Introduction

25.1 The conflict of laws, or private international law, is a set of rules applied when disputes involve foreign elements. A foreign element may exist in various forms, for example, where a contract is performed in a foreign country or the domicile of the parties is outside China. Under Chinese law, whether the dispute is a foreign-related dispute can be identified in accordance with article 1 of the Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People’s Court on Certain Issues Concerning Application of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Choice of Law for Foreign-related Civil Relationship1 (the “Interpretation I”), which provides that when either party to a civil relationship is a foreign citizen, or the habitual residence of either party or the subject matter of the civil relationship is outside the jurisdiction of China, or the legal fact that leads to the establishment, change or termination of the civil relationship happens outside the territory of China, the people’s court of China may identify it as a foreign-related civil relationship.