Check the thresholds first: for most of the 12 paths, age and education are written into the documents

The thresholds of these 12 paths are, for the most part, written in the documents. Paid work requires age 16 or older. For the military, men must be 18 or older, and college graduates can be relaxed to 24. The civil service exam generally requires age 18 to 35 and a junior-college education or above. The self-study exam has no limit on age or prior education, but full-time students cannot register. A sole proprietorship only requires "the capacity to operate a business."

Cost

No money. Take 10 minutes and check whether you can reach them.

Benefit

For the military, the Military Service Law says: "Male citizens who have reached 18 shall be called up for active service; those not called up that year may still be called up before they reach 22. The call-up age for graduates of ordinary higher-education institutions may be relaxed to 24, and for graduate students to 26." For the civil service, see Article 18 of the Regulations on the Recruitment of Civil Servants. The application conditions include "age 18 or older and under 35" and "a junior-college education or above." Both may be adjusted with approval from the civil service authority at provincial level or above. Article 19 lists 5 categories of people who may not apply. Examples are people who have received a criminal penalty for a crime, people expelled from public office, and people listed as targets of joint punishment for breach of trust. For firefighters, see the Measures for Recruiting Firefighters of the National Comprehensive Fire and Rescue Teams. Article 5: "age 18 or older and under 22" and "a high-school education or above." Article 6: "people with a junior-college education or above, and discharged soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police... the age may be relaxed to 24." For military civilian posts, see Article 9 of the Regulations on Civilian Personnel of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The basic conditions include "having reached 18." Article 19 of those regulations says that the maximum age for a first recruitment into a lower-rank post is 35. A lower-rank post is an entry-level post. For public institutions, see Article 8 of the Regulations on Personnel Management of Public Institutions: "Newly hired staff of public institutions shall be openly recruited from society." For sole proprietors, see the Regulations on Promoting the Development of Individual Industrial and Commercial Households: "Citizens with the capacity to operate a business... who register according to law as individual industrial and commercial households are covered by these regulations." For the self-study exam, see the Interim Regulations on Higher Education Self-Study Examinations. Article 3: "Citizens of the People's Republic of China may take the higher education self-study examination under these regulations, without restriction of sex, age, ethnicity, race, or level of education already received." Article 20: "Current students of full-time schools of every type and level may not register." For government-funded teacher-training students, see Article 2 of the Implementation Measures for Government-Funded Education of Teacher-Training Students on a Bachelor's-to-Master's Track at Normal Universities Directly under the Ministry of Education. Recruitment is only at 6 normal universities under the ministry: Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, Northeast Normal University, Central China Normal University, Shaanxi Normal University, and Southwest University. The bachelor's and graduate stages are designed as one track and assessed in stages. After the bachelor's, you continue into the graduate program. Tuition and housing during school are borne by central finance, and there is also a living stipend. Article 5: "Recruitment of government-funded teacher-training students uses early-batch admission," meaning they are admitted before the regular batch. For targeted medical students, see the Notice on Doing Well the Employment Placement and Contract Performance of Rural Order-Based Tuition-Free Medical Students. It says: "After admission, and before receiving the admission notice, an agreement must be signed with the training school and with the county health department... and the human resources and social security department of the place of directed employment." For working abroad, see the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Labor Cooperation. Article 5: engaging in foreign labor cooperation requires approval from the commerce authority and an operating qualification. Article 7, paragraph 4: "Without obtaining the foreign labor cooperation qualification certificate according to law and completing registration, one may not engage in foreign labor cooperation." A company without this certificate that organizes people to work abroad is itself breaking the law. Article 8, paragraph 2: "No unit or individual may organize workers to work abroad in the name of business, tourism, study, or the like." Platform orders and flexible employment have no statutory education threshold. The basis for insuring yourself and for occupational injury coverage is items 11 and 12 of this section. For paid work, the Compulsory Education Law says: "Employers are prohibited from hiring school-age children and adolescents who should be receiving compulsory education." Article 2 of the Provisions on Prohibiting the Use of Child Labor states that no one under 16 may be hired. The penalties are in section 23, item 1 (under 16).

Notes

A few paths do not have the threshold written down. The public-institution regulations only require open recruitment. Age and education are in each recruitment announcement. Platform orders have no statutory education threshold. The age and education for the civil service exam can be adjusted with approval from the authority at provincial level or above. After you can reach the threshold, you still have to pass political conditions, the physical examination, and the political assessment. Those have no public scoring standard, and they cannot be looked up in the articles. The entrance for secondary vocational schools, technician colleges, and vocational through-train admissions is in section 23, item 5. Aid when the family cannot pay is in section 23, item 4. A sole proprietorship does not look at education. That does not mean opening a shop is easy. Capital, a personal guarantee, and the cost of closing and leaving are in section 12. A personal guarantee means that if the company cannot pay, you have to pay. Whether the startup money can be borrowed as a loan on which the state pays part of the interest is in item 16 of this section. The government-funded teacher path and the targeted medical student path are set on the day college preferences are filled in. The price is written in item 13. The threshold for working abroad is not on you. It is on whether the company has the qualification. How to recognize that is in item 14. Which path is more worthwhile is not compared here.

Sources · 7

1. 全国人大常委会 (2021). 兵役法（第二十条）. mod.gov.cn/regulatory/2021-08/20/content_4892…（国防部刊登）；中共中央组织部 (2019). 公务员录用规定（第十八、十九条）. 12371.cn/2020/01/08/ARTI1578447606460158.shtml（共产党员网刊登）；人力资源社会保障部、应急管理部 (2021). 国家综合性消防救援队伍消防员招录办法（人社部发〔2021〕58 号，第五、六条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-08/27/content_5…
2. 国务院、中央军委 (2022). 中国人民解放军文职人员条例（第二次修订，令第 757 号，第九、十九条）. flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff808181857bca5e0185…（国家法律法规数据库）；国务院 (2014). 事业单位人事管理条例（国务院令第 652 号，第八条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2014-05/15/content_8…
3. 国务院 (2022). 促进个体工商户发展条例（国务院令第 755 号，第二条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2022-10/25/content_5…
4. 国务院 (1988, 2014 修订). 高等教育自学考试暂行条例（第三、二十条）. flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff8080816f3cbb3c016f…（国家法律法规数据库）；全国人大常委会 (2018). 义务教育法（第十四条）. 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，第二条）. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2002/content_61798.htm
5. 国务院办公厅 (2024). 关于转发教育部等部门《教育部直属师范大学本研衔接师范生公费教育实施办法》的通知（国办发〔2024〕27 号，第二、五条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202406/content_69572…
6. 国家卫生健康委等 7 部门 (2019). 关于做好农村订单定向免费培养医学生就业安置和履约管理工作的通知. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2019-11/13/content_5…
7. 国务院 (2012). 对外劳务合作管理条例（国务院令第 620 号，第五、七、八条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2012-06/11/content_1…