In the year you turn 18, military service registration has to be done before October (10) 31; conscript active duty is 2 years

Military service registration is a legal duty. It is not an application to enlist, and registering does not mean you have to go. Men who turn 18 that year must finish registering online before October (10) 31. If you do not register, the county orders you to correct it by a deadline. If you still do not, it forces you to perform the military service duty and fines you. If you do enlist, conscript active duty is 2 years.

Cost

No money. Registration is filled in online once, and it takes a few minutes. Actually going means 2 years full time, and during those 2 years you cannot do other work at the same time.

Benefit

Registration is in the Provisions on Military Service Registration. They say: "The military service organ of the people's government of a county, autonomous county, city without districts, or municipal district shall, before October (10) 31 each year, organize initial military service registration for male citizens in its area who reach 18 before December (12) 31 of that year." The same provisions also say: "Initial military service registration is mainly done online, completed by the citizen on the military service registration network platform." What happens if you do not register is in Article 57, paragraph 1, of the Military Service Law. That paragraph covers "refusing or evading military service registration." The penalty is: "the county people's government orders correction by a deadline; if it is not corrected in time, the county people's government forces performance of the military service duty and imposes a fine." Article 15 of the Military Service Law says the people subject to initial military service registration are "male citizens who reach 18 before December (12) 31 each year." Article 20, paragraph 2, says: "According to the needs of the armed forces, female citizens may be called up for active service under the preceding paragraph." Article 15 of the Provisions on Military Service Registration says: "According to the needs of the armed forces... female citizens who meet the conditions may be organized for reserve registration." The Military Service Law also says: "The term of active service for a conscript is 2 years." "According to the needs of the armed forces and the person's own wish, citizens who have reached 17 but are not yet 18 may be called up for active service." A non-commissioned officer "who has served 12 years, or who meets other conditions set by the state, is assigned a job by the local people's government at county level or above in the place of placement." A non-commissioned officer "who has served 30 years, or who has reached 55, or who meets other conditions set by the state, is placed in retirement." Assigning a job means the government gives you a job. Retirement placement means you step down under retirement rules. The Regulations on Conscription say: "Priority goes to ensuring the call-up of graduates of ordinary higher-education institutions and of recruits with special requirements for political quality, physical condition, or professional skill." Those regulations also say: "Where the person to be called up is a full-time student or a graduating student of an ordinary higher-education institution, the call-up may be at the place of household registration before enrollment, or at the place of the school" (nationwide).

Notes

Registration and call-up are different things, and the price differs by a long way. The string of penalties that includes a ban on leaving the country for 2 years punishes only people who back out after being called up. See item 3 (refusing military service). The people the law names for initial military service registration are male only. Women are called up according to the needs of the armed forces, and they may also be registered for the reserve according to those needs. Admission of soldiers to military academies, and turning a soldier with a strong record into an officer, are written in internal military rules and cannot be looked up from outside. The Military Service Law says only 2 things: active-duty officers are selected from "active-duty soldiers with an excellent record" and similar personnel, and military academies recruiting cadets are not limited by the call-up age. This book does not give score lines or quotas.

Sources · 2

1. 国务院办公厅、中央军委办公厅 (2025). 兵役登记工作规定（国办发〔2025〕41 号）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202512/content_70513…
2. 全国人大常委会 (2021). 兵役法（2021 年修订，第十五、二十、二十五、二十六、五十四、五十七条）. mod.gov.cn/regulatory/2021-08/20/content_4892…（国防部刊登）；国务院、中央军委 (2023). 征兵工作条例（国务院、中央军委令第 759 号，第五条）. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2023/content_5753313.htm