90 original explainers, each starting from a real case, a real question or a new rule. Every article is also available in Chinese — use the “中文” link at the top of any page.
Nationality & Exit-Entry · Crypto & Frozen Accounts · Family & Inheritance · Hukou & Pensions · Criminal Defense
Signed a pledge to renounce foreign nationality to get a Chinese passport? What it means in law, why passports tie to hukou, and what to do.
Read article →Why universities apply Article 5 of the Nationality Law, why renunciation takes 6–10 months, and what to prepare before applying.
Read article →Children who got China permanent residence by joining parents: renewal checks loss of status, not adult eligibility. Rules and local practice.
Read article →Who counts as huaqiao, the 540-day residence rule, consular certification and documents for China’s joint university entrance exam.
Read article →Investment, employment and spouse routes to China’s green card: USD 2m, four years’ employment, five years’ marriage and residence rules.
Read article →Detouring into Macao via the HZMB on a Hong Kong endorsement was convicted as illegal border crossing. Where fines end and Article 322 begins.
Read article →State Council Order 841 (from 15 Sept 2026) lets border officers request electronic data. Your duty to cooperate, refusal risks and your rights.
Read article →Joint guardianship, consent rules for minors’ passports, court exit bans, and why China isn’t in the Hague Child Abduction Convention.
Read article →Foreigners can buy one home for self-use. The 2015 rule change, purchase restrictions, mortgages, and why to use your passport, not an old ID.
Read article →Why children with Chinese nationality shouldn’t enter China on a visa in a foreign passport, with three real cases and the correct documents.
Read article →Article 9 of China’s Nationality Law requires settling abroad as well as naturalising. How formal renunciation works and the myths to avoid.
Read article →Adults with nationality conflict can still get a one-time exit-entry permit. The legal basis, fees and the 12367 complaint that worked in 7 days.
Read article →China’s Nationality Law has no “choose at 18” rule. What Articles 3, 5 and 9 really say, a real case, and practical tips for dual-national families.
Read article →Conditions, step-by-step procedure, documents, timelines of 6 months to 3 years, and common reasons restoration applications are refused.
Read article →The PRC Travel Document (旅行证) explained: who gets it, 2-year validity and renewals, using it for entry, hukou and school, versus a Chinese passport or green card.
Read article →How the CSCA test for international students works, who qualifies after renouncing Chinese nationality, and compliant routes into top universities.
Read article →A US fugitive taught English in China for 14 years. How Red Notices, extradition treaties and case-by-case repatriation differ.
Read article →When a child born abroad to a Chinese parent has Chinese nationality, and where to apply for a determination, from a real Malta case.
Read article →Holding both? Enter and leave China on the Chinese passport. What consular agreements with Canada and the US do and don’t mean.
Read article →The Yao Qian case: 2,000 ether, a villa and blockchain tracing. How crypto bribes are valued, recovered and can add a money-laundering charge.
Read article →Courts can freeze and transfer e-CNY wallet balances. Category 4 wallet limits, how courts trace wallets, and refusal-to-enforce criminal risk.
Read article →Freezing vs deduction vs return. Only courts can deduct; police can return funds only from fraudsters’ own accounts. How to respond.
Read article →183 bitcoins seized by police in two provinces. OTC fraud risk, how “knowledge” is inferred, and remedies after crypto is seized.
Read article →U-cards let you spend USDT like a foreign card, but carry fraud-presumption and freeze risks. Real cases and compliant cash-out tips.
Read article →Tier-one to tier-three freezes, finding who froze your card, documents to prepare, and reconsideration or litigation to release a frozen account in China.
Read article →Why tainted “black U” USDT gets frozen, how to screen counterparties, and why receiving at an exchange address lowers your risk.
Read article →Exchange sell-to-fiat limits, KYC, and why receiving money in China is the real risk point when cashing out USDT. Practical compliance tips.
Read article →Risky ways to keep a seed phrase, safer offline and multisig approaches, and planning crypto inheritance — lessons from a duty-crime case.
