GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE CIVIL LAW OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ——附加英文版

The National People's Congress
 

A limitation of action shall be discontinued if suit is brought or if one
party makes a claim for or agrees to fulfillment of obligations. A new
limitation shall be counted from the time of the discontinuance.
Article 141
If the law has other stipulations concerning limitation of action, those
stipulations shall apply.

Chapter VIII Application of Law in Civil Relations with Foreigners
Article 142
The application of law in civil relations with foreigners shall be
determined by the provisions in this chapter.
If any international treaty concluded or acceded to by the People's
Republic of China contains provisions differing from those in the civil
laws of the People's Republic of China, the provisions of the
international treaty shall apply, unless the provisions are ones on which
the People's Republic of China has announced reservations. International
practice may be applied to matters for which neither the law of the
People's Republic of China nor any international treaty concluded or
acceded to by the People's Republic of China has any provisions.
Article 143
If a citizen of the People's Republic of China settles in a foreign
country, the law of that country may be applicable as regards his capacity
for civil conduct.
Article 144
The ownership of immovable property shall be bound by the law of the place
where it is situated.
Article 145
The parties to a contract involving foreign interests may choose the law
applicable to settlement of their contractual disputes, except as
otherwise stipulated by law. If the parties to a contract involving
foreign interests have not made a choice, the law of the country to which
the contract is most closely connected shall be applied.
Article 146
The law of the place where an infringing act is committed shall apply in
handling compensation claims for any damage caused by the act. If both
parties are citizens of the same country or have established domicile in
another country, the law of their own country or the country of domicile
may be applied.
An act committed outside the People's Republic of China shall not be
treated as an infringing act if under the law of the People's Republic of
China it is not considered an infringing act.
Article 147
The marriage of a citizen of the People's Republic of China to a foreigner
shall be bound by the law of the place where they get married, while a
divorce shall be bound by the law of the place where a court accepts the
case.
Article 148
Maintenance of a spouse after divorce shall be bound by the law of the
country to which the spouse is most closely connected.
Article 149
In the statutory succession of an estate, movable property shall be bound
by the law of the decedent's last place of residence, and immovable
property shall be bound by the law of the place where the property is
situated.
Article 150
The application of foreign laws or international practice in accordance
with the provisions of this chapter shall not violate the public interest
of the People's Republic of China.

Chapter IX Supplementary provisions
Article 151
The people's congresses of the national autonomous areas may formulate
separate adaptive or supplementary regulations or provisions in accordance
with the principles of this Law and in light of the characteristics of the
local nationalities. Those formulated by the people's congresses of
autonomous regions shall be submitted in accordance with the law to the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval or for
the record. Those formulated by the people's congresses of autonomous
prefectures or autonomous counties shall be submitted to the standing
committee of the people's congress in the relevant province or autonomous
region for approval.
Article 152
If an enterprise owned by the whole people has been established with the
approval of the competent authority of a province, autonomous region or
centrally administered municipality or at a higher level and it has
already been registered with the administrative agency for industry and
commerce, before this Law comes into force, it shall automatically qualify
as a legal person without having to re-register as such.
Article 153
For the purpose of this Law, "force majeure" means unforeseeable,
unavoidable and insurmountable objective conditions.
Article 154
Time periods referred to in the Civil Law shall be calculated by the
Gregorian calendar in years, months, days and hours.
When a time period is prescribed in hours, calculation of the period shall
begin on the prescribed hour. When a time period is prescribed in days,
months and years, the day on which the period begins shall not be counted
as within the period; calculation shall begin on the next day.
If the last day of a time period falls on a Sunday or an official holiday,
the day after the holiday shall be taken as the last day.
The last day shall end at 24:00 hours. If business hours are applicable,
the last day shall end at closing time.
Article 155
In this Law, the terms "not less than," "not more than," "within" and
"expires" shall include the given figure; the terms "under" and "beyond"
shall not include the given figure.
Article 156
This Law shall come into force on January 1, 1987.






Important Notice:
This English document is coming from "LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF THE
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA GOVERNING FOREIGN-RELATED MATTERS" (1991.7)
which is compiled by the Brueau of Legislative Affairs of the State
Council of the People's Republic of China, and is published by the China
Legal System Publishing House.
In case of discrepancy, the original version in Chinese shall prevail.