Changhao Wei

Changhao Wei is the founder, manager, and editor of NPC Observer. He is a Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center of Yale Law School, where he focuses on China’s legislative process and constitutional enforcement mechanisms. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, and a bachelor’s degree in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

NPC (Finally) Responds to Controversy over Sealing Drug-Use Records

Photo by Colin Davis (Unsplash)

It has been a month since the revised Public Security Administration Punishments Law (PSPAL) [治安管理处罚法] returned to the spotlight—this time because of Article 136, a new provision that generally requires the police to seal the records of all PSAPL violations.1 We explained and commented on the controversy in this piece for The Diplomat (summarized for our newsletter here). Here is the gist: Several official social-media accounts, in promoting the law ahead of its taking effect on New Year’s Day, focused public attention on Article 136’s application to drug offenses specifically. Netizens criticized both the substance of the record-sealing requirement—worried that it signals a softened official stance on drugs—and the process whereby the provision was adopted.

Continue reading “NPC (Finally) Responds to Controversy over Sealing Drug-Use Records” →

NPCSC Session Watch: Environmental Code, Antarctic Policy, Ethnicity & Language, State Assets, Childcare, Banking Regulation & Trademarks

UPDATE (Dec. 22, 2025): The NPCSC has revealed that it will indeed submit the first three bills discussed below to the 2026 NPC session for approval and will pass the draft revisions to the Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language and to the Foreign Trade Law on December 27.

Photo by Asya M (stock.adobe.com)

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its nineteenth session, its final meeting of the year, from December 22 to 27, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Monday, December 15. It will be the longest legislative session—lasting six days—since December 2019, with a suitably packed agenda. The NPCSC will review 14 legislative bills and hear almost two dozen reports, in addition to other business. As usual, we preview the session’s legislative agenda in detail below, while highlighting a few notable reports.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Environmental Code, Antarctic Policy, Ethnicity & Language, State Assets, Childcare, Banking Regulation & Trademarks” →

NPC Calendar: December 2025

UPDATE (Dec. 5, 2025): On December 5, the State Council leadership approved a draft National Fire and Rescue Personnel Law [国家消防救援人员法], which the NPCSC is likely to review at this month’s session as well.

The amendment to the Food Safety Law [食品安全法] (adopted on Sept. 12, 2025) takes effect on December 1.

The 14th NPC Standing Committee is expected to convene for its nineteenth session in late December. The Council of Chairpersons is expected to meet in mid-December to decide on the agenda and dates of the session.

The session is expected to review the following bills:

The session will likely further review one or more of these pending bills:

The session may also take up one or more additional bills scheduled for initial review in 2025.

NPC Calendar: November 2025

Here is our recap of NPC-related events in November 2025 at our newsletter.

The Public Health Emergency Response Law [突发公共卫生事件应对法] and the Law on Publicity and Education on the Rule of Law [法治宣传教育法] (both adopted on Sept. 12, 2025) take effect on November 1.

The NPC Standing Committee is seeking public comment on the following bills through November 26:

It will meet for its next regularly scheduled session in late December.

Chinese Legislature Seeks Public Comment on 4 Bills: Procuratorate-Initiated Public Interest Litigation, Arable Land Protection & Environmental Code

China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), is soliciting public comment on the following four bills through November 26, 2025.

Draft NameChinese TextExplanatory Document
Ecological and Environmental Code – Part on Pollution Prevention and Control (2nd Draft)
生态环境法典污染防治编草案二次审议稿		PDFPDF
Ecological and Environmental Code – Part on Legal Liability and Supplementary Provisions (2nd Draft)
生态环境法典法律责任和附则编草案二次审议稿		PDFPDF
Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation Law (Draft)
检察公益诉讼法草案		PDF
(English)		PDF
Cultivated Land Protection and Quality Improvement Law (Draft)
耕地保护和质量提升法草案		PDFPDF

English translations will be provided if available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese and compiled in a single PDF; the links above will take you to the corresponding pages in the PDF only if you use a desktop browser—this does not work on a phone or a tablet.

To submit comment online, please refer to this guide. Comments can also be mailed to the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Commission [全国人大常委会法制工作委员会] at the following address:

北京市西城区前门西大街1号 邮编: 100805
1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805

Please clearly write “<Draft Name in Chinese>征求意见” on the envelope.

NPCSC Session Watch: Procuratorate-Initiated Public Interest Litigation, Community Governance, Cybersecurity, Arable Land Protection & Environmental Code

Supreme People’s Procuratorate. Photo by EditQ (Wikimedia Commons). CC BY-SA 4.0.

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its eighteenth session from October 24 to 28, immediately after the Communist Party’s upcoming Fourth Plenum concludes on October 23, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Wednesday, October 15. According to the Council’s proposed agenda, the session will consider 9 legislative bills and hear 7 oversight reports, among other business. As usual, we preview the session’s legislative agenda in detail below.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Procuratorate-Initiated Public Interest Litigation, Community Governance, Cybersecurity, Arable Land Protection & Environmental Code” →

NPC Calendar: October 2025

Here is our recap of NPC-related events in October 2025 at our newsletter.

The revised Anti–Unfair Competition Law [反不正当竞争法] (adopted on June 27, 2025) takes effect on October 15.

