The concept of US discovery is very alien to the uninitiated
litigant and particularly foreign to Chinese parties, because the
Chinese litigation process is far different. China proceedings are
conducted much like other civil code jurisdictions, with the
parties proffering only evidence that supports the claims or
defenses. US discovery is intended to uncover both supporting and
damaging evidence. US discovery rules provide litigants liberal
access to information possessed by opponents, and even third
parties, such as internal company emails, documents, records, and
policies. Disclosure of requested information may be required, even
though such disclosure would be prohibited under PRC law. The Hague
Convention provides one avenue of obtaining evidence located in
China, but US courts are not always willing to require the use of
the Hague Convention procedures where a party has submitted to the
jurisdiction of the US court. Recent US cases demonstrate the
challenges of
