CRIMINAL LAW

  Part One  General Provisions

    Chapter I  The Tasks, Basic Principles and Scope of Application of the

               Criminal Law

    Chapter II  Crimes

      Section 1  Crimes and Criminal Responsibility

      Section 2  Preparation for a Crime, Criminal Attempt and Discontinuation

                 of a Crime

      Section 3  Joint Crimes

      Section 4  Crimes committed by a unit

    Chapter III  Punishments

      Section 1  Types of Punishments

      Section 2  Public Surveillance

      Section 3  Criminal Detention

      Section 4  Fixed-term Imprisonment and Life Imprisonment

      Section 5  The Death Penalty

      Section 6  Fines

      Section 7  Deprivation of Political Rights

      Section 8  Confiscation of Property

    Chapter IV  The Concrete Application of Punishments

      Section 1  Sentencing

      Section 2  Recidivists

      Section 3  Voluntary Surrender and Rendering Meritorious Service

      Section 4  Combined Punishment for Several Crimes

      Section 5  Suspension of Sentence

      Section 6  Commutation of Punishment

      Section 7  Parole

      Section 8  Limitation

    Chapter V  Other Provisions

  Part Two  Specific Provisions

    Chapter I  Crimes of Endangering the State Security

    Chapter II  Crimes of Endangering Public Security

    Chapter III  Crimes of Undermining the Socialist Market Economic Order

      Section 1  Crimes of Production and Sale of Fake or Substandard

                 Commodities

      Section 2  Crimes of Smuggling

      Section 3  Crimes of Impairing Order of Administering upon Companies

                 and Enterprises

      Section 4  Crimes of Undermining Order of Administering upon Banking

      Section 5  Crimes of Financial Fraud

      Section 6  Crimes of Endangering Taxes Collection and Administration
?     Section 7  Crimes of Infringing upon Intellectual Property Rights

      Section 8  Crimes of Disturbing Market Order

    Chapter IV  Crimes of Infringing upon the Rights of the Person and the

                Democratic Rights of Citizens

    Chapter V  Crimes of Property Violation

    Chapter VI  Crimes of Obstructing the Administration of Public Order

      Section 1  Crimes of Disturbing Public Order

      Section 2  Crimes of Impairing Judicial Activities

      Section 3  Crimes of Impairing Regulations of National Boundary

                 (Borderline)

      Section 4  Crimes of Impairing Regulations of Cultural Relics

      Section 5  Crimes of Endangering Public Health

      Section 6  Crimes of Undermining Protection of Environmental Resource

      Section 7  Crimes of Smuggling, Trafficking in, Transporting and

                 Manufacturing Narcotic Drugs

      Section 8  Crimes of Organizing, Forcing, Luring, Sheltering and

                 Introducing Women into Prostitution

      Section 9  Crimes of Manufacturing, Trafficking in and Disseminating

                 Pornographic Articles

    Chapter VII  Crimes of Endangering Interests of National Defence

    Chapter VIII  Crimes of Embezzlement and Bribery

    Chapter IX  Crimes of Dereliction of Duty

    Chapter X  Crimes Contrary to Duties Committed by Servicemen

  Supplementary Provisions

    Article 1  This Law is formulated with a view to punishing crimes and
protecting the people, and in accordance with the Constitution, and in
the light of the concrete experiences in fighting against crimes
and the actual circumstances.

    Article 2  The tasks of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic
of China are to use criminal punishments to fight against all criminal acts
in order to defend the security of the State; to defend the political
power of the people’s dictatorship and socialist system; to protect
property owned by the State and the property collectively owned by the
working people; to protect the citizens’ privately owned property;
to protect the citizens’ rights of the person and their democratic and
other rights; to maintain public order and economical order, and to safeguard
the smooth progress of the cause of the socialist revolution and socialist
construction.

    Article 3  Where an act is expressly defined in laws as a criminal act, it
shall be determined and punished as a criminal act in accordance with the law;
where an act is not expressly defined in the laws as a criminal act, it shall
not be determined and punished as a criminal act.

    Article 4  Anyone who commit a crime shall be equal in applying the law.
No one is privileged to be beyond the law.

    Article 5  The lightness or heaviness of the punishments shall be in
accordance with the criminal acts and the criminal responsibility of
the criminals.

    Article 6  This Law is applicable to anyone who commits a crime
within the territory of the People’s Republic of China, unless the case is
covered by special legal provisions.

