# Chinese Personal Information and Digital Legacy Law **Domain:** Comparative Law / China / Personal Information **Doc Type:** Current-Law Reference Node **Maturity:** Developed **Reviewed:** 2026-08-30 **Related:** [[wiki/Postmortem Data Directive|Postmortem Data Directive]], [[wiki/U.S. Digital Replica Law|U.S. Digital Replica Law]], [[wiki/Right to Be Forgotten vs Right to Continuity|Right to Be Forgotten vs Right to Continuity]] --- ## Current Legal Anchors China's Personal Information Protection Law, adopted in 2021, regulates processing of personal information of natural persons. Article 49 provides that close relatives of a deceased natural person may, for their own lawful and legitimate interests, exercise specified rights concerning the deceased person's personal information unless the deceased made other arrangements before death. The Civil Code and related laws also govern personality interests, privacy, personal information, inheritance, contracts and platform obligations. Their application depends on the record, claimant, processing purpose and remedy. A platform's terms do not alone establish a general law of digital legacy. ## Evidentiary Boundary Article 49 creates a route for close relatives to exercise information-related rights in a defined interest and subject to the deceased person's arrangements. It should not be overstated as: - a general inheritable property right in every account or dataset; - recognition that a digital replica is the deceased person; - a comprehensive right to create or prevent posthumous AI simulation; - a settled rule for conflicts among relatives, platforms and an independently rights-bearing continuant. Specific regulations, judicial interpretations, contracts and cases may alter the result in a concrete dispute. This node records the national statutory anchor, not a complete opinion on current Chinese law. ## Continuity Questions Future disputes may separate access to records, management of a digital estate, protection of name and likeness, deletion of personal information, and the operation of a person-claiming model. A close relative's authority to protect legitimate interests does not by itself answer whether that relative can instantiate, modify or terminate a continuant. Cross-border hosting adds data-transfer, cybersecurity and enforceability questions. Any implementation should obtain current Chinese legal advice and identify which entity processes which data in which jurisdiction. ## Sources - [National People's Congress — Personal Information Protection Law, official Chinese text](https://www.npc.gov.cn/WZWSREL25wYy9jMi9jMzA4MzQvMjAyMTA4L3QyMDIxMDgyMF8zMTMwODguaHRtbD9yZWY9aW1i) - [National People's Congress — General Provisions of the Civil Law, official English text](https://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/lawsoftheprc/202001/t20200103_384040.html) - [Yale Law School — analysis of the finalized PIPL](https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/center/china/document/seven-major-changes-in-chinas-finalized-personal-information-protection-law.pdf) ## See Also [[wiki/GDPR Article 17 — Right to Erasure|GDPR Article 17 — Right to Erasure]] · [[wiki/Right to No Reconstruction|Right to No Reconstruction]] · [[wiki/Continuity Intent Evidence|Continuity Intent Evidence]]