In terms of written statutes, the criminal code of traditional China is one of the world’s earliest, most systematic, most continuous, and longest-enduring legal codes. This has led, to a significant extent, to the predominant impression that Chinese legal history is essentially the history of criminal law and that the concept of “law” equals criminal law in the traditional Chinese mind. This perception derives from warfare, the origin of criminal law in traditional China. War is characterized by conquest, slaughter, punishment, and captivity. The aftermath of warfare was the mechanisms and acts of wartime punishment which were then transformed into criminal law and methods of penal enforcement. Thus, from its very origin, criminal law was deeply stamped with the terrifying marks of violence, bloodshed, and suppression. Within the long-standing political framework of traditional China, which centered on the monarchical rule, criminal law consistently played a manifest role of preventing social unrest and consolidating the royal power, demonstrating a clear public-law function. Because the concept of criminal law permeated the understanding of “law” in traditional China, traditional Chinese people feared “law” and sought to avoid it. In fact, beyond criminal law, traditional China has a number of rules with the nature of legal norms. However, these rules were applied primarily in the realm of private law, and their conceptual expressions within the narrative of legal history did not fully align with modern legal terminology. While the knowledge of criminal law is crucial to comprehending traditional Chinese law, due attention must also be paid to these other legal norms.