Law and safety / Chapter 8
If you’ve ever worried about how legal rules might affect your freedom or finances, this section is for you. It covers three main topics: what responsibilities the law requires you to meet, how following those rules can save you money, and what rights you have if something goes wrong. All article numbers match the official texts exactly. The items are ordered by impact: those that cause the biggest losses if ignored and are easiest to prevent come first; steps that need advance planning follow; and finally, practical tips without official backing.
The topics are grouped as follows, with article numbers in parentheses:
Fraud prevention: Stop payments immediately if you notice fraud (Article 2); strict anti-fraud rules (Article 3); seeing someone’s face on video does not count as verification (Article 4); never lend your bank or phone cards to others (Article 8); obtain free credit reports (Article 9); dealing with fraud in secondhand online sales (Article 22); always ask for a price quote before hiring a repair service (Article 27); never carry items for strangers (Article 29); helping someone with a facial recognition check can lead to illegal loan schemes (Article 45).
Signing contracts, borrowing money, and debt: Read every document fully before signing (Article 17); always write a clear loan agreement (Article 18); legal claims have strict time limits (Article 19); report all assets honestly if enforcement actions begin (Article 20); understand what being placed on a credit blacklist entails (Article 21); avoid becoming a nominal legal representative for a business (Article 28); know that debts incurred by family members through gambling remain your responsibility (Article 44).
Conflicts and emotional distress: Call police right away if a dispute arises (Article 10); self-defense is allowed when facing unavoidable harm (Article 11); do not seek revenge after a quarrel (Article 12); never harm people unrelated to the situation (Article 13); resist any urge to harm yourself or others (Article 14); remember that retaliatory actions rarely end well for anyone involved (Article 15); buying insurance for someone before acting only makes legal trouble worse (Article 38).
Relationships and marriage: Think carefully before making large gifts (Article 23); use bank transfers for betrothal gifts (Article 24); clearly define pre-marital assets (Article 25); verify each other’s marital status before marriage (Article 26); seek police help immediately if domestic violence occurs (Article 43).
Police involvement, accusations, and evidence: Hire a lawyer right away if you receive a summons (Article 5); voluntarily explain your side of events if something happens (Article 6); contest false accusations made against you (Article 33); demand acquittal when evidence is insufficient (Article 34); apply for state compensation when justified (Article 35); always request a case receipt when reporting a crime (Article 39); never offer bribes to investigators (Article 40); record conversations that might later become contentious (Article 41); photograph the scene from a wide angle first (Article 42).
Online speech and cyberbullying: Avoid insults or spreading false information online (Article 16); activate protective measures immediately if targeted by cyberbullying (Article 37).
Sexuality and coercion: Refrain from any sexual activity if a partner is unconscious or unable to consent (Article 31); report any attempts to extort money using intimate images to police at once (Article 32); victims seeking compensation should never meet their alleged aggressors alone (Article 36).
Driving, pet ownership, and theft prevention: Never flee the scene of a traffic accident (Article 1); never drive after drinking alcohol (Article 7); always keep dogs on a leash (Article 30); install sturdy locks on all doors and windows (Article 46).
If you flee the scene, you are automatically considered fully responsible for the accident. Your driver’s license will be revoked, and you won’t be allowed to retake the test for life. …
The brief period right after money is sent is the only window of opportunity. During this time police can issue an emergency stop‑payment order and quickly freeze the funds; banks are required to comply. …
If someone asks you to transfer money, share your screen, download an unknown app, click a link, or share verification codes, hang up first and then call the official number to verify. …
Seeing someone’s face or hearing their voice is not reliable proof of identity. Whenever money transfer is mentioned, hang up immediately and call back using an old number stored in your contacts, or ask someone you both know. …
You can hire a lawyer right from the first time you’re called in for questioning. If the lawyer requests a meeting, the detention center must arrange it within 48 hours, and those talks cannot be monitored. …
Voluntarily surrendering can reduce a prison term by up to 40%; for less serious offenses it may even lead to no punishment at all. If you confess only after being caught, the reduction is capped at 20%. …
Driving after drinking results in a 6‑month suspension of your license and a fine of 1000–2000 yuan. A second offense brings up to 10 days in jail and permanent license revocation. …
Renting, lending, or selling your bank cards, SIM cards, or payment accounts is illegal on its own. …
Laws give you the right to check your own credit report twice a year at no charge, and you can finish the process online in ten minutes. …
Anyone who assaults another person faces 5 to 10 days in jail and a fine of 500 to 1000 yuan. …
To protect yourself or others from an ongoing attack, it is legally acceptable to intervene and injure the attacker. …
Pursuing legal channels may ultimately leave you without any compensation. On the other hand, resorting to revenge achieves the same result — no money recovered — while also risking your own life. …
Intentionally driving into a crowd or attacking people in public constitutes endangering public safety by dangerous means. Even if no one is injured, the offender still faces at least three years in prison. …
