Prof. HUO – The Latest Development of Chinese Private International Law

The past decade has witnessed an amazing acceleration in the development of private international law legislation in China as well as a signicant progress in the quality thereof. In 2010, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted China’s rst statute on private international law (Private International Law Act). The adoption of the Act is a historic event in Chinese legislative history, as it indicates that China has modernised its conflict of law rules after many years of unremitting eorts made by legislators and scholars. Moreover, the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC promulgated an Interpretation (I) of the Private International Law Act in 2013. The Interpretation (I) attempts to provide concrete explanations on the abstract articles mainly in Chapter One of the Act and to create new provisions to close the legal loopholes. In this respect, the adoption of the Interpretation (I) can be regarded as a large step towards building a modern private international law system. Hence, Chinese private international law has witnessed a silent revolution.

As its heading suggests, this lecture seeks to make an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest development of private international law legislation in China. The lecture will begin with introducing the legislative background of Chinese private international law. Subsequently it will make an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest Chinese legislation in the eld of private international law. In the end, the lecture will summarise the striking features as well as the defects of China’s latest legislation and outline the steps to improve it.