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Han, Wenhao --- "China: Developments in Insurance Law and Regulation in the People’s Republic" [2012] ELECD 182; in Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin (eds), "Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849807883

Section: Chapter 28

Section Title: China: Developments in Insurance Law and Regulation in the People’s Republic

Author(s): Han, Wenhao

Number of pages: 24

Extract:

28 China: developments in insurance law and
regulation in the People's Republic
Wenhao Han



1. CHINESE INSURANCE LEGISLATION AND SOURCES
OF LAW

The history of insurance in China is relatively short. Insurance was first introduced to the
country at the beginning of the nineteenth century by the British merchants of the East
India Company and as a consequence the market was initially dominated by British
insurers. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Chinese national merchants and
government began to set up insurance companies along the Chinese south coast in
Shanghai and Guangzhou to compete with the overseas insurers.1
With the development of the insurance business in China, there were several attempts
to introduce legislation dealing with insurance. The first Chinese insurance legislation was
drawn up by the last Qing Imperial government between 1908 and 1911 as part of the then
Commercial Code. The Code followed the Japanese legislation but was never put into
force due to the revolution by the republicans and abdication of the last Qing Emperor in
1912. There were two subsequent attempts to legislate on insurance contract rules in 1929
and 1936 respectively by the ruling governments of the country at those times. The 1929
legislation was drafted by a French insurance lawyer appointed by the then Chinese
government. The 1929 legislation was not well received in the insurance industry and
failed largely due to the civil war (1927­1937) in China. A few years later, the 1936
legislation tried to absorb principles ...