The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Is it criminal detention or administrative?

Wrong label wastes days.

Label
02

Detention notice received?

Date and unit.

Notice
03

Counsel appointed?

Meeting rights.

Counsel
04

Arrest-approval clock running?

37-day strategy page.

Clock

Working rule: Under the Criminal Procedure Law, public security organs may criminally detain a suspect when statutory conditions are met.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Treat as a hotel hold
No counsel.
Failure.
Broader Criminal Defense analysis needed
Second related guide narrative.
Additional facts can change the Criminal Defense route, evidence and next step.
Ignore consular overlay
Foreign passport.
Foreign pages.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Detention noticePhoto and date.
02Alleged offence wordingWhat they wrote.
03Passport/visa statusForeign overlay.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Is detention the same as arrest?

No. Arrest approval is a later procuratorate step. Detention can end in release, bail, or arrest.

Where is the 37-day deep dive?

Use the linked specialist resource when Criminal Detention in China turns on detailed evidence, procedure or risk assessment.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

PRC Criminal Procedure Law (NPC)
PRC Criminal Law (NPC)
Supreme People’s Procuratorate
Ministry of Public Security