Chapter 7 The Untold Story of the First Copyright Statute of China
Exploring the 1910 Copyright Code of the Great Qing Dynasty
In: Intellectual Property and the Law of Nations, 1860-1920
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Jyh-An Lee
Jyh-An Lee
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Yangzi Li
Yangzi Li
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Abstract
The 1910 Copyright Code of the Great Qing Dynasty (“Qing Copyright Code”) was the first copyright statute in China but was short-lived because the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in the 1911 Revolution led by Dr Sun Yat-sen. Nevertheless, the Qing Copyright Code substantially influenced the 1915 and 1928 copyright laws in China in terms of their basic principles and language. In this chapter, we use the Qing Copyright Code as a lens to understand China’s initial encounter with international intellectual property norms, examine the dynamic political economy in which the law was enacted and provide an overview of the structure and important provisions of the Qing Copyright Code.