Severe strike campaign in transitional China

Based on official data and reports, this study focused on ‘severe strike campaigns’ adopted by the Chinese government to curb ascending crime rates in the new era. In those campaigns, harsher punishments were imposed on criminals, usually at a faster pace and were sometimes based on violations of normal procedures. Though the campaigns had some short effects, statistical data over time did not support the claimed success by the government. Nevertheless, these campaigns did serve other functions, such as raising people's awareness of crime, gaining public support for crackdowns, and strengthening the fading moral boundary. The failure of the anti-crime campaign approach was inevitable due to dramatic social and ideological changes after the reform in transitional China.