Under the guidance of the policy of promoting socialist democracy and building a sound socialist legal system formulated at the Third Plenary Sessionof the Eleventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee have, since 1979, enactedmany important laws. These laws have been compiled and published in succes-sion by the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of theNational People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. In order to acquaint readers abroad with China's laws and with what Chinahas achieved in building a new legal system, the collections in Chinese entitledthe Laws of the People's Republic of China, covering the period of 1979 -2010, have been translated into English and published in 22 volumes at the Foreign Languages Press, the Science Press, and the Law Press respective-ly. We are now publishing, as Volume 20, the English edition of The Laws ofthe People's Republic of China （2011） at the Law Press. The publication notein the Chinese edition is not included.
