How the Chinese detention clock works: day 3, day 7, day 30, day 37, what happens at each deadline, and what a defense lawyer can still do inside the window.
Chinese criminal detention runs on a fixed clock, and most of what decides a case happens inside it. Police may hold a suspect for up to three days before they must seek approval for formal arrest; in three categories of case that extends to thirty days. The procuratorate then has up to seven days to approve or refuse arrest. Three plus four, or thirty plus seven — the outside limit is thirty-seven days, and after it the case has usually taken a shape that is very hard to change. The guides below cover the whole window: what each deadline actually means, how long a foreign-related case runs from investigation to trial, what to do in the first twenty-four hours after the phone call, and what a lawyer does inside the window day by day. If you only read one page, read the pillar guide first.
The legal clock explained, day-by-day actions for families, what a lawyer does inside the window, and the five mistakes that cost families the most.
Read the Guide →Investigation, prosecution review and trial — realistic timelines at each stage, and where cases most often resolve early.
Read the Guide →Verify, don't panic, don't wire money to strangers — a calm checklist for the worst phone call a family can receive.
Read the Guide →Four numbers govern a Chinese detention — and the two sevens that families constantly confuse decide how much time is really left.
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