Abstract: Modern China, with civil law adopted in large quantities, became a civil law country. An important reason for this is that China was not a British colony. If China were a British colony, a large number of British laws would have been transplanted and thus China would have become a common law country. This reason has long been overlooked. Therefore, it is necessary to study the large scale of legal transplants from civil law countries as a reason for the transformation of modern China into a civil law country. Despite the invasion of Britain and the United States in modern China and the imposition of unequal treaties, China in large, except Hong Kong, the leased territory of Weihaiwei and some concessions, did not become a British colony so that it avoided the enforced transplantation of British laws. Some other issues worthy of attention: the adoption of civil law system in modern China was non-mandatory; with comparison to civil law, the greater complexity of common law was an important reason for its imposition; both civil law and common law are vigorous after transplant.

Key words: modern history of China, the modernization of law, common law system, civil law system, British colony