    This Law is also applicable to anyone who commits a crime on board
a ship or an aircraft of the People’s Republic of China.

    If the criminal act or its consequence takes place within the territory
of the People’s Republic of China, the crime shall be deemed to have been
committed within the territory of the People’s Republic of China.

    Article 7  This Law is applicable to the citizens of the People’s
Republic of China who commit crimes prescribed in this Law outside the
territory of the People’s Republic of China; however, they may not be
investigated if for those crimes this Law prescribes a maximum punishment
of fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years.

    This Law is applicable to state functionaries and servicemen of the
People’s Republic of China who commit crimes outside the territory of the
People’s Republic of China.

    Article 8  This Law may be applicable to any foreigner who commits
a crime outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China,
against the state of the People’s Republic of China or against its citizens,
if for that crime this Law prescribes a minimum punishment of fixed-term
imprisonment of not less than three years; however, this does not
apply to a crime that is not punishable according to the law of the place
where it was committed.

    Article 9  This Law is applicable to the crimes prescribed in the
international treaties concluded or acceded to by the People’s Republic of
China and over which the People’s Republic of China has criminal jurisdiction
within its obligation in accordance with the treaties.

    Article 10  If any person commits a crime outside the territory of the
People’s Republic of China for which according to this Law he would
bear criminal responsibility, he may still be dealt with according to this
Law, even if he has already been tried in a foreign country. However, if
he has already received criminal punishment in the foreign country, he
may be exempted from punishment or given a mitigated punishment.

    Article 11  The criminal responsibility of foreigners who enjoy
diplomatic privileges and immunities shall be resolved through diplomatic
channels.

    Article 12  If an act committed after the founding of the People’s
Republic of China and before the entry into force of this Law was not deemed
a crime under the laws in force at the time, those laws shall apply. If the
act was deemed a crime under the laws in force at that time and is subject to
prosecution under the provisions of Section 8, Chapter IV of the General
Provisions of this Law, criminal responsibility shall be investigated
according to those laws. However, if this Law does not deem it a crime or
imposes a lighter punishment, this Law shall apply.

    Section 1  Crimes and Criminal Responsibility

    Article 13  A crime refers to an act that endangers the sovereignty
and territorial integrity and security of the state; dismembers the state and
subverts the political power of the people’s dictatorship and overthrows
the socialist system; disrupts social order and economic order; violates
property owned by the state or collectively owned by the working people;
violates the citizens’ privately owned property or infringes upon the
citizens’ rights of the person and their democratic and other rights; and any
other act that endangers society and is punishable according to law. However,
an act that is clearly of minor importance and little harm shall not be
considered a crime.

    Article 14  An intentional crime refers to a crime committed by a
person who clearly knows that his act will produce socially dangerous
consequences but who wishes or allows such consequences to occur.

    Criminal responsibility shall be borne for intentional crimes.

    Article 15  A negligent crime refers to a crime committed by a
person who should have foreseen that his act would possibly produce
socially dangerous consequences but who fails to do so through negligence
or, having foreseen the consequences, readily believes that they can be
avoided, the result being that these consequences do occur.

    Criminal responsibility shall be borne for negligent crimes only when
the law so provides.

    Article 16  If an act in fact results in harmful consequences due to
unavoidable or unforeseeable causes rather than intent or negligence, it
shall not be a crime.

    Article 17  Any person who has reached the age of 16 and who
commits a crime shall bear criminal responsibility.

    Any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16 and
who commits homicide, intentionally injuring another person resulting in
serious bodily injury or death, rape, robbery, selling narcotic drugs, arson,
causing explosion, or spreading poisons, shall bear criminal responsibility.

    Any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 18 and
who commits a crime shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.

    If a person is not punished because he has not reached the age of 16,
the head of his family or his guardian shall be ordered to discipline and
educate him. When necessary, he may also be taken in by the government
for reeducation.

    Article 18  If a mental patient causes dangerous consequences at a
time when he is unable to recognize or control his own conduct, and such
a circumstance is confirmed by a forensic doctor, he shall not bear criminal
responsibility, but his family members or guardian shall be ordered to keep
him under strict surveillance and arrange for his medical treatment. When
necessary, he may also be arranged for medical treatment under coercion by
the government.

    Any person whose mental illness is of an intermittent nature shall
bear criminal responsibility if he commits a crime when he is in a normal
mental state.

