Compiled from: "Study Reader of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China", Shandong High Court
 
Case review
Wang, the legal representative of the defendant Yongshun Breeding Company, borrowed 1.5 million yuan from Zhongcang Agricultural Company on February 4, 2018, due to financial difficulties, and issued an IOU with a loan period of one month. On the same day, Zhongcang Agricultural Company transferred a total of 1.5 million yuan to Yongshun Breeding Company via bank. After the loan matured, Wang and Yongshun Breeding Company failed to repay on time, so Zhongcang Agricultural Company sued in court, demanding repayment of the principal and interest. The first-instance court ruled that Yongshun Breeding Company and Wang jointly repay the 1.5 million yuan loan and interest (calculated at an annual rate of 6% from March 5, 2018, until full repayment).

 

Yongshun Breeding Company appealed, arguing that the agreed loan period was one month, which should be calculated as 30 days, i.e., from February 4, 2018, to March 6, 2018. The first-instance court determined the loan deadline as March 4, 2018, a period of 28 days rather than 30 days, meaning the appellant would bear additional interest. The second-instance court dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
 
In the above case, on February 4, 2018, the IOU issued by Wang to Zhongcang Agricultural Company stipulated a one-month loan period. When calculating by year or month, the corresponding day of the expiration month is the last day of the period. Therefore, the loan period should start from the day after the loan, i.e., February 5, 2018, and the corresponding day of the expiration month is March 5, which is not a legal holiday, so the loan period is from February 5 to March 5, 2018. Since Yongshun Breeding Company failed to repay the loan upon maturity, interest should be calculated from March 5, 2018.
 
 
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 200
Periods referred to in the Civil Law are calculated according to the Gregorian calendar year, month, day, and hour.
 
Article 201
When calculating a period by year, month, or day, the starting day is not counted, and the calculation begins from the next day. When calculating by hour, the calculation begins from the time specified by law or agreed upon by the parties.

 

 
[1] The author's perspective
A period must have a start time and an end time. For example, the statute of limitations for installment debts is calculated from the day after the last installment's performance deadline expires, and the exclusion period is calculated from the day the right holder knows or should know that the right arises. If the last installment's performance deadline expires on May 9, 2018, does the statute of limitations start from May 10, 2018? Logically, the starting date is usually the date the right arises or the last day of the performance period, which should still be considered within the performance period. Therefore, the law stipulates that when calculating a period by year, month, or day, the starting day is not counted, and the calculation begins from the next day, as in the above example, the statute of limitations should start from May 10, 2018.
 
Social life is complex and diverse. We often set times for urgent situations, such as returning a book by noon today, and also specify hours for time-sensitive matters, like a vehicle insurance period from 9:00 on a certain date to 8:00 on another date, or even minutes and seconds for stocks, futures, and foreign exchange trading. In such cases requiring units smaller than a day, the law does not use minutes or seconds as units but only retains hours, as minutes and seconds are special circumstances. The law governs general situations, while special circumstances can be separately stipulated or agreed upon by the parties. If the period is calculated in hours, it starts directly from the agreed or legally specified time, not from the next hour. For example, if delivery is agreed by noon and not made by then, the period starts from noon.