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PLAN Conscripts

Conscription Process

The annual conscription process in the PLA begins each August when the military holds a two-day conference to make arrangements for the upcoming winter conscription cycle. In the PLAN, operational units determine how many new conscripts and NCOs are needed for the coming year. PLAN units then submit these figures to each fleet, military region, and PLAN Headquarters, where they are compiled and sent to the GSD. Also in August, local People's Armed Forces Departments or PAFDs, which are military organizations that operate on behalf of the local government, are required to contact all draft-age males who reach the age of 18 before 31 December of the current calendar year. These individuals must register for military service by the end of September.

Each locality in China is assigned an annual recruitment quota, which is based on distribution of population. At present, the proportion of conscripts from urban areas accounts for just over 33% with the remaining 67% conscripted from rural areas. Although most individuals who register for conscription are 18, theoretically any male between the ages of 18 and 22 may sign up. Females may also register provided they are between the ages of 18 and 19 and have graduated from high school the previous spring. Although neither the "Military Service Law" nor the "Regulations on PLA Conscription Work" stipulate offi- cial education requirements for conscripted males, many of the recent annual conscription orders state that incoming conscripts should be graduates of intermediate school, which in China runs through the 9th grade.

Media reporting suggests that most intermediate school graduates wait until they are 18 to either join or be conscripted. Individuals specifically exempted from registration include those who have secured admission to college, are medically or physically exempt, have been imprisoned, or are under investigation at the time of conscription. Chinese media also indicates that bribery is used both by people who want to join but are not qualified and by those who do not want to be conscripted.

Once registration is complete, the PAFD begins the process of pre-selecting potential conscripts. This process continues until the end of October when the State Council and the CMC issue the order for the upcoming conscription period. This annual conscription order specifies the requirements for conscripted citizens and contains instructions for local PAFDs on how to carry out conscription work. On the basis of this conscription order, PAFDs throughout the country then notify personnel of their selection as potential conscripts and instruct them to report to a local induction center run by the PAFD for a series of examinations. The induction process occurs throughout November, with potential conscripts being examined for a single day, after which they return home and wait for their conscription orders or rejection letter. The three types of exams include:

• Physical exam
• Political exam (administered by the local public security bureau)
• Psychological exam

Unlike the US military, the PLA does not give any pre-induction written examinations such as the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (AFVAB) to determine each conscript's specific proficiencies for military specialties. As a result, it is also unclear how the PLA determines which conscripts go into the PLAN and what their specialty will be. Before 1999, conscripts had no control over which service or branch they would be assigned to. As of 2007, they can voice a preference to enter a particular service or branch, although their choice is far from guaranteed, possibly due to the educational or technical requirements of certain services or branches. As PAFDs are composed primarily of personnel from the ground forces, recruitment teams from the PLAN, PLAAF, and Second Artillery are often dispatched to selected regions to handpick their own conscripts.

Leaving Home and Reporting for Active Duty

In most instances, conscripts in all of the PLA's services and branches serve in a province other than their home of record. During the second week of December, PLAN conscripts travel from across the country to one of several training and operational facilities concentrated along the coast. Transportation arrangements are usually made in advance, and it is common for large numbers of conscripts to travel together. Although the majority of travel is done by train, the PLAN has begun to charter civilian aircraft to transport the new conscripts.

Conscription Difficulties and the Urban- Rural Divide

As noted earlier, PLA conscription quotas are based on the distribution of the population. Inherent in these quotas are differing educational levels, technical abilities, and attitudes towards military service. For example, those who grow up in the countryside are less likely to be able to operate and maintain advanced weapons and equipment.

Conversely, although many potential urban recruits are often better educated, they may also be blessed with greater economic opportunities and thus have less desire to serve in the PLA than their rural counterparts. Therefore, although the PLA believes conscripts selected from urban areas are more likely to possess the educational and technical skills it desires, it is having difficulties in its urban conscription work, as well as in its abilities to recruit high school graduates in general.

A number of different reasons explain why individuals may decide against joining the military. One is that many increasingly feel that, in an era of rapid economic growth and greater opportunities, joining the PLA is simply not attractive. By comparison, although many young people were once attracted to the PLA due to the prospects for upward mobility, many now believe there is no future in joining the PLA, especially when testing into a military academy or becoming an NCO is increasingly difficult. Moreover, educational reforms have made attending college in the PRC much easier than it used to be, which has reduced the pool of eligible conscripts. For example, the number of students attending college today is about 20% versus 1.4% in 1978. In addition, a college education is widely viewed as a way to improve one's future prospects, including the opportunity to make money after graduation.