    Any mental patient who does not lose completely the ability to recognize
or control his own conduct and commits a crime shall bear criminal
responsibility, but he may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.

    Any intoxicated person who commits a crime shall bear criminal
responsibility.

    Article 19  Any deaf-mute or blind person who commits a crime
may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment or be exempted from punishment.

    Article 20  Where a person conducts an act to stop an unlawful
infringement in order to avert an immediate and unlawful infringement of
the state’s interest or of the public interest or of his own or another
person’s rights of the person, or property rights, or other rights, resulting
in harm to the unlawful infringer, such an act shall be justifiable defence,
and criminal responsibility shall not be borne for such an act.

    Criminal responsibility shall be borne if justifiable defence apparently
exceeds the limits of necessity and causes serious harm; however, a
mitigated punishment or exemption from punishment shall be given.

    Where a defence is conducted to an immediate violent crime of committing
physical assault, committing homicide, robbery, rape, kidnapping, and other
crimes seriously endangering the security of a person, and it causes bodily
injury or death to the unlawful infringer, such an act shall not be defence
that exceeds the limits of necessity, and criminal responsibility shall not
be borne for such an act.

    Article 21  Criminal responsibility shall not be borne for an act that
a person is compelled to commit in an emergency to avert an immediate
danger to the state’s interest or the public interest or to his own or another
person’s rights of the person or property rights or other rights, and that
causes harm.

    Criminal responsibility shall be borne if an act committed in an
emergency to avert danger exceeds the limits of necessity and causes
undue harm; however, a mitigated punishment or exemption from punishment
shall be given.

    The provisions of the first paragraph of this Article with respect to
averting danger to oneself shall not apply to a person who is charged with
specific responsibility in his post or profession.

    Section 2  Preparation for a Crime, Criminal Attempt and Discontinuation
of a Crime

    Article 22  Preparation for a crime refers to the preparation of the
instruments or the creation of the conditions for a crime.

    An offender who prepares for a crime may, in comparison with one
who completed the crime, be given a lighter or mitigated punishment or
be exempted from punishment.

    Article 23  A criminal attempt refers to a case where an offender
has already begun to commit a crime but is prevented from completing
it for reasons independent of his will.

    An offender who attempts to commit a crime may, in comparison
with one who completed the crime, be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.

    Article 24  Discontinuation of a crime refers to cases where, in the
process of committing a crime, the offender voluntarily quits continuing the
crime or voluntarily and effectively prevents the consequences of the
crime from occurring.

    Where an offender who discontinues a crime and causes no harm,  exempted
from punishment shall be given; where an offender causes harm, a mitigated
punishment shall be given.

    Section 3  Joint Crimes

    Article 25  A joint crime refers to an intentional crime committed
by two or more persons jointly.

    A negligent crime committed by two or more persons jointly shall not
be punished as a joint crime; those who should bear criminal responsibility
shall be individually punished according to the crimes they have
committed.

    Article 26  A principal criminal refers to any person who organizes
and leads a criminal group in carrying out criminal activities or plays a
principal role in a joint crime.

    A criminal group refers to any relatively stable criminal organization
which is composed of more than three persons for the purpose of committing
a crime jointly.

    A ringleader who organizes and leads a criminal group shall be
given a punishment according to all the crimes the group has committed.

    A principal criminal unless otherwise stipulated in the third paragraph
shall be given a punishment according to all the crimes that he participates
in or organizes or commands.

    Article 27  An accomplice refers to any person who plays a secondary
or auxiliary role in a joint crime.

    An accomplice shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment or be
exempted from punishment.

    Article 28  A person who is compelled to participate in
a crime shall, according to the circumstances of his crime, be given a
mitigated punishment or be exempted from punishment.

    Article 29  A person who instigates others to commit a crime shall
be punished according to the role he has played in the joint crime.
Anyone who instigates a person under the age of 18 to commit a crime
shall be given a heavier punishment.

    If the instigated person has not committed the instigated crime, the
instigator may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.

    Section 4  Crimes Committed by a Unit

    Article 30  A company, enterprise, institution, organ, or public
organization that conducts an act harmful to society, where such an act is
stipulated as a crime, shall bear criminal responsibility.

    Section 1  Types of Punishments

    Article 32  Punishments are divided into principal punishments and
supplementary punishments.

    Article 33  The principal punishments are as follows:

    (1) public surveillance;

    (2) criminal detention;

    (3) fixed-term imprisonment;

    (4) life imprisonment; and

    (5) the death penalty.

