山东

Jinan Legal Translation: Don’t Let Bad Paperwork Kill Your Shandong Deal You’re a US founder. You’ve got a term sheet from a partner in Jinan, Shandong. Maybe it’s a manufacturing agreement, a joint venture, or a tech licensing deal. The PDFs land in your inbox — Chinese characters, official seals, clauses that look fine to Google Translate. Then your US counsel looks at it. They frown. “This indemnification clause… it doesn’t say what you think it says.” Or worse: “This contract isn’t even signed by the legal representative. The chop is a department seal.” ...

Why Dongying Employee Exits Can Trip Up US Founders Running a business in Dongying, Shandong means navigating a labor landscape that looks familiar on paper but operates differently in practice. For entrepreneurs from the United States, the concept of “at-will employment” simply does not exist here. In China, the Labor Contract Law (劳动合同法) and its implementing regulations set a high bar for terminating employment relationships. A separation agreement (解除劳动合同协议书) isn’t just a formality—it is the primary legal shield against future arbitration claims. ...

When Your Qingdao Shipment Triggers an Anti-Dumping Investigation Last month, a client in Ohio called me in a panic. Their Qingdao supplier had just been hit with a preliminary anti-dumping duty of 112% by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). The product? Stainless steel fasteners. The US company had zero presence in China, no Chinese legal entity, and absolutely no idea how to respond within the 30-day deadline MOFCOM gives foreign exporters. ...