Largest Lawsuit in China | What’s the Real Meaning of GuanXi

If you mean to do business in China, or if you have been doing so, after this episode, please correct me if you can.

Let’s start from the most recent case.

On November 3rd, 2023 (yeah, it occurred just last week) a financial company in Shanghai took a steel manufacturer in Jiangsu into the court under Jiangsu jurisdiction, and sued it for 10 billion RMB compensation. And the reason? The company in Shanghai found heavy pollution on the land brought from the manufacturer in 2016. Sounds simple, right?

What makes this case interesting is that: first, 10 billion, it’s the largest lawsuit since the establishment of PRC in 1949; second, the plaintiff and defendant of this case are both state-owned enterprise, and more, the company in Shanghai is in charge of the core financial centre called Lujiazui, and it sued,along side the steel m ...