Under 16 there is no "go to work" option: any employer who hires you is fined 5000 yuan a month, and anyone willing to hire you is breaking the law

Junior high usually ends at 15 to 16, right on this line. Under 16, except for special hiring by arts or sports units, hiring you is illegal, and the fine is 5000 yuan a month for each child worker used. So anyone willing to take you is an employer already breaking the law on hiring. If something really goes wrong, medical costs and compensation can only be claimed from that employer.

Cost

No money. Spend one minute working out how old you are.

Benefit

Article 11 of the Compulsory Education Law: "Parents or other legal guardians of every child who has reached the age of six shall send the child to school to receive and complete compulsory education." Article 14: "Employers are prohibited from hiring school-age children and adolescents who should be receiving compulsory education." Article 58: where, without proper reason, school-age children or adolescents are not sent to school as this law requires, the local township people's government or the education administrative department of the county-level people's government "gives criticism and education and orders correction within a time limit." Article 2 of the Provisions on the Prohibition of Child Labour: state organs, social organizations, enterprises, institutions, private non-enterprise units, and individual industrial and commercial households "shall not hire minors under 16." Article 6: "impose a fine of 5000 yuan per month for each child worker used"; if not corrected by the deadline, fine 10000 yuan (1万) per person per month. Article 7: anyone who introduces a child into employment is fined "5000 yuan for each person introduced." Article 10: if a child worker falls ill or is injured, the employer "shall be responsible for sending them to a medical institution for treatment and shall bear all medical and living expenses during treatment"; for disability or death there is also a one-time compensation. Article 13 leaves only one exception: arts and sports units may, with the consent of a parent or other guardian, hire professional arts workers or athletes under 16 (nationwide)

Notes

The beneficiary is you. Working after turning 16 is lawful. If you want to learn a trade before working, run first through the dimensions in item 10 of this section (pick skills that resist automation). Overtime pay, annual leave, and work-injury benefits in Section 19 all assume a labor relationship and evidence. If a child worker is injured, under Article 10 of the Provisions on the Prohibition of Child Labour the employer bears all medical and living expenses during treatment, and for disability or death there is also a one-time compensation

Sources · 1

1. 全国人大常委会 (2018). 义务教育法（2018 年第二次修正，第十一、十四、五十八条）. moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_zcfg/zcfg_jyfl/20211…（教育部刊登）；国务院 (2002). 禁止使用童工规定（国务院令第 364 号，第二、六、七、十、十三条）. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2002/content_61798.htm