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December 18, 2015

Magna Carta returns from global tour

Over 25,000 people have seen Magna Carta on its global tour. The original 1217 copy has now travelled home to Hereford Cathedral in time for Christmas

Hereford Cathedral’s 1217 Magna Carta and King John’s only surviving Writ from 1215 have made history by undertaking an epic global tour to three continents, covering 37,000 miles and 25 time zones.

The GREAT Britain campaign worked in partnership with Hereford Cathedral, British Airways and venues in America, Luxembourg, China including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malta and Portugal to host special exhibitions displaying these unique artefacts.

This iconic document has now safely returned to the region which has played such a substantial role in its origins and history. One of the oldest symbols of rule of law in the UK, Magna Carta is just as relevant today in the home of world-leading law schools and a legal sector worth almost £23billion to the UK economy.

Throughout the course of the global tour which started in September, over 25,000 visitors have turned out to Panerai Replica see the historical documents and learn about their global significance. Venues including the New York Historical Society, Sotheby’s Hong Kong and the National Library of Valletta in Malta reported that the Magna Carta exhibition was their most successful in recent memory.

The tour also made history as it was the first time that Magna Carta had ever been to China, including Hong Kong. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond saw the display first hand in Lisbon and also visited it during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta, along with Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, whose constituency of Runnymede is where Magna Carta was sealed, said:

Magna Carta, one of the oldest surviving symbols of the rule of law, has returned to the UK following a successful 37,000 mile journey around the world. Thousands of people in three continents turned out to see it, showing how important democracy, individual freedoms and the rule of law are to people everywhere.

The cornerstone of the British legal system has contributed to the establishment of freedoms and laws right across the world.

Reverend Canon Chris Pullin, Chancellor from Hereford Cathedral, who accompanied Magna Carta on the global tour said:

“It has been a tremendous experience sharing such wonderful documents with people from around the world, and it is super to be back at home, sharing our tour stories and experiences with people from the diocese and surrounding counties. We will be ringing the Cathedral Bells to celebrate their safe return home.

Further information

You can visit the Magna Carta at a display in Hereford Cathedral from Friday 18 December in the Mappa Mundi & Chained Library Exhibition, where it will stay until 2 January 2016. Visit Hereford Cathedral for details.

The tour was organised in partnership with The Chapter of Hereford Cathedral, Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust and the GREAT Britain Campaign, supported by British Airways who flew the document in their First cabin.

Magna Carta is a cornerstone of the British legal system which has become a powerful symbol of liberty around the world. 2015 marks the 800th anniversary of the charter being sealed at Runnymede. Magna Carta established for the first time the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the law. It marked the first step on the UK’s journey towards parliamentary democracy and has been used as a basis for democracies around the world.

Hereford Cathedral holds the sole surviving copy of King’s Writ and the best preserved of the 4 surviving manuscripts of 1217 Magna Carta. Hereford is a key location in the history of Magna Carta, as both Hereford Bishops played a role in the creation of multiple issues, and Hereford Barons were responsible for ensuring that the King complied with its terms.

More information on the tour and photos can be found here

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October 14, 2015

Magna Carta not welcome at Beijing university

The Financial Times, 14th October 2015.
By Lucy Hornby in Beijing.
Click here to read the article as it appeared on the FT website.

Eight centuries after the Magna Carta was issued, it is still making waves — this time in Beijing, where nervous authorities have blocked an exhibition of a rare parchment copy of the “foundation of freedom” charter. Far from cementing a touted “golden era” of Sino-British relations, authorities apparently worried that the Magna Carta, which threw medieval England into a spin by curbing the monarchy’s powers, would sow unwelcome ideas into the minds of Chinese students.

The exhibit, which was to have helped kick off next week’s visit by President Xi Jinping to the UK, is now nestling in the quieter halls of the British ambassador’s residence rather than Beijing’s Renmin university campus.

China’s view of the rule of law chafes somewhat with that espoused by the Magna Carta, described by the late English barrister Lord Denning as “the greatest constitutional document of all times — the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot”.
China is promoting its own rule of law while in the throes of a political consolidation under Mr Xi that has led to tighter controls over civil society, the media and academics.

Observers quip that China’s vision is closer to “rule by law”, where an authoritarian state exerts its own power through laws and courts rather than itself being subject to those laws, as enshrined in the Magna Carta.

The charter itself, signed by England’s unpopular King John in 1215 and handing justice and the right to a free trial to all, contains provisions also found in China’s constitution. Indeed, the Magna Carta is called “Da xian zhang” or “Great Constitution Charter” in Chinese.

However, the term “Constitution” is sensitive in modern days, after the ruling Communist party squelched progressive lawyers’ efforts to force it to adhere to China’s own laws, a movement known as “Constitutionalism”.

A leading figure in that movement, lawyer Xu Zhiyong, is serving a prison sentence on charges of “disturbing public order” after he tried to organise a public campaign for officials to reveal their wealth.

