The translation of the Chinese Civil Code posted on the Chinese Congress website is a disaster.

First, the organizational structure is off. When translating a legal document like an act or a code, the parallel document used for reference should be something like the United States Code, not a dictionary.

For example, whoever worked on it somehow used Book when the word that should have been used is Title. Like Title 1 General Provisions provided in the United States Code. You cannot find Book 1 General Principles in the United States Code.

Another example is Section. It should be Section 1 or § 1, not Article 1.

Second, part of the translation is incomplete.

For example, there are five subsections under Section 1105 in the Chinese version. However, there are only four subsections under Section 1105 in the English version. There is one missing.

Another example is the missing sentence under Section 1084, where the Chinese version provides that the intention of a child over eight years old shall be considered when the parents cannot agree on who should be the one having custody. However, the whole sentence is gone in the English version.

Considering the foregoing, the English version posted by the Chinese Congress is not reliable at all. I believe every English native speaker would have a headache reading those word salad. You can give it a shot now.

I also found that other organizations, including NPC Observer, China Justice Observer, and International Labour Organizations just blindly copy and paste what the Chinese Congress posted without noticing the missing sections or making any comments.

Since the translation posted is not convincing, I decide to translate the Chinese Civil Code by myself. There is no doubt that the whole project would be time-consuming since there are 1260 sections, and the fields of law involved are quite a lot. Thus, I cannot guarantee that my translation is a flaw-free one. However, I give you my word that I will try my utmost to provide a translation version that makes sense to English native speakers.

This definitely won't be easy. Thus, if you know anything that can be helpful or if anyone is willing to collaborate with me, please don't hesitate to contact me at Joeythetranslator@foxmail.com.

You can also made a donation to support me.