China is one of the earliest countries to join the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods ("CISG"). In the year of 1980, China, as one of the countries participating in the foreign affairs conference in Vienna, signed officially on the contracting document of CISG. On 11 December 1986, the representative on behalf of China submitted to the Secretary-general of the United Nation the approval letter and make two reservations towards the provisions under CISG. (1) Regarding the reservation towards the applicable scope of CISG, China agrees that CISG shall be limitedly applied to a contract of sale entered into by and between the parties whose business premises are located in the contracting countries of CISG, without agreement to expanding the applicable scope of CISG in accordance with the conflict rules. (2) Regarding the reservation towards the form of a contract, Article 11 of CISG states that, a contract of sale is neither necessarily concluded in a manner of written form nor by written proof, or restricted by any other limitation in its form. According to Article 7 of the PRC, Law on Economic Contracts involving Foreign Interest , a contract shall be formed in written form. In consideration of the specialty of contracts of sale and the traditional commercial practice in China, in particular, the connection between CISG's provisions and domestic legislation, China then, proposed reservation to Article 11 of CISG. However, according to Article 10 of the PRC, Contract Law , which was effective as of 1 October 1999, the parties may conclude their contract in writing, orally or in any other form, unless stipulated by a law or an administrative regulation or otherwise agreed by the parties.

In the 1990s, China commenced its opening up to the outside would and its foreign trade volume increased greatly, meanwhile, a large number of disputes arose from foreign trade. Before China signed CISG, it has promulgated the General Principles of the Civil Law, the Law on Economic Contracts involving Foreign Interest, the Economic Contract Law and etc., which regulated foreign trade and preliminarily constituted China's contract law system. However, such system was far from perfect because it didn't cover many issues in international trade of goods. CISG made up for the vacancy in China's contract law system and had great significance in perfecting the contract law system

Besides, CISG has been playing a positive role in promoting China's foreign trade and help Chinese economy to achieve dramatic development. After China signed CISG, the Chinese courts and arbitration institutions had more specific stipulations to apply when treating the disputes arising from international trade of goods. Also, Chinese foreign trade operators had a set of stipulations that were universally accepted to follow when they concluding contracts with foreign clients. On the other side, foreign traders' confidence on Chinese legal system were enhanced so they were more willing to making deal with China. Furthermore, since the contents of CISG were basically similar to China's legal practice and principles, it was smoothly accepted without much difficulty.