NARRATOR The Gongxian judges run a regular information stall in the local market, another part of the plan to make the new laws more accessible.
RESIDENT Do you have any flyers about housing disputes?
JUDGES - Yes.
JUDGE LI If you want a divorce, you can do it through the court. You should bring your marriage certificate and your residency permit. But you have to think over many things: your relationship with your husband, your kids, how to divide up your property, what you want...
NARRATOR Tensions are never far below the surface.
WOMAN The Party Secretary of our village is a real bully. We have to keep our heads down.
JUDGE TIAN What's his name?
WOMAN Zeng Qiang. He always bullies us.
JUDGE TIAN Come to my office.
WOMAN For six years the government has been trying to silence us.
JUDGE TIAN I work as a judge for the local government. If you have anything to report, I'll sort it out for you. My name is Tian.
JUDGE Talk to them.
WOMAN I don't want to talk to them, because I know all the officials are corrupt and are protecting each other.
NARRATOR The woman is quickly whisked away.
Three quarters of all Chinese think corruption is rife in China.
The government itself reports that tens of billions of dollars are embezzled by state officials every year.
WOMAN They're all protecting each other. That's the way it is here, and there's nothing we can do about it.
NARRATOR The judges have an uphill task in asking people to trust them.
MUSIC NARRATOR We'd reached the limits of what the courts would allow us to film, and headed back to the provincial capital, Chengdu. On the way, a sign of why the lack of trust in officials is so pervasive.
NARRATOR This cement factory is typical of the Maoist era industry of the 1950s and 1960s. NARRATOR It spews clouds of dust and noxious gases over Gongxian and the surrounding area.
NARRATOR As soon as our camera was spotted, some local peasants sought their chance to be heard.
MAN The situation is very serious. The pollution is really bad.
WOMAN - It's dusty. Very, very dusty.
MAN It's really harmful.
MAN As you can see from the chimney, the smoke is very thick, full of dust.
FACTORY WORKER I've got lung problems and they've never been checked out.
INTERVIEWER - Do you think the factory should be shut down?
MAN No. Not shut down. They should put a filter on the chimney.
WOMAN - Yes! It should be closed.
MAN - They should at least do something about the pollution. According to the law, they should invest in equipment to help prevent it.
INTERVIEWER - Do you think the pollution is affecting your baby?
MAN Just look at his hair! It's yellow, not black.
INTERVIEWER - Have you talked to the court?
WOMAN It's useless. They just give you the run-around. No one wants to take responsibility. We complain but they just ignore us. The problems can't be solved.
CROWD That's how our society is.
NARRATOR Their frustration is only made worse by the difficulty in accessing lawyers - with one lawyer for every ten thousand people, they're few and far between.
NARRATOR Lawyers rely on local officials to renew their licenses from year to year.
It's one of the reasons taking on cases against officials and state-linked companies can be a risky business.