The eleventh-hour switch of venue for the Magna Carta, on loan from Hereford Cathedral, was forced after Beijing’s approvals failed to materialise. “There are some formalities they needed to go through if we wanted to display it,” said a scholar affiliated to Renmin university.

Some Chinese students in the long line outside the residence said they had skipped class to see the document. But for history graduate student Liu Yongxi the change of venue was welcome.

“I think its even better to see it here,” she said. “You have a stronger sense of tradition, of Britishness.”

Earlier in September Renmin university did manage to hold a seminar on the Magna Carta and rule of law, attended by more than 100 Chinese and foreign scholars including the former president of China’s Supreme Court.

Additional reporting by Owen Guo.

Chinese activists urge Xi Jinping to learn from Magna Carta

The Guardian
Tuesday 13th October. Tom Phillips in Beijing.
Click here to read the original article as it appeared on the Guardian website.

Civil rights campaigners hope arrival of ‘Great Charter’ of 1215 will act as reminder to president about abuses of state power.

Chinese activists have urged President Xi Jinping to visit a rare exhibition of Magna Carta in Beijing, after the text, which some celebrate as a cornerstone of modern democracy, went on display as part of commemorations of its 800th anniversary.

A 1217 version held by Hereford Cathedral, one of only 17 surviving 13th century texts of the “Great Charter”, was put on show at the British ambassador’s residence on Tuesday. It will head to Shanghai and Guangzhou later in the week.

British officials have hailed Magna Carta’s arrival as the latest milestone in a “golden era” of UK-China relations during which Xi will pay a state visit to Britain next week.

Mark Gill, the head of the Magna Carta 800th anniversary committee, said he hoped to boost awareness and understanding of the text, which was issued in 1215 by King John of England and is held up as symbol of governmental accountability and individual freedoms. Fewer than one in five people in China had even heard of it, Gill claimed.

As the Magna Carta went on show, Chinese activists called on Xi – who has been accused of launching an unforgiving crackdown on dissent – to go to see a text the British Library has called “a potent, international rallying cry against the arbitrary use of power”.

“I very much hope that Xi can go and see [the exhibition],” said Yu Wensheng, an outspoken attorney who was among those targeted during a continuing roundup of civil rights lawyers.

Yu said Magna Carta’s presence in China “should serve as a reminder to [Xi] and the leadership that cracking down on lawyers is wrong and futile”.

Liu Shihui, another civil rights lawyer, noted Xi often name-checked famous pieces of writing including Hemingway and Dostoyevsky. “I hope he can spend some time reading Magna Carta,” Liu said.

Sir Martin Davidson, the chairman of the Great Britain China Centre in Beijing for the exhibition’s launch, recognised King John’s text was arriving at a sensitive time. A political chill has descended on Beijing since Xi came to power in 2012 and a severe crackdown is under way.

“One wouldn’t be surprised that it is slightly uncomfortable because I think China is struggling with some of those very big issues about what is the relationship between the state and the law, what comprises the state,” he said.

Many Chinese were interested in Magna Carta because it symbolised the moment at which “the king became subject to the rule of law and the king’s power was, if you like, constrained by the nature of the rule of law”, Davidson said.

But he denied bringing the document to China was an attempt to preach to Beijing. “I don’t think there is any point in saying: ‘We’ve got a system, just copy it.’ That’s not going to happen.”

During a speech in June marking Magna Carta’s 800th birthday, the UK prime minister, David Cameron, celebrated the text as a symbol of “liberty, justice, democracy [and] the rule of law”.

“All over the world, people are still struggling to live by the rule of law and to see their governments subject to that law. The countries that have these things tend to be the long-term successes. Those who don’t tend to be the long-term failures,” he said.

Experts say such ideas will be low on the agenda when Xi’s state visit begins next Tuesday. The British chancellor, George Osborne, recently vowed to make Britain China’s ”best partner in the west” and activists accuse London of falling silent on Beijing’s human rights record to avoid damaging business ties.

Kerry Brown, a former British diplomat in China and the author of a forthcoming book on Xi, said Britain’s China policy was clearly being dictated by the Treasury, with thorny issues such as human rights pushed to one side.

“[Xi Jinping’s visit] is going to be remorseless and relentlessly about parting the Chinese and their money. That is really what we are interested in,” Brown said, pointing to plans for Chinese investment in British nuclear power plants and infrastructure.

China expects Britain to roll out the red carpet during Xi’s visit next week, which involves events in London and Manchester.

But it is unclear how welcome Magna Carta is in Beijing. Plans to put the text on show at the capital’s prestigious Renmin University were unexpectedly scrapped. Asked if Chinese authorities had prevented it from being publicly displayed there, Sir Martin said: “Not that I’m aware of. There simply wasn’t the time to put in place the right mechanisms,” he said.

Additional reporting by Luna Lin

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