Shareholder remedies in China – developments towards a more effective, more accessible and fairer derivative action mechanism

The introduction and enforcement of derivative actions are important aspects of the continuing debate surrounding corporate law and governance in many jurisdictions worldwide, including China. In order to ascertain the trends of law in practice, this article offers a comprehensive case study by looking through all 380 reported cases of derivative action in China from 2006 to 2019, and addresses the question of whether the mechanism has been consistently and authoritatively used by shareholders. The article tries to identify problems in the application of the mechanism in China by focusing on complications surrounding consistency and accuracy in terms of judgements of derivative actions in different courts, litigated by different kinds of shareholders in China.