Table 2.The Statistical Comparison of the Percentage of Civil, Commercial,and Economic Cases Mediated by the Chinese Courts of First Instance in 1990,1992,and 2001
　
　Year Case Types Total Cases Accepted Cases Mediated Percentage of Cases being Mediated
　1990 Civil 1,851,897 1,194350 64%
　1990 Commercial 588,143 414,580 70%
　1992 Civil 1,948,786 1,136,970 58%
　1992 Commercial 650,601 397,404 61%
　2001 Civil 3,459,025 1,270,556 37%
　2001 Commercial 1,155,992 351,776 30%
　
　The decline of civil and commercial disputes mediated by the people’s courts is probably due to the reason that the mediation is easier for judges to engage in corruption and to practice favoritism. The CPL does not proscribe the specific method of the mediation. In reality, many Chinese judges mediate civil disputes without both parties presenting before them.Some judges who took bribes from the parties had used their positions to press the other parties to accept the settlements that may not be fair. Because trial is open and all the facts involving in a civil case should be clarified and judgments should be rendered based on law, more and more Chinese gradually feel more comfortable to put their disputes on trial instead of mediation.
　6. Involvements of Litigants’ Units (Employers)
　Since the socialist system was established in 1950’s in China, the unit that each individual belongs to or work for have become a very important part of his or her life event in personal matters. For those Chinese who are not employed, the neighborhood committees or the villege committees located in the places where they live are treated as their basic units. Before the Chinese economic reform started in 1978, most of Chinese would work for a unit for the rest of their lives. Although, today, Chinese can quit and choose any units or employers as they wish and most Chinese units or employers can fire any of their employees (except civil servants), the units or employers still play a very important role in their employees’ personal files, which can also be reflected from the Chinese civil procedure law.
　There are very provisions in the CPL, which involves the units of civil litigants in civil proceedings. Article 15 of the CPL provides that any relevant state organs, organizations, units, or employers may support individuals or units whose civil rights have been infringed to file civil lawsuits.This provision obviously authorizes the state organs and units to intervene civil disputes among individuals or units especially under the circumstances if the victimized individuals or units are afraid of litigation. The rationale of this interference is to protect the legitimate interests of the state and individuals and to fight against illegal civil acts.The supports of litigation normally include the following actions: to explain the relevant laws and government policies to the victimized individuals or units, to encourage them to file lawsuits with people’s courts, to help them with legal paper work, and testify for them before the courts, etc.Some Chinese see this intervention of units as the state’s encroachment of people’s private life.
　Other provisions of getting units or employers involved in the Chinese civil proceeding also include the following circumstances. When a party becomes incapacitated and his close relatives are not available, his unit or employer may recommend someone to represent him in his civil action.Not only any units that have information about a case are obligated to testify in court, but also the relevant units shall encourage their employees who have the knowledge of a case to give testimonies.When a court sends an inspector to inspect or examine physical evidence on site, the inspector must invite the relevant unit to send personnel to participate in the inspection.When a party and his close relatives of a civil litigation refuses to accept a court order, the court may also ask the relevant basic organization or unit to which the party belongs for assistance in serving the court order.If a unit fails to assist the courts in judicial investigation or enforcement, the unit may be imposed with fine.
　7. Separated Set of Procedures for Maritime Litigation
　Until July 1, 2000 when the Special Maritime Procedure Law (the SMPL) became effective, maritime litigation procedure in China was governed by the general Civil Procedure Law and by a variety of judicial interpretations and provisional documents issued by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), dealing with issues such as maritime dispute jurisdictions and the arrest of ships.However, before the SMPL was enacted, in 1984, the NPC passed a resolution to authorize the SPC to establish maritime courts along the Chinese costal cities.Since 1984, ten maritime courts have been established in ten port cities along the coast, namely (from north to south) Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Haikou, Beihai, and Wuhan that is not on coast but a port city along Yangtse River. A maritime court''s level is equivalent to an intermediate people''s court and its appellate court is the higher court of the province or the metropolitan city directly under the central government (such as Shanghai and Tianjin).
　The initial purpose of establishing the maritime courts was to response to the rise of maritime disputes and the needs of the special expertise in adjudicating maritime cases.In 1978, China began to reestablish its judicial system but in early 1980s, China still lacked qualified judges. Therefore, the establishment of the maritime courts solved this problem by concentrating all maritime litigations on the maritime courts. Soon after China began its economic reform and adopted open-door policy, Chinese foreign trade and shipping industry have been expended rapidly.Today, China has emerged as one of the major international trade partner and a major maritime nation. Therefore,as early as 1990s, Chinese Government brought forward an ambitious plan to make China become one of centers in the world for both maritime transportation and maritime dispute resolution. Between 1980 and 1998, the annual growth rate of Chinese ships in tonnage was 7.7% while the world average growth rate was only 1.3%.The maritime cases accepted by the Chinese maritime courts for adjudication grew from 753 cases in 1990 to 5,166 cases in 1998.To respond to this plan,the NPC,the State Council,and the SPC have enacted and promulgated a series of significant laws and regulations on maritime disputes among them the Maritime Law and the SMCP are most important.In addition to enacting domestic laws, the Chinese government has also ratified most of the maritime conventions.Today, China has established a quite sophisticated judicial regime for the resolution of maritime disputes.

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