I touched on this topic during my recent webinar for the China-Britain Business Council
about China Film Intellectual Property. Most of my comments apply
equally to all industries, not just the film industry.
Chinese contracts are usually simpler and shorter than contracts
used in the West. The specialized vocabulary taken for granted in
Western film contracts is still emerging in China contracts, so
commonly used expressions or concepts may be misunderstood or
simply inapplicable. A Chinese businessperson is less likely to
view a contract as a complete statement of a commercial
relationship and more likely to see it as a starting point for
further negotiations that may become necessary if andwhen
circumstances change. The Chinese approach to negotiations is more
personal. Western contracting parties may not always trust each
other, but they tend to trust the legal systems in which they
operate and this allows them to make reasonably accurate
predictions about the
