Civil Code: Contracts - General Rules
(These clauses are selected from The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China translated and authored by Steve Li and Robert Zhang, international arbitration lawyers registered in Shanghai, China, and published by Kindle Unlimited. No reproduction is allowed unless authorized by the authors.)
TITLE THREE CONTRACTS
Part One General Principles
Chapter I General Rules
Article 463 This TITLE THREE regulates the civil relations arising from or relating to contracts.
Article 464 Contract means any agreement between persons establishing, altering, or terminating a civil legal relationship.
An agreement relating to marriage, adoption, guardianship, or any other identity relationship shall be governed by the provisions of laws applicable to such identity relationship, or in the absence of an applicable provision, governed, mutatis mutandis, by this TITLE THREE based on its nature.
Article 465 Contracts legally concluded shall be protected by law.
A contract legally concluded shall be legally binding only on the parties to the contract unless otherwise specified by law.
Article 466 In case of any dispute arising from or relating to the interpretation of any term of the contract, the meaning of the disputed term shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 142 of this Code.
Where the text of a contract is written in two or more languages and it is agreed that both or all the versions are equally valid, the wording in one version shall be construed to have the same meaning as its counterpart in the other version(s). In case of any inconsistency between the wordings in different versions, they shall be interpreted according to the relevant terms and the nature and purpose of the contract in good faith.
Article 467 The contracts not expressly covered under this Code or other laws shall be governed by the General Principles under this TITLE THREE and may be governed, mutatis mutandis, by the provisions under this TITLE THREE or other laws applicable to the most similar contracts.
Contracts for Sino-foreign joint ventures or Sino-foreign contractual joint ventures or contracts for Sino-foreign joint exploration and exploitation of natural resources, which are performed within the territory of the People's Republic of China, shall be governed by the applicable laws of the People's Republic of China.
Article 468 Claims and debts not arising from or relating to contracts shall be governed by the provisions of laws applicable to such relationship or by the General Principles under this TITLE THREE in the absence of an applicable provision unless the General Principles are not applicable based on the nature of such relationship.
Robert Zhang 
Steve Li 