Read article →Only a bank or WeChat transfer record and no IOU: can you sue in China, and can you win? How to rebuild the mutual intent to lend and borrow, who bears the burden of proof, how to keep chat and call evidence, the risks of an unjust enrichment claim, and the interest cap.
Read article →Yinfa [2026] No. 42 is a normative document from eight departments, not a law, so it cannot create offences. What its cited regulations and Criminal Law counts do reach: exchange, market-making, price-matching, token issuance, stablecoins, RWA, and the two routes after a freeze.
Read article →The lender took a bank loan and on-lent it, so the loan contract was void — and the guarantee with it. How Article 682, the one-third cap and the no-fault defence work, and what to check before signing.
Read article →Why an ex-wife lost her claim to RMB 1.38m her husband sent another woman, and how Chinese courts tell a void gift from payment for sex.
Read article →Can Chinese courts divide overseas homes, deposits and shares? Jurisdiction, applicable law, and recognising Hong Kong and foreign divorce judgments.
Read article →Smashing a car over an affair led to four months’ detention. The RMB 5,000 property-damage line, divorce damages and lawful evidence of adultery.
Read article →A Shanghai court gave the home back to the husband despite a 99% registered share. Article 5 of the 2025 marriage interpretation explained.
Read article →Eight situations where Chinese courts order a bride price (caili) returned, the key evidence, and the three-year limitation period.
Read article →A husband forged a marriage certificate to make an IVF embryo with his mistress. Forgery, bigamy and the wife’s right to have the embryo destroyed.
Read article →Yes. Chinese law governs property in China. Notarisation, apostille, taxes and acting by power of attorney in cross-border inheritance.
Read article →China’s Anti-Domestic Violence Law protects men too. Protection orders within 72 hours, self-harm coercion, and the evidence that works.
Read article →Adding a name makes the home joint property, but not a 50/50 split. Civil Code Articles 1065 and 1087 and the 2025 interpretation.
Read article →Without statutory heirs, a Chinese estate goes to the state. Why single people need a will, and how relatives can recover expenses.
Read article →Enterprise retirees’ pensions are suspended in prison and resume without back pay; civil servants lose benefits. Probation and parole rules.
Read article →A 1995 policy, a claimed typo and one payment. Rescission deadlines, contract interpretation and burden of proof in a Shenzhen insurance dispute.
Read article →A green card isn’t foreign nationality. Hukou cancellation rests on a 2021 police work rule, not law. Three myths and how to restore hukou.
Read article →Start at the overseas Chinese affairs office, not the police. Return-to-Settle Certificate conditions, documents, the 6-month validity and myths.
Read article →Why registering a Chinese hukou early helps a child born abroad: ID card, schooling and insurance, and why waiting makes it harder.
Read article →Naturalised abroad? You can keep your Chinese pension. How to complete annual certification in the China Consular app after your ID is cancelled.
Read article →Naturalised after retiring? Coverage continues. Before retiring? It ends, but the personal account remains. The risk of medical insurance fraud.
Read article →A refusal is not the end of a Chinese insurance claim. The law requires a written refusal stating reasons, and an exemption clause never explained does not bind. Three mandatory steps, the four grounds insurers use, and how to sue.
Read article →A husband watched his wife take pesticide: 13 years. Who has a legal duty to rescue in China, and when omission becomes intentional homicide.
Read article →When China’s Mental Health Law allows involuntary admission, the 3-day re-diagnosis deadline, discharge rights and insurance-fraud scandals.
Read article →Two brothers got six years for running their own lottery book. Why it’s illegal business operation, and when it becomes running a casino.
Read article →Bail limited to 12 months, returning seized property, prosecution time limits, and why a state compensation claim was first refused.
Read article →The Fangcheng fire that killed 13 pupils: Article 138 liability for educational facility accidents, sentencing bands and why rescue didn’t excuse.
Read article →Why teaching suicide methods online is prosecuted as intentional homicide, two court cases, and duties of platforms and group owners.
