This monograph is the outgrowth of areport prepared for the Conference
on Legal Aspects of the Foreign Trade of the People's Republic of China,
held at the Contemporary China Institute, London, on September 13-17,
1971. The Conference was sponsored by the Subcommittee on Chinese Law of
the Joint Committee on Contem- porary China of the Social Science
Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, and
Southern Illinois University, Edwards- ville, in collaboration with the
Contemporary China Institute, School of Oriental and Mrican Studies,
University of London. I wish to thank the sponsoring institutions for
the invitation to attend the Conference and the other participants for
their comments on and criticisms of the paper initially presented at the
meeting. To the extent possible, their remarks and suggestions have been
taken into account in subsequently revising, expanding and up-dating the
original essay. I also want to acknowledge my special indebtedness to
Professor Victor H. Li, chairman of the Conference, for reading
successive versions of this study and offering many helpful hints on how
it could be improved, in style as well as substance. I trust I have made
satisfactory use of this extensive technical aid pro gram.