Exhibit 5.1
December 1, 2003

China Life Insurance Company Limited
16 Chaowai Avenue
Chaoyang District
Beijing 100020
People's Republic of China

Dear Sirs:

China Life Insurance Company Limited

We act as special counsel of the People's Republic of China (the "PRC") for
China Life Insurance Company Limited, a company organized under the PRC law (the
"Company"), and China Life Insurance (Group) Company, a company established
under the PRC law ("CLIC"), in connection with the proposed issue and sale by
the Company of its H shares, par value RMB 1.00 per share (the "H Shares"), and
the proposed sale by CLIC of its H Shares, among other jurisdictions, in the
United States in the form of American Depositary Shares representing such H
Shares (the "ADSs"), as described in Amendment No. 1 to the Registration
Statement on Form F-1 (Registration No. 333-110615) filed by the Company with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on December 1, 2003 (the
"Registration Statement"). The H Shares to be offered and sold by the Company
are referred to herein as the "Primary H Shares" and the H Shares to be offered
and sold by CLIC are referred to herein as the "Secondary H Shares". In such
capacity, we have reviewed the Registration Statement including the statements
set forth in the section captioned "Tax - The People's Republic of China" and
examined such corporate records, certificates


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and other documents as we have considered necessary or appropriate for the
purpose of providing this opinion.

Upon the basis of such examination, we are of the opinion that:

1.    the Primary H Shares underlying the ADSs when sold, will be legally
      issued, fully paid and non-assessable;

2.    the Secondary H Shares underlying the ADSs when sold as contemplated in
      the Registration Statement, will have been legally issued and will be
      fully paid and non-assessable; and

3.    The statements set forth in the section captioned "Tax - The People's
      Republic of China" of the Registration Statement in so far as they
      constitute summaries of the current relevant PRC taxation laws and
      regulations are accurate and complete in all material respects.



The foregoing opinion is limited to the laws of the PRC and we express no
opinion as to the laws of any other jurisdiction.

We hereby give our consent to file this opinion as an exhibit to the
Registration Statement.

Yours faithfully,

/s/ King & Wood

King & Wood