How to read legal citations in China

Chinese law is a civil-law system. Laws are cited by their full name, the body that adopted them and an article number. Court judgments are identified by a case number that holds the year, the court, the type of case and a running number.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Style guide: No single national style; the Official Gazette and court practice. China has no one mandatory citation style for lawyers. Laws are cited by title, the body that passed them and the dates, and court decisions by their case number. The Supreme People's Court also publishes a set of 'Guiding Cases' that lower courts must take into account.

Real citations, decoded

Click or hover over any underlined piece to see what it means.

A national code Code

Title Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
The country's civil code, adopted in 2020 and in force from 2021. It replaced earlier separate laws on contracts, property and torts.
Article art 577
'art' means article. Article 577 sets out liability for breach of contract: continued performance, remedies, or damages.

In Chinese the same citation reads 《中华人民共和国民法典》第五百七十七条: the title in double angle brackets, then 第 (number) 条 for 'article'.

A Guiding Case Case

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Guiding Case number Guiding Case No. 1
The Supreme People's Court selects some decisions as Guiding Cases and numbers them in the order it issues them. They are a form of precedent: judges must refer to them, though they are not binding in the common-law sense.
Issuing body Supreme People's Court
The highest court in China, which issues the Guiding Cases.

Guiding Case No. 1 concerned an intermediary contract for the sale of a house.

Things to remember

A Chinese case number has a fixed shape: year, then a code for the court, then a code for the type of case, a running number and 号 (hào, 'number'). It tells you the court and the kind of case before you read a word.
Chinese courts have four levels: Basic People's Courts, Intermediate People's Courts, Higher People's Courts, and the Supreme People's Court.
Laws can be passed by the National People's Congress (basic laws) or its Standing Committee (other laws). State Council regulations and Supreme People's Court interpretations are separate and lower sources.
Hong Kong and Macau are separate legal systems with their own citation habits. See the Hong Kong guide.

Where to find the text, free

To understand how courts and law fit together in China, read the China profile in the Legal Families Atlas.

TheLawToKnow Tools’s citation guide is an educational overview of standard conventions. Courts and journals sometimes vary, so check the style guide before submitting or publishing. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.