Furthermore, although the PLA provides stipends for its conscripts and their families, these minimal allowances have not kept pace with the rising cost of living and are far less attractive to individuals from more affluent areas of the country. Thus, many people, particularly in urban areas, think it simply does not pay to join the military. There appears to be little incentive to register and essentially waste two years, especially as post-demobilization employment prospects do not markedly improve. Therefore, despite the recent emphasis on technology and education, the core of the enlisted force continues to be made up of young men from poor rural areas. Although four of the last five annual conscription orders (2001-2005) note that it is preferable that conscripts recruited from rural areas be high school graduates, in truth, most rural conscripts are intermediate school graduates with low degrees of technical proficiency.

China has a system of compulsory education through intermediate school, but many families are unable to cope with the high cost of school fees once their child enters high school. For these families, particularly those from the countryside, the prospect of joining the PLA is viewed as one of the only means available to potentially escape a life of poverty. Not surprisingly, some resort to bribery in an attempt to pay their way into the military. As a result of all these factors, the proportion of new conscripts who are high school graduates remains in the minority.

Recruiting Civilian College Students and Graduates

One way the PLA has attempted to compensate for its inability to conscript some of China's more educated youth is by recruiting them once they are in college or after they have graduated. In 2001, the PLA began to recruit civilian college students in their first to third year of school as members of the enlisted force. Most of these students who join as conscripts resume their studies once they complete their two-year conscription obligation, but the PLA's unwritten goal appears to be to retain them on active duty and have them become NCOs.

The PLA has instituted several preferential policies, including monetary incentives and reduced tuition, to recruit college students as conscripts. In addition, depending on their college specialty, some students who join as conscripts are given the rank of private 1st class immediately upon joining instead of waiting until after they complete basic training. The PLA has also begun recruiting civilian college graduates and promoting them directly as NCOs. The specific grade they are given depends on their experience.

Such incentives are probably necessary as media reporting suggests that many students voluntarily join the PLA for personal reasons instead of idealistic motivations. Although many students join the military to learn new skills or gain experience, others view enlisting as a way to improve their chances to join the Communist Party, which is widely seen as a tool of social mobility in China, or as a way to reduce the financial burden on one's family.

Conscript Duties and Responsibilities

Reduced Leadership Responsibilities The shortening of the mandatory conscription period, coupled with the expansion of the NCO corps, has led to a gradual reduction in conscript leadership and some technical responsibilities throughout the PLA. With conscripts now serving only two years on active duty and with the PLAN no longer providing technical training to its conscripts, the Navy has begun to turn over many of the leadership responsibilities previously held by conscripts in their third or fourth year to junior NCOs (NCO grades 1 and 2).

As a result, the scope of conscript responsibilities has diminished, with typical duties consisting of tasks that do not require significant leadership skills or technical competency. These include such tasks as performing physical security and guard work, engaging in logistical support, and operating motor vehicles and unsophisticated communications equipment.

Efficiency Reports

All members of the enlisted force receive an efficiency report written by their immediate supervisor. In the PLAN, enlisted sailors receive an annual efficiency report. Company Party branches review each efficiency report and receive input from the person's supervisor, coworkers, and subordinates. Their efficiency reports are included in their personnel records, which are managed through the GSD Military Affairs Department system. In 2003, as part of its transparency in grassroots affairs campaign, the PLAN began to allow sailors to review and comment on their efficiency reports.

Conscript Party Membership

Conscripts in the PLAN are eligible to become members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and a member of the Communist Youth League or CYL. Conscripts have a number of motivations for wanting to become Party members. Many view membership in the CCP as a tool of upward mobility and an asset that can help them attain their goal of becoming an officer or NCO. For the majority of PLA conscripts demobilized after the conclusion of their two-year conscription period, Party membership can also be a valuable asset in finding employment or obtaining a better job upon returning home.

The process to become a Party member is arduous and can take just about the entire two year conscription period. Therefore, the Party has basically given up recruiting conscripts. Predictably, the lengthy recruitment process, competitive selective procedures, and low overall quota (about 3%) of conscripts eligible to become Party members have caused many conscripts to be less than enthusiastic about joining. As a result, it is common today for many PLAN units to be without a single conscript Party member.

Although conscripts may not be Party members, most of them are involved in Party sponsored activities through the CYL system. For example, besides daily and weekly activities administered through the CYL organization in each unit, PLAN Headquarters holds CYL Congresses attended by members from throughout the PLAN.