Article 188 of the General Principles of the Civil Law stipulates that the limitation period of action for requesting the people's court to protect civil rights is three years. If the law provides otherwise, such provisions shall prevail.
 The limitation period of action shall be counted from the date when the obligee knows or should know that his rights have been damaged and the obligor. If the law provides otherwise, such provisions shall prevail. However, if it has been more than 20 years since the date of damage to the rights, the people's court will not protect them. If there are special circumstances, the people's court may decide to extend them on the basis of the application of the obligee.
 The limitation period of action shall be counted from the time when the right is known or ought to be known to be infringed. However, the people's court shall not protect rights that have been violated for more than 20 years. Under special circumstances, the people's court may extend the limitation period.
 If the parties voluntarily perform beyond the limitation period, they shall not be subject to the limitation period.
 During the last six months of the limitation period, if the right of claim cannot be exercised due to force majeure or other obstacles, the limitation period shall be suspended. The limitation period shall continue to count from the date on which the reason for suspending the limitation period is eliminated.
 The limitation of action is interrupted when a lawsuit is brought or one of the parties requests or agrees to perform its obligations. From the time of interruption, the limitation period shall be recalculated.