Now we meet Fantine. She is young and beautiful, and in love with a man in Paris. But she {#blank#}1{#/blank#} no family, and no money.

    Men are not kind to {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. The man in Paris walks away, and leaves poor Fantine with a little girl {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Cosette. Fantine must find work, but {#blank#}4{#/blank#}?

    Fantine has a child but no husband, and a woman without a husband is nothing. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} than nothing. People are not kind to a woman with a child but no husband.

    They turn their faces away, they close their doors, they say, "There's no work for a woman {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you."

    Fantine likes her daughter {#blank#}7{#/blank#}, but what can she do? So, in 1818 in a village near Paris, she leaves her little daughter with Monsieur and Madame Thenardier. They ask for seven francs a month. Fantine {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the money, holds her daughter in her arms for the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} time, and leaves. She takes the road for her home town, and tears are {#blank#}10{#/blank#} down her face.

As you walk down the street, an object falls from a tall building and {#blank#}1{#/blank#}you. Who should be responsible for this? Or maybe you try to help someone in danger, but you accidentally hurt the person. Will you get in trouble for this? China's Civil Code(《民法典》) will give you the  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

On May 28, the National People's Congress (全国人民代表大会) agreed China's first-ever Civil Code. With 1,260 articles, it is a collection of laws that is about personal issues, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}property (物权), marriage, family, personality rights, and inheritances (继承). It's like an encyclopedia (百科全书) for social life.

China does have laws that cover these issues. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} , all kinds of these laws are not unified. The Civil Code gathers them into one unified document and makes improvements. With the Civil Code, China hopes to set up a country under the rule of law with {#blank#}5{#/blank#} protection for civil rights.

One special thing about the code is the part about individual (个人的) rights. It's a major innovation (创新) to form the individual rights into one part alone. This part includes laws{#blank#}6{#/blank#} relate to one's body, health, name, image (肖像), and fame.

Some of the laws in this part deal with how new technology is{#blank#}7{#/blank#}.For example, people who use AI face swap (调换) tools to make videos may go against {#blank#}8{#/blank#} image rights. The laws also provide data protection rights relating to possible data leaks by tech companies.

As we know, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were several attempts to draft (起草) a civil code in 1954, 1962, 1979 and 2001. But the conditions {#blank#}9{#/blank#} not good enough. In 2015, China started to work on the present code and{#blank#}10{#/blank#} it after 5 years. This year, the code took effect on Jan. 1.