Read article →Theft vs embezzlement, and why relatives who melted stolen gold into bracelets faced concealment charges under China’s 2025 interpretation.
Read article →From 1 May 2026, kickbacks and job embezzlement of RMB 30,000 can be criminal, and RMB 200,000 is “huge”. Old vs new thresholds.
Read article →Why ad income is remuneration for services, not sole-proprietorship business income, and how shell entities turn back taxes into criminal risk.
Read article →Controlled airspace above 120 m, fines vs Article 114 prosecutions, and liability for selling altitude-hack services under China’s drone rules.
Read article →Compound roads can be “roads”; short car moves may avoid prosecution, but licence revocation can’t. Three court cases that draw the line.
Read article →The Jingdezhen case: endangering public safety vs traffic accident, indirect intent, surrender, and what victims’ families can still do.
Read article →Article 80 of China’s revised Public Security Punishments Law, “indecent” vs “obscene”, and when group owners face criminal liability.
Read article →Your right to correct interrogation records, what refusing to sign really does, lawyers and recordings, and excluding coerced confessions.
Read article →Hainan’s RMB 100,000 offshore allowance, the 2025 customs closure, and why reselling duty-free goods can be smuggling under Article 154.
Read article →Reselling high-speed rail tickets to consumption-restricted debtors is ticket scalping. The debtor’s own risk and the lawful way to travel.
Read article →What Tencent stores, police powers to recover data from seized phones, procedural safeguards, and what families can check.
Read article →The Chengdu stabbing case: limited criminal responsibility, why death with reprieve isn’t escaping death, and why self-defense failed.
Read article →A driver who killed a fleeing robber was acquitted. The elements of Article 20, special self-defense, excessive defense and key evidence.
Read article →Who really decides bail (qubao houshen) in China, what to do in the first 24–72 hours, and the 37-day arrest-review window explained by a PRC lawyer.
Read article →Six Nanning cases won by streamers sued by MCNs. When it’s really employment, how to cut liquidated damages, and the four kinds of evidence that matter.
Read article →Criminal vs administrative summons, whether to bring your phone, the limits of answering, and checking the record before you sign.
Read article →A RMB 20m-a-year CEO poisoned his boss over equity. Why homicide plus releasing dangerous substances led to execution, and lessons for companies.
Read article →Two retirees sued over nearly RMB 100m of unexplained assets 16 years after divorce. Why the Shanghai court dismissed it and referred it.
Read article →Supplying goods and cash exchange to an overseas scam compound made a man an accessory to fraud and extortion, plus illegal border crossing.
Read article →A 2015 case where plugging quant equipment into a broker’s server room was convicted as futures market manipulation. What crosses the line.
Read article →A car squats in a private parking space for eight days and the owner welds steel pipes around it. What the Civil Code allows, the four thresholds of self-help, the cost of keying a car, why the traffic police cannot tow, and what suing costs.
Read article →Real permit, real ticket — yet still illegal border crossing. Why a “fake flight” around the checkpoint is a crime, when a ticket seller becomes an organizer, and the sentence ladder from one year to life.
Read article →A son told his parents he needed an RMB 10 million Oxford deposit; they borrowed it and he spent it. Why that is fraud, how intent to illegally possess is inferred, why RMB 500,000 is the especially-huge threshold, when the close-relative rule applies and how gifts to a girlfriend are recovered.
Read article →A ten-month licence, a boyfriend asleep in the passenger seat, a truck ahead. Why a Chinese court still put 10% of her death on him, and whether RMB 300,000 of accident insurance can offset it.
Read article →Seven defences Chinese owners raise against property-fee claims: empty flats, no signed contract, poor service, limitation periods, tenants — and why cutting off water or electricity is unlawful.
Read article →One woman was sentenced to four years and eight months, was pregnant every time custody was due to resume, and spent the whole term outside prison. What Article 265 allows, who decides, whether the time counts, and what victims can do.
Read article →Looking for in-depth case research reports? They are currently available in Chinese: 类案研究 (Case Research).