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.