Ren Jianxin:The Founder and Pioneer of the Average Adjustment Career in China

Before 1966， there was no specialized average adjustment organization in China， nor was there any general average adjuster. As a result， all general average cases relating to Chinese ships， including those chartered from abroad were dealt with by foreign average adjusters.

The Department of Average Adjustment was established on April 23， 1966， which was entitled by the relevant superior authority to accept and deal with average adjustment cases. Mr. Gao Sunlai and I were assigned to work in the Department.

After several years’ painstaking work， some Chinese shipping companies no longer sent their general average cases abroad， but began to entrust the Department of Average Adjustment of CCPIT to carry out adjustment， thus bridging the gap in this area and delighted us heart and soul.

However， we encountered many unimaginable difficulties in our average adjustment profession. Firstly， adjusters were in a serious shortage and their professional knowledge needed upgrading. Secondly， the principles to follow for doing average adjustment cases were unclear and non-specific， and new adjustment rules and laws had not been formulated. At that time the leaders of the organizations concerned did not agree to adjust general average cases while keeping an eye on the relevant provisions of the York-Antwerp Rules for reference， yet， China did not have its own rules and laws to be used as the basis for average adjustment.

Under such circumstances， it was difficult to carry out the average adjustment work， resulting in serious backlog of cases and failure in prompt adjustment. At this difficult moment， when acting as the director of the Legal Affairs Department of CCPIT， in 1971， Mr. Ren Jianxin immediately took various major measures and made great efforts to address existing issues in the field of average adjustment.

Staff the team and train average adjusters

Mr. Ren Jianxin transferred a number of staff members of CCPIT from the “May 7th Cadres School” including Messrs. (On May 7，1966， Mao Zedong issued an instruction， purporting to send the office staff members to the countryside， known as “May 7th Cadres School” for manual labor.) Gao Sunlai， Tang Houzhi， Shao Xunyi， Xu Lvgang， Rong Jiexin， Li Dongfa， Xu Shizhang and Yan Cunhou， etc. Mr. Gao was appointed to be responsible for daily leadership of the Department of Average Adjustment. In addition， Mr. Ren Jianxin hired a number of experts， including Mr. Wang Enshao and Mr. Zhou Taizuo from PICC and Chief Captain Feng Fazu from the Ministry of Communications as consultants， and gave them a free hand. In this way， the staff members in the Department of Average Adjustment went up to 18 at its peak， thus forming a strong and sizable work force.

After staffing， the next step was to train the average adjusters. Among the staff members of the Department of Average Adjustment， some were fa- miliar with shipping and international trade; some were engaged in marine insurance for a long time and some others had basic knowledge related to average adjustment and maritime law. Mr. Ren Jianxin encouraged them to learn from each other， to gain further access to foreign writings and information related to average adjustment， to study the YorkAntwerp Rules， 1950 and refer to many statements of general average drawn by foreign average adjusters. In addition， he adhered to the idea of opening-up and invited a number of well-known foreign average adjusters， including Mr. William Richards and Mr. Hudson from the U.K. and Mr. Pinos from Sweden， to visit China.

Besides， he actively participated in international activities related to average adjustment. In 1973， Mr. Ren Jianxin personally led a delegation， as observer， to attend the Seventh Conference of the International Association of European Average Adjusters held in Madrid， Spain， to keep abreast of the international situation and development of average adjustment in the world. Meanwhile， he instructed the Department to send letters to the average adjusters in many countries， in order to gain knowledge about the practices relating to average adjustment in those countries. Such study， training and investigation went on for quite a few years， greatly enhancing the business standard of adjusters and accelerating the speed of adjustment.

Specify the adjustment principles and formulate the Beijing Adjustment Rules

Mr. Ren Jianxin was well aware of the significance of specifying the adjustment principles in order to do a good job of average adjustment. After taking office， he not only listened to the oral reports by the leaders at all levels within the Legal Affairs Department of CCPIT， but also chatted with the persons assuming specific duties， thereby he acquainted himself with the history of development， the current situation and internationality of general average within a short time. Besides， he knew that the York-Antwerp Rules were widely accepted and used in the world. After careful and thorough consideration， at the Seventh Conference of International Association of European Average Adjusters on October 8， 1973， he proposed to take “adhering to the spirit of independence and self-reliance， equality and mutual benefit while referring to the international practice at the same time”as the principles for actively embarking on and handling average adjustment cases. In the following year， he further clarified that the provisions of the YorkAntwerp Rules can be referred to in doing specific adjustment.

