China Business Law Journal – December 2025/January 2026

Resilience rewarded

There is no denying that China’s economy has weathered a punishing stretch in recent years, with pandemic aftershocks, a property downturn, tepid consumption and sharpening trade frictions testing businesses and their counsel to the limit.

Resilience, it seems, has its rewards. In 2025, China saw a long-awaited rally in its capital markets – particularly in Hong Kong – and M&A activities, as well as better than expected exports despite crippling and erratic US tariffs.

On the cusp of the Year of the Horse, which many predict will focus on boosting consumption and correcting structural imbalances, there is no better time to revisit the events that made the past year so memorable.

We present our flagship award, Deals of the Year 2025, which showcases 275 deals, projects and cases that our extensive research deemed the finest examples of market significance and legal excellence in the past year.

They range from landmark fundraisings and market-shifting mergers to multi-year global disputes, many in highly contested sectors such as AI, semiconductors and renewable energy – the pillars of the new economy. We raise our glasses to all law firms that contributed to these remarkable accomplishments.

Many of the year’s standout deals are reorganisations of companies proving too valuable to fold. Things are moving fast in debt restructuring. In Clearing the way, we take a closer look at the recent shakeups in China’s corporate restructuring landscape, especially the first revision to the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law since its enactment 18 years ago. Among the highlights, out-of-court restructuring received legislative endorsement and the nationwide implementation of personal bankruptcy, currently limited to two cities, may not be so far off after all.

In the previous issue of CBLJ, we looked at a major legal revision with the Arbitration Law. By aligning further with international arbitration practice and encouraging domestic institutions to go global, it seeks to make the Chinese mainland a desirable destination for arbitrators and dispute parties worldwide. In Ready for takeoff, we invited top representatives from eight leading arbitration institutions in China’s legal market to share their unique insights on the latest arbitration developments most relevant to parties, investors and legal practitioners.

In the line of work of legal practitioners, the ability to decipher others mentally can be a decisive advantage. In-house counsel know this well, tasked with persuading not only counterparts from other companies in negotiations but also colleagues in other departments in their daily work.

In Counselling counsel, Jasmine Chen, the legal director of Weir Group and herself a certified counsellor, offers practical psychological techniques that help in-house counsel gain an edge in the constant battle over minds. She also shares tips to support in-house counsel’s long-term mental health, which may be the most important form of resilience of all.