(Adopted at the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress and promulgated by the Announcement of the National People's Congress on December 4, 1982; amended in accordance with the Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted at the First Session of the Seventh National People's Congress on April 12, 1988, the Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted at the First Session of the Eighth National People's Congress on March 29, 1993, the Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted at the Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress on March 15, 1999, the Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted at the Second Session of the Tenth National People's Congress on March 14, 2004, and the Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted at the First Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on March 11, 2018)

Part One General Provisions

Chapter I General Rules

Article 205

This Book regulates the civil-law relations arising from the attribution and utilization of things.

Article 206

The State upholds and improves the fundamental socialist economic systems, such as the ownership system under which diverse forms of ownership co-develop with public ownership as the mainstay, the distribution system under which multiple forms of distribution co-exist with distribution according to work as the mainstay, as well as the system of socialist market economy.

Part One General Provisions

Chapter I General Rules

Article 463

This Book regulates the civil-law relations arising from contracts.

Article 464

A contract is an agreement on the establishment, modification, or termination of a civil juristic relationship between persons of the civil law.

Chapter I General Rules

Article 989

This Book regulates the civil-law relations arising from the enjoyment and protection of personality rights.

Article 990

Personality rights are the rights enjoyed by persons of the civil law, such as the right to life, the right to corporeal integrity, the right to health, the right to name, the right to trade name, the right to likeness, the right to reputation, the right to honor, the right to privacy, and the like.

Chapter I General Rules

Article 1040

This Book regulates the civil-law relations arising from marriage or family.

Article 1041

Marriage and family are protected by the State.

A marriage system based on freedom of marriage, monogamy, and equality between men and women is implemented.

Chapter I General Rules

Article 1119

This Book regulates the civil-law relations arising from succession.

Article 1120

The State protects a natural person’s right to inheritance.

Article 1121

Succession begins upon the death of a decedent.

Where two or more persons with the right to inherit each other’s estate die in the same incident and it is difficult to determine the time of each person’s death, the person without any other successor is presumed to have predeceased those with other successor(s). Where the aforementioned deceased persons are from different generations and all of them have other successor(s), the person of the elder generation is presumed to have predeceased those of the younger generation; or, where the deceased are in the same generation, they are presumed to have died simultaneously and no succession occurs between or among them.

Chapter I General Rules

Article 1164

This Book regulates the civil-law relations arising from the infringement of the civil-law rights and interests.

Article 1165

An actor who through his fault infringes upon another person’s civil-law rights and interests shall bear tort liability.