Show Trials Return To China

Show trials were once part and parcel to communist regimes in the first half of the 20 century they were  used as a means of intimidation and education for the public at large.  As these governments acquired more sophisticated means of dispensing propaganda show trials faded from the scene.

Massoud Hayoun writing for Al Jazeera English  makes  a compelling argument  suggesting that the Chinese government  under the rule of  Xi Jinping has revived the show trial in an effort stem corruption in all sectors of society.  

Not since the 1950s and 60s – when denouncements of so-called counterrevolutionaries were a common sight in China’s stadiums and squares – has the People’s Republic seen anything like its recent slew of showy public trials, legal experts say. The trials are broadcast on TV and the Internet, even as calls have come from Beijing’s top prosecutor to reform the nation’s judicial system and stem “wrongful convictions.”
During his nearly two years in office so far, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched campaigns to root out corruption in the public and private sectors and to quell violent unrest among predominantly Muslim ethnic Uighurs in the strategically important far-western region of Xinjiang. Many of the public trials have stemmed from these efforts.

Show trials weren't just a means by which one disposed political opponents they were meant to humiliate those on trial into confessing  their crimes to the public who then denounce them for their transgressions against the state.

“The Chinese government has increasingly invoked extralegal mechanisms taken out of the 1950s and 60s, including televised public confessions by social media celebrities, foreign corporate investigators and Uighurs, rather than trials, to send messages to society at large,” said Charles Minzner, a Chinese law expert and professor at New York City’s Fordham University.
Minzner said that the recent rash of public trials is a departure from the 1990s and early 2000s, when Beijing emphasized rule of law and depended on court proceedings – although they were not transparent or independent from the Communist Party – to address perceived political foes such as corruption, dissidents and alleged separatists.