon", so it is also compliant and legal.
Combining the above two points, the court made a judgment: ordering the defendant Yuehu Branch of the Yingtan Municipal Public Security Bureau to allow Zhao C to renew his second-generation resident ID card under the name "Zhao C".
Although Zhao Zhi won, the second-generation resident ID card of "Zhao C" was still not successfully processed, because the case did not end there. In June, the Moon Lake branch filed an appeal.
On the afternoon of February 26, 2009, the Yingtan Intermediate People's Court formally heard the case. The spacious and bright courtroom was full of observers, including the persons in charge of household registration work of the Ministry of Public Security from various regions of Jiangxi Province, as well as many citizens who were full of curiosity about the case, and many reporters from other provinces came to see the great influence of this case.
After the Yuehu branch lost the case in the first instance, two law professors were specially hired as defense lawyers in the second instance, while Zhao C's side continued to be represented by his father, Zhao Zhirong.
Due to the participation of the professors, the verbal battles and rivalries in the second trial process made the atmosphere of the debate tense and thrilling. After more than three hours of heated debate, let's wait and see what the final result will be.
The Yuehu Branch refuted Zhao Zhirong's argument and made arguments from three aspects. First of all, the relevant national regulations clearly stipulate that the name Zhao C cannot be entered into the household registration management system, because this symbol belongs to the prohibited use.
Secondly, acknowledging the name "Zhao C" will cause damage to the order of social management and even cause cultural panic. Because, in the public perception, the "left half-moon symbol" is a rare existence, many people's first impression, "c" is the English alphabet, if it is allowed to be named with foreign letters, it will squeeze the status of Chinese characters in the minds of the people.
Finally, if Zhao C*** is the first to be founded, then there may be more similar names tomorrow, such as Di D, Zhou E, Bi B, U You, Ji J, etc., which will undoubtedly bring about a bad social atmosphere.
The PSB will face huge costs, as allowing Zhao to retain his original name would require changes to all of the country's operational population information management systems.
This is a difficult task that requires a system update in police stations across the country, which will consume a lot of human and material resources. Who should bear the cost?
Do we want to compromise the interests of the state for the sake of personal convenience? At the same time, the revision of the national population information system is beyond the control of a single local public security bureau.
Both sides insisted on their own opinions, but they were both reasonable, and it was difficult for the court to make a decision for a while, so it could only temporarily adjourn the hearing and bring the parties to the back court for mediation. After mediation by the court and in-depth conversations between the two parties, the two parties finally reached an agreement.
At 7:10 p.m. that night, the trial of Zhao C's name rights protection case continued, because the two parties had reached an agreement, and finally the Yingtan Intermediate People's Court made a ruling on the case: "Ruling to revoke the first-instance judgment of the Yuehu District People's Court of Yingtan City, and to order the appellee Zhao C to change his name and apply for a second-generation resident ID card with a name that meets the requirements in accordance with the law."
The appellant, the Yuehu Branch of the Yingtan Municipal Public Security Bureau, was required to handle the household registration and resident ID card of the appellee Zhao C for the name change free of charge, and prepare the identification documents and materials for him due to the name change. ”
In the end, Zhao C changed his name to Zhao Xi, and the case was successfully concluded. Although Zhao C's name protection case was ultimately lost, this case is of great significance for improving China's citizenship system and promoting the awakening of Chinese citizens' legal awareness.
Zhao Zhirong, as a father, stood up to protect the rights and interests of his children and resolutely supported his children to fight for legal rights. His fatherly love is deep, and even if he fails, he has no regrets!
On January 15, 2009, his "Zhao C" name rights protection case was selected as one of the top ten influential lawsuits in China because of its far-reaching social impact.