Personal Insolvency Law: Global Perspectives and China's Transformation

In an era marked by economic uncertainty and rising living costs, the need for compassionate and effective personal insolvency systems has never been more urgent. This edited volume offers a timely and incisive exploration of the complexities of personal insolvency regimes.Drawing on insights from the UK, the US, Europe, Japan, and China, the book examines how diverse legal systems negotiate the tensions between debt relief and moral hazard, creditor protection and social equity, and market efficiency and human dignity. It compares the effectiveness of neoliberal models, middle-ground approaches, and state-led systems, offering assessments of their respective strengths and limitations.The analysis moves beyond theory, grounding its arguments in real-world examples while advancing the case for a robust, stand-alone personal insolvency framework in China. By synthesising global experience with local experimentation, the volume demonstrates how such a framework could strengthen economic resilience, uphold human dignity, and bring China’s system into closer alignment with international standards.Ideal for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners alike, this book bridges academic rigour and practical relevance, inviting readers to reconsider insolvency not merely as a mechanism of last resort but as an instrument of financial rehabilitation and social inclusion.

About the Author

Guan H. Tang is Reader in Commercial Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, where she specialises in comparative commercial law, artificial intelligence governance, law and public interest.

Jing Liu is Associate Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University School of Law, China, and was the director of the university’s Personal Insolvency Center.

Yimin Ren is Managing Partner of Capital Equity Legal Group, President of the Zhejiang Bankruptcy Administrators Association, and Executive Vice-President of the Zhejiang Bankruptcy Law Research Association, China.