(Adopted at the Fifteenth Meeting of the Stand Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 7, 1990, Promulgated by Order No. 33 of the President of the People's Republic of China on September 7, 1990, and effective on January 1, 1991)

Article 1. This Law is formulated in accordance with the Constitution in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese.

Article 2. "Returned overseas Chinese" refers to those overseas Chinese who have returned to and settle down in the motherland. "Overseas Chinese" refers to those Chinese citizens who have settled down abroad.

"Relatives of overseas Chinese" refers to the relatives, residing in China, of both overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese.

The term "relatives of overseas Chinese", as used in this Law, includes the following relatives of overseas Chinese and of returned overseas Chinese: their spouses, their parents, their children, the spouses of their children, their brothers and sisters, their grand parents and grand children as well as their other relatives who have established with them a long-standing fostering relationship.

Article 3. Returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese shall enjoy citizen's rights as well as perform citizen's obligations as provided for in the Constitutions and laws; no organizations or individuals shall discriminate against them.

The State shall make appropriate allowance for returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese in accordance with their actual conditions and special features; the relevant specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council or the competent authorities concerned under the State Council.

Article 4. The State shall make arrangements for the establishment of the overseas Chinese who have returned to the motherland for resettlement.

Article 5. An appropriate number of deputies shall be elected from among returned overseas Chinese to the National People's Congress and to the local people's congresses in the regions inhabited with a relatively large number of returned overseas Chinese.

Article 6. Returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese shall have the right to set up social organizations according to law to protect the lawful rights and interests of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese, and to carry out lawful social activities that meet the needs of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese.

The property of the social organizations set up, according to law, by returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese shall be protected by law, and no organizations or individuals shall encroach upon the said property.

Article 7. The State shall give support to farms, forest farms and other enterprises, where returned overseas Chinese have been helped by the State to settle down; no organizations or individuals shall encroach upon the land the returned overseas Chinese have the right to use, or infringe upon their lawful rights and interests.

Farms, forest farms and other enterprises, where returned overseas Chinese are settled down, may set up, according to needs schools and medical/health centres, and the State shall give them support in such respects as working personnel, equipment and outlay.

Article 8. In case that returned overseas Chinese or relatives of overseas Chinese make investments in the establishment of industrial and commercial enterprises or in the reclamation of barren hills, wasteland and boggy beaches, or engage in such production activities as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline occupations and fishery, the local people's governments at various levels shall give support to them, and their lawful rights and interests shall be protected by law.

Article 9. In case that returned overseas Chinese or relatives of overseas Chinese establish public welfare undertakings in the country, the local people's governments at various levels shall give support to them, and their lawful rights and interests shall be protected by law.

In cases where returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese accept and use goods and materials donated voluntarily by their relatives and friends abroad in establishing public welfare undertakings, the cases shall be handled in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the State, and they shall enjoy the preferential treatment of reduction of, or exemption from, customs duties.

Article 10. The State shall, according to law, protect the proprietary rights of houses privately owned by returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese.

In case that houses privately owned by returned overseas Chinese or relatives of overseas Chinese are to be requisitioned or dismantled and removed, according to law, to meet the needs of State construction projects, the units that undertake the said construction projects shall, in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the State, give corresponding compensation to, and arrange proper accommodation for, the returned overseas Chinese or the relatives of overseas Chinese concerned.

Article 11. When returned overseas Chinese students, children of returned overseas Chinese or children of overseas Chinese residing in China intend to enter a higher school or to find employment, due allowance shall be made therefore in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the State.

Article 12. The State shall protect the overseas remittances received by returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese.
Article 13. Returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese shall have the right to inherit or to accept legacies, bequeathments or gifts from their relatives or friends residing outside the country.

Returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese shall have the right to dispose of their properties outside the country.

Article 14. The contacts and correspondence of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese with their relatives and friends outside the country shall be protected by law.

Article 15. In case that returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese apply for the permission to leave the country, the competent authorities concerned shall examine and approve the application within a prescribed time limit.

If returned overseas Chinese or relatives of overseas Chinese have actual urgent needs to leave the country owing to such special circumstances as critical illness or death of their lineal relatives or disposal of their properties outside the country within a prescribed time limit, the competent authorities concerned shall examine and approve the applications in goods time in accordance with the valid certification provided by the applicants.

Article 16. The State shall protect the right of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese to leave the country for a visit to their relatives abroad.

The returned overseas Chinese and the relatives of overseas Chinese who are functionaries or workers in government organs or in State-run enterprises or institutions shall, according to the pertinent provisions of the State, enjoy the treatment of going abroad for a visit to their relatives outside the country.

Article 17. Returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese shall have the right to leave the country and settle down abroad.

In case that returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese, who served as functionaries or workers and have retired (either as veteran cadres or as ordinary functionaries and or resigned from office, leave the country and settle down abroad, they shall continue to receive their retirement payment or resignation payment.

Article 18. In case that returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese apply for studying abroad as self-paid students, due allowance shall be made therefor in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the State.

Article 19. With respect to the legitimate rights and interests, in foreign countries, of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese, the Chinese government shall offer them protection in accordance with the international treaties to which the People's Republic of China is a contracting or acceding party or in accordance with international practice.

Article 20. In cases where the legitimate rights and interests of returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese have been encroached upon, they shall have the right to appeal to the competent authorities concerned for handling the cases according to law, or to bring a suit before a people's court.

Article 21. The measures for implementation shall be formulated by the State Council in accordance with this Law.

The standing committees of the people's congresses of various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall formulate their specific measures for implementation in accordance with this Law and the measures for implementation formulated by the State Council.

Article 22. This Law shall enter into effect on January 1, 1991.