The window between the first appearance of such thoughts and any attempt to act on them is very short. Among 82 people who survived a suicide attempt, 47. …
When family members say things like “no one will be safe” or “I’ll take the kids and leave,” close relatives have the right to take that person to a hospital, where treatment cannot be refused. …
Publicly cursing, spreading rumors or defaming others can result in detention for up to 5 days or a fine of up to 1000 yuan; for more serious cases, detention ranges from 5 to 10 days. …
Once signed, a document becomes legally binding — fingerprints carry the same weight as signatures. Claims like “I didn’t read it” or “I thought it was something else” rarely hold up in court. …
The loan agreement must include all key details: who the lender and borrower are, the amount, interest rate, term, and repayment method, plus both signatures. …
The statute of limitations for civil lawsuits is three years, counted from the day you become aware your rights were violated. …
Putting your house in a company’s name or transferring money to relatives or friends isn’t some clever “workaround” — it falls squarely under the circumstances described in the law on refusal to execute court orders. …
First, determine whether you’re only subject to spending restrictions or also listed on the dishonesty registry — these are two separate situations. …
Start by contacting the platform. Platforms maintain security deposits and strict penalty rules, so they act fastest. …
Once the money is transferred, you generally cannot get it back. A gift can only be revoked before it is officially registered under the recipient’s name. …
Demanding property by means of marriage is prohibited, and the court supports giving it back. …
Premarital assets remain your personal property and won’t automatically become joint marital property just because you’ve been married for many years. …
Marriages involving bigamy are invalid. Anyone who already has a spouse yet marries again, or who knowingly marries someone who already has a spouse, faces up to 2 years in prison. …
Appliance repair services must clearly display their pricing, provide customers with a receipt and invoice, and must not falsely claim that a problem exists or deliberately replace parts that are still in good working condition. …
The law assumes the legal representative is the person actually managing the company; claiming “I’m just a figurehead and know nothing” does not serve as a valid excuse to avoid liability. …
The Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises travelers to avoid carrying luggage or items for others, especially prohibited goods or anything they know nothing about. …
If a dog injures someone, the owner generally has to pay no matter who was at fault; only proof that the other person acted intentionally or with gross negligence can reduce it. …
If the other person is intoxicated or asleep, they cannot give informed consent. Having sex with them in such a state is legally classified as rape, carrying a base sentence of 3 to 10 years in prison. …
Using threats like “I’ll call the cops” or “I’ll send these photos to your boss” to force you to pay is extortion. Paying even once only invites more demands. If they actually post the photos, that adds another criminal charge. …
It is illegal to make up false accusations in an attempt to get someone punished under criminal or public order laws. For minor violations, offenders may face up to 5 days of detention or a fine under $1000. …
The Criminal Procedure Law sets clear thresholds for conviction: evidence must be verified through legally prescribed procedures and must collectively leave no reasonable doubt about the facts. …
If you were detained or arrested and later released when the case was dropped, charges were withdrawn, or you were acquitted, you may apply for state compensation. Compensation is paid for each day spent in custody. …
As a victim, you have every legal right to demand compensation from the party responsible for the harm — this doesn’t automatically make you a blackmailer just because your demands are high. …
Do three things immediately: turn on all platform safety settings, use the platform’s quick evidence‑collection tools to preserve content, and file a report through the same quick access point. …
All four possible pathways are shut down. Buying life insurance for a loved one without their knowledge renders the policy invalid. If the policyholder deliberately causes the insured’s death, the insurer pays nothing. …
Reporting a crime and having a case officially opened are two separate steps. When the police accept a case, they must provide you with a case receipt — this document is the sole proof that you actually filed a report. …
“Paying a little money to smooth things over” is a standalone offense under criminal law; those arrested are not only the recipients of the bribes. …
When it comes to loans, debts, compensation, refunds, or labor disputes, misunderstandings can arise months later even if everything was discussed clearly on the phone with no written record. …
If you only film close‑ups of a single scratch on a car or an isolated object on the ground, later on no one will know where they originally were. …
Worldwide, over one third of all female homicide victims are killed by their partners — often as a final outcome of long‑term abuse. …
Money owed from gambling isn’t protected by courts. Even if creditors know the borrower is using the funds for gambling, those loans still get no legal protection. …
What seems like a simple favor — “just doing a facial scan or acting as a witness” — actually means using your name to borrow money from a bank. You become the legal borrower, not a guarantor. …
British data shows that homes with both door and window locks have only about one‑twelfth the burglary rate of homes with no such measures. Adding an outdoor motion‑sensor light further reduces that risk to roughly one‑thirtieth. …
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