Contexts
Legal
Translation Equivalents
- Court
- Trial Court
Analysis
A court refers to any level of court in the judiciary, whereas the trial court is a court that hears the trial. This concept is well-known to American law, but the semantics differ in that Chinese relies on context to distinguish courts generally from trial courts.
Correct use of this term in legal documents is essential in order to be unambiguous about the jurisdiction. See our Article on the Chinese law concept for more details.
History & Culture
Translation Equivalents
- People’s Court
Analysis
Like the oil drilling regulator named Texas Railroad Commission, many government agencies in China also have historical symbolic nomenclatures that differ from their contemporary social function. While these institutions may have been governed by popular revolution at their outset, they operate like typical appointed government bureaucracies today. When translating books on history or political culture, the word “People’s” when added before court or government has significant meaning that is different from legal Chinese. In particular, in those contexts, the meaning of “People’s” has a substantively different meaning, referring to an ongoing popular revolution that is operating a social institution.