General average adjustment rules are the basis for adjustment. After several years of practice， Mr. Ren Jianxin led us to sum up experiences gained in handling cases and formulate the Provisional Rules for General Average Adjustment of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade(or “Beijing Adjustment Rules” in short) with reference to the York-Antwerp Rules， 1950 and 1974. This was officially announced on January 1， 1975， under the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Trade， the Ministry of Foreign Affairs， the Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Ren Jianxin personally presided over the drafting of the Beijing Adjustment Rules and Mr. Wang Enshao did the actual writing， with the participation of the entire staff of the Department of Average Adjustment. Three years later， the draft was finalized after six times of revisions being made on the basis of the comments and suggestions from more than 100 relevant organizations throughout China.

Promote the formulation of the Maritime Law of China and incorporate the relevant provisions of the Beijing Adjustment Rules therein

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China， the Ministry of Communications invited the institutions concerned to draft the Maritime Law of China. From 1952 to 1963， the draft of the law was revised 9 times. Unfortunately， the work was interrupted by the “Proletarian Cultural Revolution”. In 1974， Mr. Ren Jianxin led a delegation to attend the 30th Conference of the Committee Maritime International (CMI) in Hamburg and had a first knowledge of the situation relating to the formulation of maritime laws and regulations in the world. After returning home， he proposed to speed up the formulation of the Chinese maritime law to the institutions concerned， promoting the process of formulation of the Maritime Law of the People’s Republic of China. In 1982， led by the Ministry of Communications， the drafting of the law was restored. Mr. Ren Jianxin dispatched the representatives of the CCPIT and the Department of Average Adjustment ， Messrs. Gao Sunlai， Shao Xunyi， Ye Weiying， Xu Lvgang and some others， to participate in the whole process of the formulation of the law， except proposing that the Maritime Law should provide that the carrier shall not be responsible for loss or damage arising or resulting from neglect or default of his servants in the management of the ship and the liability of the carrier for delay in delivery shall not exceed the total freight payable.

As noted above， in the hard times when Chinese average adjustment business was at its start-up phase and in destitution， Mr. Ren Jianxin summoned the talented persons， made good use of the cadres’ wisdom and specified principles， guidelines and policies for doing average adjustment. He also took a lead in the formulation of the Beijing Adjustment Rules and participated in the drafting of the Maritime Law to form a basis for doing average adjustment. As a result， many problems trammeling our work for a long time were addressed and the initiatives of the whole staff were brought into full play. The Department has prepared and issued a number of general average statements and our work grown from being negligible to plentiful and from being small to a large one. Furthermore， as he laid a solid foundation for us， our work has continuously developed and we have achieved great and greater successes.

In July 1985， the adjuster of the Department of Average Adjustment， bringing a start-up cost of less than USD 20，000， went to Hong Kong to cooperate with Richards Hogg International of the U.K. in handling average adjustment cases， opening up its secondary market. In spite of the contempt from the foreign counterparts， the cooperative company succeeded and continued to expand， accounting for a proportion from zero to 20%， from 20% to 80%， and finally up to 100% in the total adjustment business of the Chinese-owned and joint-venture shipping companies in Hong Kong.

In 1991， the representative of the Department of Average Adjustment was sent to Geneva by the Ministry of Communications and the CCPIT to attend the 13th Session of the Working Group on International Shipping Legislation of the Committee on Shipping of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)， and delivered a speech at the conference to point out that general average should not and can not be abolished immediately， but should be constantly reformed and simplified， wining support and praise from the representatives of participating countries.

In 1994， the representative of the Department of Average Adjustment again attended the 35th Conference of Committee Maritime International in Sydney. He delivered a speech at the conference and participated in the revision of the York-Antwerp Rules.

For decades， the Department of Average Adjustment has dealt with many average cases and has drawn and issued a large number of statements of general average.

Whatever achievements we have made， all merit should go to Mr. Ren Jianxin the founder and pioneer of the average adjustment career in China.

(*The article was checked and improved by Mr. Zhang Changlin.)