On August 4, 2017, the Guiding Opinions on Further Guiding and Regulating the Direction of Overseas Investment (Guo Ban Fa [2017] No. 74) " (the “Guiding Opinions”) was jointly promulgated, with the approval of the State Council, by the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”), the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), the People's Bank of China (“PBOC”) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“MFA”). The Guiding Opinions have drawn wide attention by further categorizing overseas direct investments as “encouraged,” “restricted” or “prohibited” based upon the previous “negative list” for overseas direct investment. In this article, we will summarize the main content of the Guiding Opinions by comparing them to the existing principles governing overseas direct investment in light of recent trends related to the supervision of overseas direct investment.