Article 2. Works of Chinese citizens, legal entities or entities without legal personality, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.
Works of foreigners first published in the territory of the People's Republic of China shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.
Any work of a foreigner published outside the territory of the People's Republic of China which is eligible to enjoy copyright under an agreement concluded between the country to which the foreigner belongs and China, or under an international treaty to which both countries are party, shall be protected in accordance with this Law.

Article 3. For the purposes of this Law, the term ""works" includes works of literature, art, natural science, social science, engineering technology and the like which are expressed in the following forms:
(1) written works;
(2) oral works;
(3) musical, dramatic, quyi* and choreographic works;
* Quyi refers to such traditional art forms as ballad singing, story telling, comic dialogues, clapper talks and cross talks (translator's note).
(4) works of fine art and photographic works;
(5) cinematographic, television and videographic works;
(6) drawings of engineering designs and product designs, and descriptions thereof;
(7) maps, sketches and other graphic works;
(8) computer software;
(9) other works as provided for in laws and administrative regulations.

Article 4. Works the publication or distribution of which is prohibited by law shall not be protected by this Law.
Copyright owners, in exercising their copyright, shall not violate the Constitution or laws or prejudice the public interest.

Article 5. This Law shall not be applicable to:
(1) laws; regulations; resolutions, decisions and orders of state organs; other documents of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations;
(2) news on current affairs; and
(3) calendars, numerical tables, forms of general use and formulas.

Article 6. Regulations for the protection of copyright in expressions of folklore shall be established separately by the State Council.

Article 7. Where any scientific or technological work is protected under the Patent Law, the Law on Technology Contracts or similar laws, the provisions of those laws shall apply.

Article 8. The copyright administration department under the State Council shall be responsible for the nationwide administration of copyright. The copyright administration department of the People's Government of each province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for the administration of copyright in its administrative area.

Article 10. The term "copyright" shall include the following personality rights and property rights:
(1) the right of publication, that is, the right to decide whether to make a work available to the public;
(2) the right of authorship, that is, the right to claim authorship and to have the author's name mentioned in connection with the work;
(3) the right of alteration, that is, the right to alter or authorize others to alter one's work;
(4) the right of integrity, that is, the right to protect one's work against distortion and mutilation;
(5) the right of exploitation and the right to remuneration, that is, the right of exploiting one's work by reproduction, live performance, broadcasting, exhibition, distribution, making cinematographic, television or video production, adaptation, translation, annotation, compilation and the like, and the right of authorizing others to exploit one's work by the above-mentioned means and of receiving remuneration therefor.

Article 12. Where a work is created by adaptation, translation, annotation or arrangement of a preexisting work, the copyright in the work thus created shall be enjoyed by the adapter, translator, annotator or arranger, provided that the exercise of such copyright shall not prejudice the copyright in the original work.
Article 13. Where a work is created jointly by two or more coauthors, the copyright in the work shall be enjoyed jointly by those coauthors.
Coauthorship may not be claimed by anyone who has not participated in the creation of the work .
If a work of joint authorship can be separated into independent parts and exploited separately, each coauthor shall be entitled to independent copyright in the parts that he has created, provided that the exercise of such copyright shall not prejudice the copyright in the joint work as a whole.

Article 14. The copyright in a work created by compilation shall be enjoyed by the compiler, provided that the exercise of such copyright shall not prejudice the copyright in the preexisting works included in the compilation.
The authors of such works included in a compilation as can be exploited separately shall be entitled to exercise their copyright in their works independently.

Article 15. The director, scriptwriter, lyricist, composer, cameraman and other authors of a cinematographic, television or videographic work shall enjoy the right of authorship in the work, while the other rights included in the copyright shall be enjoyed by the producer of the work.
The authors of the screenplay, musical works and other works that are included in a cinematographic, television or videographic work and can be exploited separately shall be entitled to exercise their copyright independently.

Article 16. A work created by a citizen in the fulfillment of tasks assigned to him by a legal entity or entity without legal personality shall be deemed to be a work created in the course of employment. The copyright in such work shall be enjoyed by the author, subject to the provisions of the second paragraph of this Article, provided that the legal entity or entity without legal personality shall have a priority right to exploit the work within the scope of its professional activities. During the two years after the completion of the work, the author shall not, without the consent of the legal entity or entity without legal personality, authorize a third party to exploit the work in the same way as the legal entity or entity without legal personality does.
In the following cases the author of a work created in the course of employment shall enjoy the right of authorship, while the legal entity or entity without legal personality shall enjoy the other rights included in the copyright and may reward the author:
(1) drawings of engineering designs and product designs and descriptions thereof, computer software, maps and other works created in the course of employment mainly with the material and technical resources of the legal entity or entity without legal personality and under its responsibility;
(2) works created in the course of employment where the copyright is, in accordance with laws, administrative regulations or contracts, enjoyed by the legal entity or entity without legal personality.

Article 17. The ownership of the copyright in a commissioned work shall be agreed upon in a contract between the commissioning and the commissioned parties. In the absence of a contract or of an explicit agreement in the contract, the copyright in such a work shall belong to the commissioned party.

Article 18. The transfer of ownership of the original copy of a work of fine art, or other works, shall not be deemed to include the transfer of the copyright in such work, provided that the right to exhibit the original copy of a work of fine art shall be enjoyed by the owner of such original copy.

Article 19. Where the copyright in a work belongs to a citizen, the right of exploitation and the right to remuneration in respect of the work shall, after his death, during the term of protection provided for in this Law, be transferred in accordance with the provisions of the Inheritance Law.
Where the copyright in a work belongs to a legal entity or entity without legal personality, the right of exploitation and the right to remuneration shall, after the change or the termination of the status of the legal entity or entity without legal personality, during the term of protection provided for in this Law, be enjoyed by the succeeding legal entity or entity without legal personality which has taken over the former's rights and obligations, or, in the absence of such successor entity, by the State.