Library of Essays on Chinese Law – serie

This volume concerns several aspects of China's changing market based economy. These include commercial contract enforcement, corporate structures, competition law and other issues related to China's membership in the WTO. In the past two decades, the rapid integration of China's economy into the global marketplace has created obligations and expectations of non-discrimination and regulatory transparency in domestic markets. The Chinese government has responded by demanding better governance within major companies, market sectors and public administration generally. However, as the articles in this volume show, it has struggled to find a corporate structure capable of absorbing external equity investment and participation but still amenable to direct and indirect state guidance. It has also moved cautiously in creating legal controls over unfair competition. Moreover, the protection of state owned enterprises, which serve as vehicles for domestic economic, social and political policy, has been a recurring issue in China's WTO trade disputes.

This volume concerns the rights and obligations of the individual in three critically important contexts: employment relations, family relations and the ownership of immovable property. The development of these legal institutions has helped to transform economic and social relations in contemporary China. In this volume, the articles illustrate firstly a shift away from close state control towards greater freedom for enterprises to use human and natural resources to achieve economic growth and for citizens to pursue their personal lives. More recently, the government has responded to public demands for greater security in employment, home ownership and agricultural land rights with new primary legislation, including the Employment Contract Law and Property Rights Law. Yet, as this volume also shows, the Communist Party has been reluctant to allow empowerment of the individual to threaten other public policy goals, such as the state's ultimate control over the conditions of employment or land use.