    Article 34  The supplementary punishments are as follows:

    (1) fines;

    (2) deprivation of political rights; and

    (3) confiscation of property.

    Supplementary punishments may be imposed independently.

    Article 35  Deportation may be imposed independently or supplementarily
to a foreigner who commits a crime.

    Article 36  If a victim has suffered economic losses as a result of a
crime, the criminal shall, in addition to receiving a criminal sanction
according to law, be sentenced to make compensation for the economic
losses in the light of the circumstances.

    If a criminal who bears civil responsibility and is punished with a fine
in the meantime, has no enough property to pay off, or is punished with
confiscation of property, he shall first bear responsibility of civil
compensation to the victim.

    Article 37  If the circumstances of a person’s crime are minor and
do not require punishment, he may be exempted from criminal sanctions;
however, he may, according to the different circumstances of each case,
be reprimanded or ordered to make a statement of repentance, offer an
apology, pay compensation for the losses or be subject to administrative
punishment or administrative sanctions by the competent department.

    Section 2  Public Surveillance(*1)

    Article 38  The term of public surveillance shall not be less than
three months and not more than two years.

    Where a criminal is sentenced to public surveillance, his sentence shall
be executed by a public security organ.

    Article 39  A criminal who is sentenced to public surveillance must
observe the following rules during the term in which his sentence is being
executed:

    (1) observe laws and administrative regulations, submit to supervision;

    (2) forbidden to exercise the rights of freedom of speech, of the press,
of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration without
approval of the public organ;

    (3) report on his own activities according to the demand of the organ
executing the public surveillance;

    (4) observe the stipulation on meeting with guests by the organ executing
the public surveillance; and

    (5) report and obtain approval from the organ executing public
surveillance for departure from the county or city where he lives or change in
residence.

    Criminals sentenced to public surveillance shall, while engaged in
labour, receive equal pay for equal work.

    Article 40  Upon the expiration of a term of public surveillance, the
executing organ shall immediately announce the termination of public
surveillance to the criminal sentenced to public surveillance and to his unit
or the masses of the place of his residence.

    Article 41  A term of public surveillance shall be counted from the
date the judgment begins to be executed; if the criminal is held in custody
before the execution of the judgment, each day spent in custody shall be
considered as two days of the term sentenced.

    Section 3  Criminal Detention

    Article 42  A term of criminal detention shall not be less than 1
months and not more than 6 months.

    Article 43  Where a criminal is sentenced to criminal detention, his
sentence shall be executed by the public security organ in the vicinity.

    During the period of execution, a criminal sentenced to criminal
detention may go home for one to two days each month; an appropriate
remuneration may be given to those who participate in labour.

    Article 44  A term of criminal detention shall be counted from the
date the judgment begins to be executed; if the criminal is held in custody
before the execution of the judgment, each day in custody shall be
considered as one day of the term sentenced.

    Section 4  Fixed-Term Imprisonment and Life Imprisonment

    Article 45  A term of fixed-term imprisonment, unless otherwise stipulated
in Article 50 and Article 69, shall not be less than 6 months and not more
than 15 years.

    Article 46  A criminal sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or life
imprisonment shall serve his sentence in prison or another place for
execution. Anyone who is able to work shall participate in labour,
and accepts education and reform.

    Article 47  A term of fixed-term imprisonment shall be counted
from the date the judgment begins to be executed; if the criminal is held
in custody before the execution of the judgment, each day in custody
shall be considered as one day of the term sentenced.

    Section 5  The Death Penalty

    Article 48  The death penalty shall only be applied to criminals who
have committed the most heinous crimes. If the immediate execution of
a criminal punishable by death is not deemed necessary, a two-year
suspension of execution may be pronounced simultaneously with the imposition
of the death sentence.

    All death sentences except for those that according to law should be
decided by the Supreme People’s Court, shall be submitted to the Supreme
People’s Court for approval. Death sentences with a suspension of
execution may be decided or approved by a higher people’s court.

    Article 49  The death penalty shall not be imposed on persons who
had not reached the age of 18 at the time the crime was committed or to
women who are pregnant at the time of trial.

    Article 50  If a person sentenced to death with a suspension of execution
does not commit an intentional crime during the period of suspension, his
punishment shall be commuted to life imprisonment upon the expiration of that
two-year period; if he performs great meritorious service, his punishme