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is seeking public comment on the following bills through October 11:

The Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee will convene for its Fourth Plenum from October 20 to 23. The Plenum is expected to approve the Central Committee’s Recommendations for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development [关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十五个五年规划的建议].

The 14th NPCSC is expected to convene for its eighteenth session in late October. The Council of Chairpersons is expected to meet in mid-October to decide on the agenda and dates of the session.

The session is expected to review the draft Cultivated Land Protection and Quality Improvement Law [耕地保护和质量提升法] and the draft revision to the Banking Supervision and Administration Law [银行业监督管理法] that the State Council leadership approved on July 31 and September 19, respectively.

The session is also likely to review one or more of the following bills:

Lastly, the session may review the draft amendment to the Cybersecurity Law, one or more parts of the draft Ecological and Environmental Code, as well as one or more additional bills scheduled for initial review in 2025.

Official Chinese Law Database Receives Major Upgrades: A Guide and Review

Homepage of the Database on September 21, 2025 showing the popup note explaining the upgrades.

After a decade of development, the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature, launched the National Database of Laws and Regulations (Database) [国家法律法规数据库] on February 24, 2021. Initially approved for development in 2011, the Database was deployed for testing in November 2018. By January 202, all data had been uploaded, and the following month it was opened for trial use by select institutions. While recognizing its scale, ambition, and laudable goal, we nonetheless thought the Database’s initial version—which we will call “Phase I”—missed the mark. Due to glaring gaps in coverage and a broken search function, it was “good for reading the documents you are able to locate, but not much more,” we wrote.

Four and a half years later, the NPC quietly rolled out major upgrades to the Database on August 20, 2025. While this new version—or “Phase II”—has the same coverage (with a caveat, as we will note below), there have been significant improvements on all other fronts: it has a more modern look, upgraded core functionalities, and useful new features. In short, we believe Phase II will prove to be much more valuable for the average citizen, if not for legal professionals as well.

In this guide and review, we introduce the Database’s current collection, redesigned homepage, browsing and search experience, and individual document pages. Its WeChat Mini App has received similar upgrades, but we decided not to review it this time.

Continue reading “Official Chinese Law Database Receives Major Upgrades: A Guide and Review” →

Chinese Legislature Seeks Public Comment on 12 Bills: Cybersecurity, Foreign Trade, Ethnic Unity, Corporate Bankruptcy, Environmental Code, Standard Chinese Language & More

China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), is soliciting public comment on the following twelve bills through October 11, 2025.

Draft NameChinese TextExplanatory Document
Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law (2nd Draft)
危险化学品安全法草案二次审议稿		PDFPDF
Ecological and Environmental Code – General Part (2nd Draft)
生态环境法典总则编草案二次审议稿		PDFPDF
Ecological and Environmental Code – Part on Ecological Conservation (2nd Draft)
生态环境法典生态保护编草案二次审议稿		PDFPDF
Ecological and Environmental Code – Part on Green and Low-Carbon Development (2nd Draft)
生态环境法典绿色低碳发展编草案二次审议稿		PDFPDF
Law on National Development Plans (2nd Draft)
国家发展规划法草案二次审议稿		PDF · 🆚PDF
Prisons Law (2nd Draft Revision)
监狱法修订草案二次审议稿		PDF PDF
Cybersecurity Law (Draft Amendment)
网络安全法修正草案		PDF · 🆚PDF
Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress (Draft)
民族团结进步促进法草案		PDFPDF
Enterprise Bankruptcy Law (Draft Revision)
企业破产法修订草案		PDF 🆚PDF
Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (Draft Revision)
国家通用语言文字法修订草案		PDF · 🆚PDF
Environmental Protection Tax Law (Draft Amendment)
环境保护税法修正草案		PDFPDF
Foreign Trade Law (Draft Revision)
对外贸易法修订草案		PDF 🆚PDF

English translations will be provided if available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese and compiled in a single PDF; the links above will take you to the corresponding pages in the PDF only if you use a desktop browser—this does not work on a phone or a tablet.

Continue reading “Chinese Legislature Seeks Public Comment on 12 Bills: Cybersecurity, Foreign Trade, Ethnic Unity, Corporate Bankruptcy, Environmental Code, Standard Chinese Language & More” →

NPCSC Session Watch (Extra): Ethnic Unity Law & Foreign Trade Law Overhaul

Mural of China’s ethnic minorities on display at the National Museum of Chinese Writing in Anyang, Henan Province. Photo by Gary Todd. CC 0 1.0.

China’s national legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is holding its seventeenth session from today to Friday, September 12. As we have previewed, it is considering a whopping 16 draft laws, in addition to other agenda items. Today’s official readout of the session’s opening meeting reveals that the NPCSC is reviewing two other bills as well: a draft Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress [民族团结进步促进法] and a draft revision to the Foreign Trade Law [对外贸易法]. We will take a quick look at these bills below, based on latest state-media reporting. The caveat is that such reports are essentially condensed versions of the bill’s official explanation, which in turn presents a selective summary of the draft itself. Those interested should consult the original texts (of the drafts and their accompanying explanations) when they are released on Friday. Below, we will also provide an update on the other bills under review.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch (Extra): Ethnic Unity Law & Foreign Trade Law Overhaul” →