China is getting closer to the long-expected civil code as the draft will be submitted to next week's annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) for final deliberation.

Containing 1,260 articles, the draft is the most extensive legislation in China, as well as the only legislation with the officially called a "code."

A civil code is an "encyclopedia of the people's lives." It is the most important law covering the private sphere and deemed to be the "civil constitution" of modern society.  

China's draft civil code consists of seven books, including general provisions and sections on the property, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance, and torts. 

"Incorporating personality rights provisions into an independent section is a major innovation," Shi Jiayou, a professor from Renmin University of China and executive director of the National Research Center of Civil and Commercial Law, told CGTN.

"Actually in Europe, for the personality rights, they are regulating only by case law, just by fragmentation of regulations. In their civil code, there are no personality rights or very few provisions on personality rights. But for our Chinese code, the most important innovation is that we just add a new book in the code, it's not only a chapter. It's a book that contains several chapters."

The personality rights section covers stipulations on a person's rights to their life, body, health, name, image, reputation and privacy. It provides for regulating studies related to human genes, banning illegal entries, spying on and filming in others' private spaces, and a number of additional hot topics of public interest.

Shi believed that China's draft civil code would contribute Chinese wisdom to the global legal system.

"How to protect our privacy in the information society is a challenge not only for the Chinese people, it's a challenge for the whole world. By this law, the Chinese legislators try to bring the Chinese draft and Chinese program on how to cope with this universal challenge. It's not only important for Chinese people but also important for the whole world," Shi added as he has spent decades researching the codification of the civil code.

Only a great era can breed a great civil code. The legislators have given the personality rights section more prominence, as it demonstrates China's "people-oriented approach" in making laws.

China's draft civil code has reflected the development trend of the current times and is adapting to people's new demands for the rule of law.