ABSTRACT
Chinese law's attempts to preclude ad hoc arbitration from its legal system have proven to be unsuccessful. The Chinese courts are restricting the scope of Chinese law's application when it reviews the validity of an ad hoc arbitration agreement. The Chinese courts are restricting the scope of Chinese law's application when it reviews the validity of an ad hoc arbitration agreement. The ad hoc issue exposes some misconceptions of arbitration under the Chinese legal system. In China, arbitration developed in a top-down pattern. Largely due to the prolonged underdevelopment of commercial activities, in China there never existed a practical need for arbitration until drastic social and economic reforms arose at the beginning of the twentieth century as well as in the late 1970s. The economic and political contexts in Chinese society at the time when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Arbitration Law was enacted had significant impacts on its preclusion of ad hoc arbitration.
