Enforcing Contracts In China. Way, Way Better Than You Think.

At a recent meeting of foreign businesspersons in Qingdao, I sat next to a very unhappy man who loudly stated: “Chinese contracts are not worth the paper they are written on.” I told him: “Your statement is not true. As a matter of fact, the Chinese courts do very well at enforcing clear written contracts.” As usual, I was greeted with disbelief. The problem with this person’s statement is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People who think China will not enforce contracts tend to ignore the issue. They either enter into no contract at all or they enter into a poorly drafted contract or they enter into a contract that is not enforceable in China. This is the actual story for this particular individual. As he now knows, this attitude about Chinese contract enforcement is a mistake.

My view of the Chinese contract enforcement process is based on over 30 years of experience in China. However, I am clearly not the only person who has come to this conclusion. Every year the World Bank publishes its Doing Business rankings. This report ranks 181 countries by ease of doing business. The rankings can be found here. As might be expected, China ranks about in the middle of this list. It is ranked number 83 on the list. Not the worst, but still a challenging place to do business. China gets low scores in areas that are quite familiar to me in my daily practice: Starting a Business 151, Employing Workers 111, Paying Taxes 132.

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