Work on a civil code began in 1954, soon after the first constitution. The Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution interrupted it. A second attempt began in 1962, a third in 1979, and a fourth in 2001. In the meantime, the civil law was made in separate statutes.
On May 28, 2020, the National People’s Congress adopted the Civil Code. It took effect on January 1, 2021.
Chen Yun’s motto was “not only superiors, not only books, only reality” (不唯上、不唯书、只唯实). He paired it with a method: “exchange, compare, repeat” (交换、比较、反复). Exchange views to see a question more completely. Compare different plans to reach the right conclusion. Consider again and again before making the final decision.
On January 24, 1990, he wrote the words on a scroll for Li Zemin, then party secretary of Zhejiang.
According to legend, Jiang Taigong fished in the river Wei, hoping to meet a wise ruler. His hook was straight. When King Wen of Zhou found him and asked why, he said that the fish he wanted would come to the hook of its own will. King Wen took him as his teacher.
The saying 姜太公钓鱼，愿者上钩, “when Jiang Taigong fishes, the willing take the bait,” comes from this story.
In March 1999, Premier Zhu Rongji spoke about China’s long negotiations to rejoin GATT and enter the World Trade Organization: “China has been negotiating to rejoin GATT and join the WTO for 13 years. Black hair has turned white. It is time to end these negotiations.”
Mencius told of a man of Song who worried that his sprouts were not growing, so he pulled them up a little. He came home worn out and told his family: “I am exhausted today. I helped the sprouts grow!” His son ran out to look. The sprouts had withered.
Mencius concluded: “Few in the world do not help their sprouts grow. Those who help them grow are the ones who pull up sprouts. It is not only useless. It does harm.” The idiom 揠苗助长 comes from this passage.
Several of China’s basic laws were first passed “for trial implementation” (试行). The Environmental Protection Law (for Trial Implementation) was adopted in principle in September 1979. A final Environmental Protection Law followed in December 1989. The Civil Procedure Law (for Trial Implementation) took effect on October 1, 1982, and was replaced by a new Civil Procedure Law in 1991.
The Enterprise Bankruptcy Law (for Trial Implementation) of December 1986 lasted longest. It was repealed when the new Enterprise Bankruptcy Law took effect on June 1, 2007.
On December 13, 1993, the State Council issued the Provisional Regulations on Value-Added Tax (增值税暂行条例). China’s VAT rested on these “provisional” rules for more than three decades. On December 25, 2024, the NPC Standing Committee adopted the VAT Law. It took effect on January 1, 2026, and the provisional regulations were repealed on the same day.
In a letter to partners published in July 2012, Tencent founder Ma Huateng summed up fourteen years of the company’s experience as a “rule of gray” (灰度法则) with seven dimensions: demand, speed, flexibility, redundancy, open collaboration, innovation and evolution.
On speed, he wrote: “My suggestion is ‘small steps, fast running, quick iteration.'” (小步快跑，快速迭代)
In November 2013, the Third Plenum allowed couples to have two children if one parent was an only child. From January 1, 2016, every couple could have two children. On May 31, 2021, a Politburo meeting announced that couples could have three, “to respond to the deepening of population aging.”
A man of Chu was crossing a river when his sword fell from the boat into the water. He quickly cut a mark on the boat: “This is where my sword fell.” When the boat stopped, he went into the water at the mark to look for it. The boat had moved. The sword had not. (Lüshi Chunqiu)
The book draws the lesson for government: “The times have moved, but the law has not. Is it not hard to govern like this?” And: “The world changes and the times move. It is right to change the law.” (世易时移，变法宜矣)
The Han Feizi tells of a farmer who saw a hare run into a tree stump and break its neck. He put down his plow to wait by the stump for another. “To govern the people of today with the government of the former kings is all of the stump-watching kind.”