Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

CHINA
Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo (People’s Republic of China)
I. COUNTRY PROFILE (Civil Law)
China is divided into twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR),
four municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing) that are under the direct control
of the central government. China considers Taiwan to be its twenty-third province. The official
language is Mandarin.
The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China of 1982 (amended in 1988, 1993, and
1999) established a parliamentary regime, with the Chinese Communist Party as the permanent
ruling party. Under the Constitution, all power belongs to the Chinese people. The organs
through which the people exercise state power are the National People’s Congress (NPC) and
local people’s congresses at various levels. The NPC is the highest organ of state power, which,
together with its permanent body, the Standing Committee of the NPC, exercises the legislative
power of the state. All administrative, judicial, and prosecutorial organs of the state are created
by the people’s congresses, to which they are responsible and under whose supervision they
operate. The NPC is elected for a term of five years. It has the power to supervise the
enforcement of the Constitution and to enact and amend basic statutes concerning criminal
offenses, civil affairs, state organs, and other matters. The NPC also has the power to elect the
head of the nation (the President, or, literally, State Chairman, Guojia Zhuxi), the President of the
Supreme People’s Court (Zuigao Renmin Fayuan Yuanzhang) and the Procuratorate-General of
the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (Zuigao Renmin Jianchayuan Jianchazhang). The Standing
Committee of the NPC has the power to interpret the Constitution and to supervise its
enforcement, to interpret statutes, and to enact and amend statutes with the exception of those
that should be enacted by the NPC. The Standing Committee also has the power to annul
administrative regulations and rules of the State Council that contravene the Constitution or
statutes.
The State Council of the People’s Republic of China is the highest organ of state
administration. It is vested with power by the Constitution to enact administrative regulations
and rules, and to issue decisions and orders in accordance with the Constitution and statutes. The
head of the State Council is the Premier, who has the overall responsibility for the performance
of the executive functions of the government.
China is a civil law country. The main sources of law are the Constitution (Xianfa),
statutes enacted by the NPC or its Standing Committee (falu), administrative regulations issued
by the State Council (Xingzheng Fagui), administrative rules issued by those departments under
the State Council (Xingzheng Guizhang), local regulations (difang xing fagui), and
interpretations of laws including legislative interpretations (lifa jieshi), judicial interpretations
(sifa jieshi) and administrative interpretations (xingzheng jieshi). The judicial interpretations of
the Supreme People’s Court serve an unofficial, quasi-legislative role in China’s legal system.
Like most civil law systems, however, previous rulings of higher courts are not binding on lower
courts in China. China amended its Constitution in March 2004, to formally provide private
property and human rights protections.
The two special administrative regions retain the legal traditions of their former colonial
regimes. Hong Kong (HKSAR, see page 77) is a former British colony that was returned to
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