WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF MODERN CHINA The SPP also publishes non-binding interpretations of the law that guide procurators nationwide,while the Supreme People's Court(SPC) publishes binding interpretations and the Public Security Bureau(PSB) publishes advisory interpretations.These interpretations are important because Chinese legislation,particularly criminal legislation,is often vague.Determining what constitutes a criminal and capital offense can turn on interpretations of phrases such as"serious,""large amount,"or special circumstances."6 Second,China's legal system is a civil law system,as opposed to a common law system,with only statutory law,not case law.Judges decisions are usually not accompanied by written legal opinions explaining their reasoning.Moreover,judicial decisions do not have any legally binding precedential effect on other cases.Thus,the interpretations by the SPP,the SPC,and the PSB are important guides for practicing procurators,lawyers,and judges. For example,on April 28,2000,the Supreme People's Court issued an interpretation of the term "serious"in the context of the offense of activities that "seriously disturb administrative order of the telecom market."The SPC defined "serious"as telecom business totaling one million RMB,or US $120,773 and defined "extremely serious"as being in excess of 5 million RMB or US $603,865. 4WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF MODERN CHINA 4 The SPP also publishes non-binding interpretations of the law that guide procurators nationwide, while the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) publishes binding interpretations and the Public Security Bureau (PSB) publishes advisory interpretations. These interpretations are important because Chinese legislation, particularly criminal legislation, is often vague. Determining what constitutes a criminal and capital offense can turn on interpretations of phrases such as “serious,” “large amount,” or “special circumstances.”6 Second, China’s legal system is a civil law system, as opposed to a common law system, with only statutory law, not case law. Judges' decisions are usually not accompanied by written legal opinions explaining their reasoning. Moreover, judicial decisions do not have any legally binding precedential effect on other cases. Thus, the interpretations by the SPP, the SPC, and the PSB are important guides for practicing procurators, lawyers, and judges. 6For example, on April 28, 2000, the Supreme People's Court issued an interpretation of the term "serious" in the context of the offense of activities that "seriously disturb administrative order of the telecom market." The SPC defined "serious" as telecom business totaling one million RMB, or US $120,773 and defined "extremely serious" as being in excess of 5 million RMB or US $603,865