According to the company law, must the legal representative of the company be the chairman of the company?

No, the legal representative of the company can be a company director or an ordinary employee. It is not specified who will be the legal representative. Generally speaking, as long as there is a resolution on who will be the legal representative in the shareholders' agreement submitted when the company is registered, or it can be stated in the company's articles of association.

Furthermore, the legal representative can also be changed at will.

The legal representative, whose main duty is to fulfill the company's obligations. Most of the cases are only nominal. Of course, if the company touches on civil and criminal legal issues, the legal representative should bear the responsibility, which means that the legal representative should bear certain risks.

The legal representative refers to the person in charge who exercises functions and powers on behalf of the legal person in accordance with the law or the articles of association of the legal person. China's laws implement a single legal representative system, and it is generally believed that the chief executive of a legal person is its only legal representative. If the company is the chairman, executive director or manager (article 13 of the Company Law), the legal representative of the stock exchange is the general manager (article 107 of the Securities Law). The legal representative of an industrial enterprise owned by the whole people shall be the director or manager.