Mediating Foreign Norms and Local Imperatives: Intellectual Property ‘Law’ between the East and the West, from Imperial China to ‘Modern’ Times

Abstract

China is recognised as one of the oldest continuous civilisations in the world and has arguably been a forerunner in economic and technological developments for centuries. This article explores the motivations behind the protection of property rights in imperial China (221 BC–AD 1911), including Chinese efforts to regulate the reproduction of literary innovation and creation prior to the twentieth century. It suggests that the recognition and regulation of intellectual property appears to have been curtailed there by both institutional and cultural factors.