This article gives some insights into the practices for enforcing commercial arbitral awards in China’s two anonymized economically less-developed regions. By virtue of the empirical and qualitative data contributed by empirical research, this article depicts this theme from three aspects, namely, the general sociocultural environment for enforcement; practitioners’ perceptions; and the enforcement status of arbitral awards, highlighting the gaps between legislative perceptions and real-life practices. This article concludes that China’s current sociocultural environment is suitable for accommodating the rapid growth of commercial arbitration, which indicates that the collision between modern arbitration practice and the sociocultural environment is unlikely to constitute a cause of difficulty in the China-seated enforcement of arbitral awards. This article also notes an innate scepticism towards the country’s arbitration practice among Chinese practitioners, which could affect their perceptions towards the development prospect of commercial arbitration and the enforceability of arbitral awards, despite the pro-arbitration attitude shared by Chinese judicial organs. Meanwhile, the article observes preliminary evidence showing the impact of Chinese culture on the country’s enforcement practices. Finally, the article statistically portrays the enforcement status of arbitral awards in the concerned regions, showing the regionally differentiated enforcement rates, competence of Chinese courts and other issues involved.
Journal of International Arbitration