If you have searched “CNLawBlog” recently, you have probably noticed something strange: dozens of websites, all publishing near-identical articles that call themselves the “official” source, the “trusted platform,” or the “leading voice” in Chinese law. Almost none of them say who actually runs the site, when it started, or what it has actually published.
That confusion is exactly why this guide exists. Below, we separate verified fact from SEO filler, explain what CNLawBlog actually is, and show you how to tell the real resource apart from the copycats.
What CNLawBlog Actually Refers To
“CNLawBlog” is the informal, search-friendly name people use for the China Law Blog, a long-running legal blog published by the international law firm Harris Sliwoski LLP (formerly known as Harris & Moure, then Harris Bricken). It was founded by attorney Dan Harris and has been continuously published since 2006.
The blog covers the practical side of doing business in or with China: contracts, joint ventures, manufacturing risk, intellectual property protection, employment law, trade compliance, and cross-border dispute resolution. It is not written for legal theorists — it is written for business owners, investors, and executives who need to understand what actually happens when Chinese law meets a real commercial deal.
Why the Blog Is Considered Credible
Unlike most sites currently ranking for this keyword, China Law Blog has a verifiable track record:
- It has been named to the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 Hall of Fame, a recognition given to a small number of law blogs considered the best of the last decade of legal blogging.
- Dan Harris has been interviewed by outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the New York Times, and the BBC on China-related legal and business issues.
- He has testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional body, on China’s legal and regulatory environment.
- The firm behind it, Harris Sliwoski, has offices across the U.S. as well as in Beijing, and its attorneys practice this area of law daily — the blog isn’t a side project, it’s a byproduct of active legal practice.
That combination — a named author, an identifiable law firm, two decades of archived posts, and third-party recognition — is what separates a genuine legal resource from a content-farm imitation.
Why So Many “CNLawBlog” Articles Look the Same
If you search this term, you will find a wave of near-duplicate articles from unrelated domains, many published within the past few months. They tend to share a pattern:
- Vague, unverifiable claims like “top rated” or “trusted source” with no supporting evidence
- No named author, law firm, or credentials
- Generic descriptions that could apply to any legal blog
- No links to specific published articles or case discussions
- Publication dates clustered together, suggesting coordinated SEO content production
This is a known pattern in SEO content production: because “CNLawBlog” gets a meaningful volume of search traffic, low-effort sites publish filler articles simply to rank for the term, not to inform readers. Some of these sites go a step further and present themselves as if they are CNLawBlog, which creates real risk for readers who might rely on their “legal information” for actual business decisions.
How to Spot an Imitator
A few quick checks separate the genuine resource from a copy:
- Look for a named, credentialed author. The real blog is tied to licensed attorneys at a real law firm, not an anonymous “editorial team.”
- Check the domain. The authentic blog is published at harris-sliwoski.com, under the China Law Blog section — not on a generic blogspot, WordPress.com, or unrelated review site.
- Look for depth, not summary. Genuine posts dig into specific legal mechanics — a particular contract clause, a specific regulation, a real case outcome. Imitators tend to stay abstract because they have no actual legal practice behind them.
- Check the publishing history. A blog running since 2006 has thousands of archived, dated posts. A site with a handful of generic “about CNLawBlog” articles and nothing else is not that.
What Topics the Real China Law Blog Actually Covers
For readers who want to know what kind of legal issues this resource addresses, the coverage generally falls into a few recurring categories:
Doing Business in China
This includes setting up Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises (WFOEs), joint ventures, and representative offices, along with the practical risks foreign companies run into when structuring a China entity.
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Risk
A significant portion of the content addresses contract manufacturing in China — how to draft manufacturing agreements, what happens when a factory breaches a contract, and how to protect product designs and molds.
Intellectual Property Protection
Trademark and patent registration in China works differently than in the U.S. (China is a first-to-file jurisdiction), and this is one of the most frequently revisited topics on the blog, since IP mistakes are common and costly for foreign businesses.
Employment and Labor Law
China’s labor laws are heavily favor employees relative to U.S. norms, and posts on this topic typically cover termination risk, mandatory contracts, and compliance obligations for foreign employers with Chinese staff.
U.S.-China Trade and Regulatory Developments
Given the current environment of tariffs, export controls, and sanctions, the blog regularly tracks how shifting U.S.-China policy affects companies with cross-border operations.
What CNLawBlog Is Not
To avoid the same vague, unverified claims that fill most other articles on this topic, it’s worth being direct about the limits of what this resource is:
- It is not a law firm’s client portal. Reading the blog does not create an attorney-client relationship.
- It does not provide personalized legal advice. Articles explain general principles and past experience — they are not a substitute for consulting a licensed attorney about your specific situation.
- It is not a government or regulatory source. For the text of actual Chinese laws and regulations, official government publications remain the authoritative source; the blog’s value is in interpretation and practical context, not primary legal text.
Why the Confusion Matters for Readers
This isn’t just a naming curiosity. Businesses researching China-related legal risk sometimes make real decisions — where to incorporate, how to structure a manufacturing contract, whether to pursue IP registration — based on what they read online. If that research leads to a low-effort imitation site with no legal credentials behind it, the “advice” absorbed may be generic, outdated, or simply wrong for the reader’s specific jurisdictional situation.
The safest approach is the same one that applies to any legal or financial research: verify who is actually writing the content, check whether they have relevant credentials, and treat any single blog post — real or otherwise — as a starting point for understanding a topic, not a final answer for a specific legal decision.
Bottom Line
CNLawBlog, properly understood, refers to the China Law Blog published by Harris Sliwoski LLP since 2006 — a credentialed, ABA-recognized resource on Chinese business law written by practicing attorneys. The wave of generic, interchangeable “CNLawBlog” articles currently crowding search results are, for the most part, SEO-driven content with no connection to the original resource. When researching this topic, prioritize sources with named authors, verifiable credentials, and a real publishing history over sites that simply repeat the keyword.
