ABSTRACT
Posted above an office door adjacent to an office complex in Tianjin some years ago, an engraved sign identified the office as the “Promises-Keeping and Contract-Honoring Unit.” Presumably, the sign provided assurance that, should some commercial transaction run into problems, there was, indeed, a place one could go to ensure that promises once made would be kept and that contracts already signed would be honored. The unstated corollary, of course, was that outside of that office, all bets were off. In similar fashion, wildlife is well protected under Chinese law. It’s just when one gets to the countryside, where wildlife might actually live, that protection breaks down.
