Glocalization of Arbitration: A Legal and Cultural Analysis of Arbitration in China

A talk discussing the question: Is China showing signs of adaptation to the current trend of transnational arbi­tration? On the other hand, will the Chinese legal culture influence the practice of arbitration in the rest of the world?

Fan Kun (Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; HYI Visiting Scholar)
Discussant: Professor Bill Alford (Harvard Law School)

In the context of harmonisation of arbitration law and practice worldwide, to what extent are local legal traditions still influential on local arbitration practices, especially at a time when non-Western countries are playing an increasingly important role in international commercial and financial markets? How are the new economic powers reacting to the trend towards harmonisation? China pro­vides a good case study, with its historic tradition of non-confrontational means of dispute resolution now confronting current trends in transnational arbitration. Is China showing signs of adaptation to the current trend of transnational arbi­tration? On the other hand, will the Chinese legal culture influence the practice of arbitration in the rest of the world?

To address these challenging questions it is necessary to examine the development of arbitration in the context of China’s changing cultural and legal structures. This study explains contemporary arbitration in China from an interdisciplinary perspective and with a comparative approach, setting Chinese arbitration in its wider social context to aid understanding of its history, contemporary practice, the legal obstacles to modern arbitration, and possible future trends.  Through the lens of the transplantation of arbitration in China, the study demonstrates that tradition and culture do play a very significant role in accepting and reshaping a borrowed legal institution, despite the general trend that modernisation of law is inevitable. The author argues that the development of transnational arbitration is a process of ‘glocalisation’, which reflects combined impacts of globalisation of law and local culture and traditions.