It seems very strange that, from its inception in 1949 until June 1992, the People’s Republic of China, a major maritime state with a national fleet of over 13 million GRT,1 had not worked out a maritime code, although there has been a successful shipping policy for the development of its national shipping through years of effort.2 A maritime code of China is of great interest to many worldwide because of the size of its fleet. But the law applicable to maritime commerce under the general principles of civil law could make the Chinese maritime courts produce what many foreign plaintiffs and defendants perceive as “eccentric” decisions.3 The maritime courts cannot be blamed since they must apply the law. According to legal doctrines in China, maritime law is a special branch of law within the family of the civil law.4 Therefore, the principles of civil law will apply if there exists no special law. Because there was no maritime code, the courts would look into various existing rules of civil law and apply them to maritime disputes. But this is not the case today. The last draft for a maritime code was finally put into the Agenda of the Chinese legislators5 in June 1992. After several months’ work by the Chinese legislators, the Maritime Code was approved by the legislators on 7 November 1992 and