It's a bit too late to make any difference, but if you were wondering whether you did anything illegal on Valentine's Day last week, we present here a translation of China's legal code concerning love.
Law of the People's Republic of China on Love
General Provisions
- This law has been drawn up with a view to standardize acts relating to love, to protect the legitimate rights and interests of people involved in love activities, to safeguard the social love order, and to encourage the widespread, healthy development of love under the socialist market economy.
- This law applies to all love activities within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
- Love activities shall abide by law, administrative regulations and decrees, and in regards to social values, they must not in any way infringe upon the public interest.
- The term "love rights" in this document refers to the rights of a lover to love and be loved. When exercising love rights, a lover must adhere to the order established in this law. The term "love responsibility" in this document refers to the time, money, effort, and other measurable material and spiritual quantities that the lover expends during the process of love.
- The party in love may entrust an agent to be a love representative, and should detail the agent relationship during the time of love. Anyone unauthorized to act as an agent yet who engages in love claiming to be an agent shall bear all of the love responsibilities. Agents who exceed the bounds of their authority shall be responsible for that portion of the love responsibilities that result from those actions that exceeded their authority.
- Individuals without the ability to engage in love, or those whose ability to engage in love is limited, fall under the category of early love. This love is invalid, but it shall not have any effect on the efficacy of other love. Citizens under the age of 14 do not have the ability to engage in love.
- Individuals gaining affection through deception or force, or those who are aware of extant love conditions yet maliciously obtain affection, shall not enjoy love rights.
- A beloved may not use the fact of an existing love between the beloved and a third party as a rebuttal. However, this applies only if the suitor is unaware of the existence of this reason. The term "rebuttal" in this document refers to a beloved rejecting the advances of a suitor in accordance with the regulations set forth in this document.
- The bilateral exercise of love rights must be conducted at the place of business of the parties involved. Loving parties who lack a place of business may use a domicile.
Chapter I: Courting
- Courting is the direct or indirect petition by the suitor using a variety of methods to obtain an expression of love from the beloved.
- When courting, "I love you" must be said. If this is precondition is not met, courting is invalid.
- When courting, "How I fell in love with you," "How long have I loved you," and "How much do I love you" should be stated clearly and precisely. If "How I fell in love with you" is not stated, it is assumed to be love at first sight. If "How long have I loved you" is not stated, then age since birth is assumed. If "How much do I love you" is not stated, then the moon is to be used as a reference to which to compare his (or her) heart.
- Other items not listed in this document may be expressed while courting; however, these items do not have validity during courting.
- After the suitor begins courting, he or she must take on all associated responsibilities.
- Love rights shall expire if not exercised within the following time limits:
1. Within 9 years, 9 months, and 9 days from the moment of love's awakening for a suitor to court a beloved;
2. Within 4 years, 4 months, and 4 days from the time of rejection for a suitor to pursue a beloved;
3. Within 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day from the time of an additional rejection for a suitor to continue to court a beloved.
The term "pursuit" in this document refers to further actions by a suitor to court a beloved in any way. - The date of courting shall be fixed by the suitor according to the law.
Chapter II: Transfer
- A suitor may transfer love rights to another individual, or may authorize another individual to exercise a portion of those love rights. In the case of beloveds who have previously claimed "no transfer," no affection may be transferred.
- When a love rightsholder carries out actions of the first type described, he or she must sign a contract and deliver the beloved.
Chapter III: Suit Acceptance
- Suit acceptance refers to promise made by a beloved after being courted by a suitor to make an expression of love to the suitor.
- A beloved must accept or reject a suit within three days of a suitor's profession of love.
- Beloveds who accept a suit may not introduce additional conditions; acceptance with additional conditions will be treated as rejection.
- Beloveds who reject a suit must give the suitor a reason for their rejection. Suitors may then undertake pursuit and further pursuit according to the law.
Chapter IV: Disappointment
- Disappointment refers to losing the affection of a loved one, or finding that an individual whom one loves no longer loves one's self.
- After a lover is disappointed, he or she may take the following actions in accordance with the law:
1. In the event of light disappointment, the lover may lock the bedroom door, pull up the covers, and sleep for several days straight.
2. In the event of medium disappointment, the lover may enter religious life as a nun (or monk).
3. In the event of medium disappointment, the lover may travel to the windy north and scream at the Great Wall.
4. In the event of serious disappointment, the lover may tie a black blindfold across his or her eyes, and imitate the line "Having drunk the waters of Changsha, I will become a fish of Wuchang"* by jumping off the Xiangjiang bridge.
5. In the event of serious disappointment, the lover may tie one end of a rope to a solitary banyan tree at least 10 meters tall and the other around his or her neck. The actions described should be completed before the sun has risen fully.
Subsequent to disappointment, other actions not described in this document may be taken, but they are not protected by law.
Chapter V: Application of Law on International Love
(Elided; author merely copies sections of other PRC law and substitutes "love" in several places.)
Chapter VI: Legal Responsibilities
- Criminal responsibilities shall be affixed on one of the following acts of love deception:
1. The act of obtaining property through deceptive love;
2. The act of malicious transfer of affection;
3. The act of using others' love to obtain love or property through deception. - Administrative punishments shall be meted out according to the relevant State provisions on one of the aforesaid acts if the case is not serious enough to constitute a crime.
Chapter VII: Appendix
- The specific methods of the administration of love shall be formulated by the People's Love Administration of China in accordance with this law and submitted to the State Council for approva
- The law shall be implemented as of February 14th, 2006.
It's interesting that this Love Law has only just recently made it big online. The earliest version I was able to find was one from 25 June, 2002, and although it seems to have made sporadic appearances on blogs and forums, it wasn't until November last year that it really began to make waves. The most popular form currently circulating is nearly identical to that early version; dates have been changed, and most recent versions leave off a final prediction that the National People's Congress would soon enact a supplement to the criminal code detailing punishments for unscrupulous lovers.
Then there was the jump to the mainstream media. The Huashang Morning Post ran an article on Valentine's Day (later picked up by a CCTV news digest program) that mentioned the number of different versions of the piece that have appeared - one lists 59 articles in eight chapters. The article helpfully quotes a psychologist who informs readers that love can't be legislated, and finds a lawyer who sees a possibility for the author of the piece to be punished: "Forging or fabricating official documents from China's state organs are actions that disrupt normal social administration." And won't someone thing about the children?
The China Youth Daily scoffed at this, telling nay-sayers, "Don't think that you are the only one who worries about the country and its citizens, every day with a sour expression on your face, not allowing anyone else to crack a joke."
- Waterbar (Chinese): Law of the People's Republic of China on Love
- Huashang Morning Post (Chinese): Many versions of "Love Law" circulating online
- China Youth Daily (Chinese): Love law? It's a joke. Don't take it seriously.
）。正如文中所说，可以用安全模式启动，然后是一个新的样子。这基本就可以确定是扩展引起的问题了，并且是一个可修改这些菜单栏或是工具栏的扩展。Firefox提供了更大灵活性，也就有引发问题的潜力。
