Under 16, ordinary employment is not a legal option in China: employers face RMB 5,000 per child per month
Students typically finish junior secondary school at 15 or 16, right around the legal boundary. Hiring someone under 16 for ordinary work is unlawful in China and carries a fine of RMB 5,000 per child per month. An employer willing to do it is knowingly breaking the law. If something goes wrong, you must pursue that employer for medical expenses and compensation; if it refuses to pay or disappears, there may be nobody to cover its obligations.
What it takes
Nothing. Take a minute to work out your age.
What you may gain
Article 11 of China's Compulsory Education Law requires parents or other legal guardians to enroll children who have reached six in school and ensure that they complete compulsory education. Article 14 prohibits employers from hiring school-age children and adolescents who should be receiving compulsory education. Under Article 58, where guardians fail without justification to send them to school, the township government or county education authority must criticize and educate the guardians and order them to correct the situation within a specified period. Article 2 of the Provisions on the Prohibition of Using Child Labor prohibits state bodies, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, private non-enterprise organizations, and individual businesses from hiring children under 16. Article 6 sets a fine of RMB 5,000 per child per month, rising to RMB 10,000 per child per month if the employer fails to comply by the deadline. Article 7 imposes RMB 5,000 for each child referred for employment. Under Article 10, an employer must arrange treatment for a child worker who becomes ill or injured and pay all medical and living expenses during treatment, with additional lump-sum compensation for disability or death. Article 13 allows a specific exception: arts and sports organizations may hire professional performers and athletes under 16 with parental or other guardian consent. These are nationwide Chinese rules.
Context & considerations
You are the beneficiary. Ordinary employment becomes lawful from age 16. However, jobs open to a 16-year-old with few qualifications often involve the fixed procedures discussed in entry 10, which are particularly vulnerable to automation. The overtime pay, annual leave, and occupational injury benefits discussed in chapter 19 depend on the applicable employment relationship and evidence. The original emphasizes that informal, unlawful employment can leave you without these protections in practice; this should not be read as saying an unlawfully employed child has no legal compensation rights.
Research & references
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (2018). Compulsory Education Law, second amendment of 2018, Articles 11, 14, and 58, published by the Ministry of Education. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_zcfg/zcfg_jyfl/202110/t20211029_575949.html; State Council (2002). Provisions on the Prohibition of Using Child Labor, State Council Order No. 364, Articles 2, 6, 7, 10, and 13. http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2002/content_61798.htm