Practical, current perspectives for foreign companies weighing or making a move into China — market entry, foreign investment, M&A, data compliance and disputes. Written to be useful to a board, not a footnote. New to the terminology? Start with our China business & legal glossary.
Earning revenue rules out an RO; the negative list decides when a JV is mandatory.
Eight steps from SAMR name reservation to SAFE registration — plus the 2024 five-year capital rule.
On the list means restricted or prohibited; off it, national treatment. The 2024 edition.
What foreign teams should verify before committing capital to a newly opened China sector.
The 15th Five-Year Plan points at telecom, healthcare and education — through city pilots, not a nationwide switch.
Most assets are freely licensable — but the registration certificate is what releases your upfront payment.
From 1 August 2026 SAMR delegates simplified cases in eight provinces — and some non-simplified ones.
A 2026 decision reversed a completed acquisition. When the review applies, and what buyers must map before signing.
A four-question screen — sector plus actual control — to run before you sign.
Merger control, national-security review, foreign exchange and data — with the 2024 thresholds and what foreign buyers miss.
Why the buy-side playbook is quietly displacing greenfield entry.
20% from 1 September 2026 — foreign parent companies are not affected, founder-owned companies are.
Five years to pay up — and companies formed before July 2024 must fix their schedule first.
Reinvest profits instead of repatriating them — and re-test eligibility against the 2025 catalogue.
The mark goes to whoever registers first. Subclasses, Chinese-character marks, and how to fight a squatter.
In China the chop, not the signature, binds the company — even when the wrong person applies it.
Dividends at 10% withholding — often 5% under a treaty — and the prerequisites that come first.
Only for the right employees, only for two years — and only if you pay every month.
A written contract within a month, mandatory social insurance, and no at-will exit.
A dismissal needs a statutory ground. How severance — N, N+1, 2N — is calculated.
Under 100,000 people gets lighter PIPL rules from September 2026 — unless your data flows to the group.
Security assessment, standard contract or certification — how to move personal data out of China, legally, in 2026.
HR management is a lawful basis, but the export still needs notice and a PIPIA.
Off the list, you may skip the security assessment entirely — but it's an exemption, not deregulation.
When a Chinese supplier must return double, the 20% cap, partial delivery and penalty clauses.
Confirm the person and account, challenge urgent changes, and limit first-order exposure.
Find out who legally holds the account before sending money to a bank in China.
The credit code, the registry, court and customs records, and the name on the bank account.
A seven-day plan: holidays, the registry, court records, and objecting to a deregistration within 20 days.
Pin down who holds the money, get the refund in writing, and when a deposit is returned double.
Delay, loss in transit or fraud — and the deadline notice that lets you terminate and claim the money back.
Notice deadlines, when you can reject a shipment, and price reductions and damages under the CISG and Chinese law.
Negotiate, demand, freeze, arbitrate or sue — which route fits which situation.
Chinese lawyer, apostilled power of attorney, online hearings — and whether you need to travel.
Verify the debtor, cap open credit, choose payment protection, and keep delivery evidence.
Identify the real debtor, interrupt the three-year clock, freeze the assets — and what to do when the company is a shell.
Decided in 48 hours, capped at RMB 5,000 — and you have 30 days to sue once it's granted.
RMB 13,800 on a RMB 1m claim — the statutory scale, what it excludes, and when suing isn't worth it.
Arbitral awards enforce readily under the New York Convention; foreign court judgments are far harder.
CIETAC or offshore, and the drafting mistakes that make an award unenforceable.
Kolmar v Jiangsu Textile, 2016: reciprocity without a treaty.
Liu Li v Tao Li, 2017: what it shows, and what it does not.
Below-spec goods that can be resold are not a fundamental breach.
The first order under the 2019 Arrangement, granted the same day.
New to the terminology? Our China business & legal glossary defines WFOE, the negative list, PIPL, CIETAC and the rest of the terms in these guides. More insights are published regularly — follow the firm on LinkedIn for updates.
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