Article 9
A citizen shall have the capacity for civil rights from birth to death and shall enjoy civil
rights and assume civil obligations in accordance with the law.
Article 10
All citizens are equal as regards their capacity for civil rights.
Article 11
A citizen aged 18 or over shall be an adult. He shall have full capacity for civil conduct,
may independently engage in civil activities and shall be called a person with full capacity
for civil conduct.
A citizen who has reached the age of 16 but not the age of 18 and whose main source of income
is his own labour shall be regarded as a person with full capacity for civil conduct.
Article 12
A minor aged 10 or over shall be a person with limited capacity for civil conduct and may
engage in civil activities appropriate to his age and intellect; in other civil activities,
he shall be represented by his agent ad litem or participate with the consent of his agent
ad litem.
A minor under the age of 10 shall be a person having no capacity for civil conduct and shall
be represented in civil activities by his agent ad litem.
Article 13
A mentally ill person who is unable to account for his own conduct shall be a person having
no capacity for civil conduct and shall be represented in civil activities by his agent ad
litem.
A mentally ill person who is unable to fully account for his own conduct shall be a person
with limited capacity for civil conduct and may engage in civil activities appropriate to his
mental health; in other civil activities, he shall be represented by his agent ad litem or
participate with the consent of his agent ad litem.
Article 14
The guardian of a person without or with limited capacity for civil conduct shall be his agent
ad litem.
Article 15
The domicile of a citizen shall be the place where his residence is registered; if his habitual
residence is not the same as his domicile, his habitual residence shall be regarded as his
domicile.
Section 2 Guardianship
Article 16
The parents of a minor shall be his guardians.
If the parents of a minor are dead or lack the competence to be his guardian, a person from
the following categories who has the competence to be a guardian shall act as his guardian:
(1) paternal or maternal grandparent;
(2) elder brother or sister; or
(3) any other closely connected relative or friend willing to bear the responsibility
of guardianship and having approval from the units of the minor's parents or from the
neighbourhood or village committee in the place of the minor's residence.
In case of a dispute over guardianship, the units of the minor's parents or the
neighbourhood or village committee in the place of his residence shall appoint a
guardian from among the minor's near relatives. If disagreement over the appointment
leads to a lawsuit, the people's court shall make a ruling.
If none of the persons listed in the first two paragraphs of this article is available
to be the guardian, the units of the minor's parents, the neighbourhood or village
committee in the place of the minor's residence or the civil affairs department
shall act as his guardian.
Article 17
A person from the following categories shall act as guardian for a mentally ill person without
or with limited capacity for civil conduct:
(1) spouse;
(2) parent;
(3) adult child;
(4) any other near relative;
(5) any other closely connected relative or friend willing to bear the responsibility
of guardianship and having approval from the unit to which the mentally ill person
belongs or from the neighbourhood or village committee in the place of his residence.
In case of a dispute over guardianship, the unit to which the mentally ill person
belongs or the neighbourhood or village committee in the place of his residence shall
appoint a guardian from among his near relatives. If disagreement over the appointment
leads to a lawsuit, the people's court shall make a ruling.
If none of the persons listed in the first paragraph of this article is available to
be the guardian, the unit to which the mentally ill person belongs, the neighbourhood
or village committee in the place of his residence or the civil affairs department
shall act as his guardian.
Article 18
A guardian shall fulfil his duty of guardianship and protect the person, property and other
lawful rights and interests of his ward. A guardian shall not handle the property of his ward
unless it is in the ward's interests.
A guardian's rights to fulfil his guardianship in accordance with the law shall be protected
by law.
If a guardian does not fulfil his duties as guardian or infringes upon the lawful rights
and interests of his ward, he shall be held responsible; if a guardian causes any property
loss for his ward, he shall compensate for such loss. The people's court may disqualify a
guardian based on the application of a concerned party or unit.
Article 19
A person who shares interests with a mental patient may apply to a people's court for a
declaration that the mental patient is a person without or with limited capacity for civil
conduct.
With the recovery of the health of a person who has been declared by a people's court to be
without or with limited capacity for civil conduct, and upon his own application or that
of an interested person. the people's court may declare him to be a person with limited or
full capacity for civil conduct.
Article 20
If a citizen's whereabouts have been unknown for two years, an interested person may apply to
a people's court for a declaration of the citizen as missing.
If a person's whereabouts become unknown during a war, the calculation of the time period in
which his whereabouts are unknown shall begin on the final day of the war.
Article 21
A missing person's property shall be placed in the custody of his spouse, parents, adult
children or other closely connected relatives or friends. In case of a dispute over custody,
if the persons stipulated above are unavailable or are incapable of taking such custody, the
property shall be placed in the custody of a person appointed by the people's court.
Any taxes, debts and other unpaid expenses owed by a missing person shall defrayed by the
custodian out of the missing person's property.
Article 22
In the event that a person who has been declared missing reappears or his whereabouts are
ascertained, the people's court shall, upon his own application or that of an interested
person, revoke the declaration of his missing-person status.
Article 23
Under either of the following circumstances, an interested person may apply to the people's
court for a declaration of a citizen's death:
(1) if the citizen's whereabouts have been unknown for four years or
(2) if the citizen's whereabouts have been unknown for two years after the date
of an accident in which he was involved.
If a person's whereabouts become unknown during a war, the calculation of the time period in
which his whereabouts are unknown shall begin on the final day of the war.
Article 24
In the event that a person who has been declared dead reappears or it is ascertained that he
is alive, the people's court shall, upon his own application or that of an interested person,
revoke the declaration of his death.
Any civil juristic acts performed by a person with capacity for civil conduct during the period
in which he has been declared dead shall be valid.
Article 25
A person shall have the right to request the return of his property, if the declaration of his
death has been revoked. Any citizen or organization that has obtained such property in
accordance with the Law of Succession shall return the original items or make appropriate
compensation if the original items no longer exist.
Article 26
"Individual businesses" refers to business run by individual citizens who have been lawfully
registered and approved to engage in industrial or commercial operation within the sphere
permitted by law. An individual business may adopt a shop name.
Article 27
"Leaseholding farm households" refers to members of a rural collective economic organization
who engage in commodity production under a contract and within the spheres permitted by law.
Article 28
The legitimate rights and interests of individual businesses and leaseholding farm households
shall be protected by law.
Article 29
The debts of an individual business or a leaseholding farm household shall be secured with the
individual's property if the business is operated by an individual and with the family's
property if the business is operated by a family.
Article 30
"Individual partnership" refers to two or more citizens associated in a business and working
together, with each providing funds, material objects, techniques and so on according to an
agreement.
Article 31
Partners shall make a written agreement covering the funds each is
to provide, the distribution of profits. the responsibility for
debts, the entering into and withdrawal from partnership, the ending
of partnership and other such matters.
Article 32
The property provided by the partners shall be under their unified
management and use. The property accumulated in a partnership
operation shall belong to all the partners.
Article 33
An individual partnership may adopt a shop name; it shall be approved
and registered in accordance with the law and conduct business
operations within the range as approved and registered.
Article 34
The operational activities of an individual partnership shall be
decided jointly by the partners, who each shall have the right to
carry out and supervise those activities. The partners may elect a
responsible person. All partners shall bear civil liability for the
operational activities of the responsible person and other personnel.
Article 35
A partnership's debts shall be secured with the partners' property
in proportion to their respective contributions to the investment or
according to the agreement made.
Partners shall undertake joint liability for their partnership's
debts, except as otherwise stipulated by law. Any partner who overpays
his share of the partnership's debts shall have the right to claim
compensation from the other partners.
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