Legal basis: Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Limitation System in the Trial of Civil Cases Article 5 If the parties agree to perform the same debt by stages, the limitation period shall be counted from the date of the last performance period. If the time limit for performance cannot be determined, the limitation period of action shall be counted from the date when the grace period for creditors to require debtors to perform their obligations expires, but if the debtors explicitly indicate that they will not perform their obligations when creditors claim their rights for the first time, the limitation period of action shall be counted from the date when the debtors explicitly indicate that they will not perform their obligations.