For many years, I knew little about Chinese law. Although I am a Chinese national and grew up in China, I studied Scots law as a student and have been teaching English law. I could feel that law was becoming more important and more prominent in China every time I went back to China or read the news, but the intricate nature of the subject proved too challenging to grasp through casual observations and personal experiences.
The chance to learn more about Chinese law came in 2013, when I anticipated being in Shanghai for a week-long assignment, while the National Judicial Examination was scheduled for that particular weekend. I decided to give it a go and started reading a few books in preparation for it. The learning of the substance of Chinese law and the sense of discovery were so intellectually stimulating and rewarding on their own that the fact I fortuitously scrape through the test felt almost unimportant in comparison.
Chinese law is so different from English or Scots law that I had been getting familiar with, not just in the rules or the institutions but in almost every way of thinking and practice. More than once, I come to think of what Charlemagne said about learning a foreign language as having a second soul. For a legal scholar, gaining a completely different perspective about almost every aspect of law is an extraordinary revelation. What poses substantial challenges within one system often emerges as a non-issue in another jurisdiction. Concepts regarded as commonplace assumptions in one legal framework may trigger the most contentious debates in another. The wealth of possibilities brought forward by the differences and similarities between legal systems provide an endless source of inspiration for the next project that could satisfy one’s ever-growing intellectual curiosity.
Having peered into such a fascinating sight, I have diligently endeavoured to stay abreast of the evolving landscape of Chinese law. I soon realised how daunting the task was, as Chinese law has been going through numerous substantive changes to many of its fundamentals in such a short period of time. In the typically Chinese fashion, many of these changes are ill-explained and simply announced out of the blue, with seemingly little connection to other reforms implemented before or after. Unravelling the intricacies of these measures often requires months, if not years, of rigorous contemplation to discern an underlying plan, rationales, or practical obstacles – elements that the Chinese legislature and policymakers are notably reticent about.
In some regard, this book is but a documentation of my quest to make sense of Chinese law and legal reforms in the years since 2013. I have no inside
Referencing
The Oxford University Style for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is followed for referencing in general. However, there is no universally accepted style for the citation of Chinese academic sources, laws, policy documents, or court cases. To that end, I have included a separate bibliography for Chinese sources (alphabetical order), a list of Chinese laws (alphabetical order), a list of Chinese regulations and policy documents (chronological order), and a list of Chinese cases (chronological order). I have used Chinese text (including the Chinese names of authors) for these referential lists only, instead of pinyin transcription, as the latter will often pose unnecessary challenges in source location.
Status of the Law
The aim is to present the status of the law and current events as of 31 March 2023, shortly after the inaugural session of the 14th National People’s Congress. This means later developments are not incorporated into the text, for example the finalised amendments to the Administrative Reconsideration Law in September 2023 (the manuscript dealt with the draft amendments only) and the sudden passing of the widely respected retired Premier Li Keqiang in October 2023.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to the editors and staff at Brill for their professionalism and efficiency in general, and to Ingeborg van der Laan, in particular, for her invaluable assistance and guidance that helped me through my first monograph.
Many others have also offered much-appreciated help in relation to this book. In alphabetical order, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Professors David Campbell, Du Ming, Li Xiaojun, David Milman, James Sweeney, Tang Zheng, Xie Lei, and Zou Keyuan. Professor Zou’s monograph on Chinese law and the conversation I had with him some years ago in his office provided the earliest inspiration to write this book, not to mention it is him who introduced me to the helpful people at Brill. A special thank is to Lei, without whose initial encouragement and pivotal support this project would never have come to fruition. All mistakes and omissions remain my own.
Lu Xu 徐露
November 2023
Lancaster