There are few truly excellent blogs written in English about China law. As a Beijing-based divorce and family lawyer with fifteen years of practice, I have long felt the need for a reliable, accessible resource that explains China's legal system to an international audience. This blog is my attempt to fill that gap.

My name is Zhang Ping, and I have been practicing family law in Beijing since 2008. Over the past decade and a half, I have represented hundreds of clients — Chinese nationals and foreigners alike — navigating the complexities of marriage, divorce, child custody, and property division under the laws of the People's Republic of China. Time and again, I have observed that accurate, English-language information about China's legal framework is surprisingly scarce. Even well-educated foreign professionals living and working in China often rely on hearsay, outdated advice, or a friend-of-a-friend's experience when making critical legal decisions about their family lives. This is not just inconvenient — it can have serious legal and financial consequences when incorrect assumptions lead to poor strategic choices in divorce, custody, or property matters.

This blog aims to change that. My primary goal is to introduce China's legal system — particularly its marriage and family law — to foreign readers in plain, professional English. The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, which took effect on January 1, 2021, consolidated and modernised the country's marriage and family law into Book V (Marriage and Family). This was a landmark legislative achievement, yet many of its provisions remain poorly understood outside Chinese legal circles. I want to explain how these laws actually work in practice: what the "breakdown of mutual affection" standard really means for a contested divorce, how Chinese courts calculate child support using a percentage-of-income formula, how property acquired before marriage is carefully distinguished from community property acquired during the marriage, and what protections exist for economically weaker spouses who may have sacrificed career advancement for family responsibilities.

Equally important, I want to share my practising experience. Law in China is not just what the statutes say — it is how the People's Courts interpret and apply those statutes in real cases. The Supreme People's Court regularly issues judicial interpretations that carry binding force, and local courts in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and elsewhere develop their own nuanced approaches to common disputes. Understanding this landscape requires more than reading a translation of the Civil Code; it requires knowing how a judge in Chaoyang District Court is likely to rule on a disputed custody arrangement, or how the 30-day divorce cooling-off period actually plays out when one party is uncooperative. These practical insights come only from years of standing before those judges and advocating for clients in real cases, and they are exactly the kind of knowledge that a statute book alone cannot provide.

Another important dimension I will cover is China's rapidly evolving approach to family dispute resolution. The April 2024 Supreme People's Court guideline on child protection in divorce cases, the January 2025 Judicial Interpretation II on marriage and family property issues, and the revised Marriage Registration Regulation that took effect in May 2025 — these are not abstract policy changes. They directly affect how a foreign spouse's property claim will be treated by a Chinese court, how quickly a personal safety protection order can be obtained in a domestic violence case, and whether a couple must travel back to their home province to register a divorce. Keeping readers informed of these developments as they happen is a core mission of this blog, and I will make a point of publishing timely updates whenever the Supreme People's Court or the National People's Congress introduces significant legislative or interpretive changes. Given that China's family law system has seen more change in the past five years than in the previous three decades combined, staying current is more important than ever.

Finally, I want to answer the questions I receive most often from foreign clients. Can a foreigner file for divorce in China without a Chinese lawyer? What happens to a jointly owned apartment if only one spouse's name is on the title deed? How is child support enforced when the paying parent leaves China? Can a prenuptial agreement really protect assets in a Chinese court? These are not academic questions — they are the real concerns of real people living in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and across China, and they deserve clear, grounded answers based on actual legal practice and court procedure rather than internet speculation or well-meaning but inaccurate advice from expatriate forums. I also hope this blog will serve as a bridge between legal professionals, helping Canadian, American, British, and Australian lawyers understand how Chinese family law applies to their clients with cross-border ties to China, and ultimately helping those clients navigate the complex intersection of two different legal systems with greater confidence and clarity.