Over more then 40 years, China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) has established itself as an independent and impartial organization, which has been widely recognized by the disputants in China and aboard.

The role of CMAC has been very important and significant in developing the confidence of disputants in China's dispute resolution system. There is no doubt that such confidence, in turn, has greatly contributed towards the economic development of China, as well as promotion of the uniform of international maritime laws.

Right from its inception CMAC has always used the principle of taking facts as the basis and law as the criterion, taking international practice as reference, knowing the terms in the contracts, in resolving maritime disputes. The large number of awards so rendered has been enforced inside and outside China smoothly.

As in the past most of the awards of CMAC were only available in Chinese, the non Chinese-speaking lawyers, students, and maritime experts have few opportunity to understand or to know how CMAC performs. To meet the need of the international community, this English series is published for the benefit of the readers from other parts of the world. It is hoped that readers will learn the philosophy, idea and rationale behind the practices of CMAC and be able to form a fuller understanding of the system.