How to join the Chinese army?

[AznYong]

I live and born in The Netherlands but I'm Chinese. I can read, write, logical thinking and physically also ok. My age is seventheen. My Chinese is little forgotten. My parents born in Wenzhou.

My questions

What are the requirements?

Am i allowed in the Chinese army?

What is the maximum age?

Greets from Holland

[fanglu]

It's been so long since someone asked how to join the PLA.

[Meng Lelan]

Things must be slow here if I jumped in this thread hoping for an update from the Irish guy.

[Guest realmayo]

I suspect the Chinese army might be keener to get you signed up for them in the Dutch army.

[liuzhou]

You aren't by any chance posting from one of those Amsterdam pot parlours, are you?

[AznYong]

All these comments are useless

I'm Chinese but live in The Netherlands, for the one that trough me was dutch!

Please comment below this post something meaningful!

Thank you.

[大肚男]

why is everyone assuming he's kidding, or that what he wants is stupid. am I missing something.

here in the states, thousands join the military every year because they think it is honorable or cool to serve your country. why wouldn't the same logic follow, especially with the rise of China as a world superpower

[roddy]

I'm going to go present uninformed speculation as hard fact. Anyone who wants to track down contradictory information is more than welcome. Here goes:

It is not possible for anyone who is not a Chinese-educated Chinese citizen who has lived in China all their life to join the PLA in any capacity. There is no shortage of recruits, and no reason for the PLA to bother taking on anyone who may, for linguistic, cultural or educational reasons, not fit in. It's barely even clear if people from Hong Kong can join.

Sorry, but it's a non-starter. Explain why you want to join the Chinese army, and maybe someone can come up with an alternative way to achieve those goals. But they're not going to let you in.

[imron]

As I mentioned in that other thread however, it is possible to join the army of the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) if you really want to join a Chinese army.

[roddy]

He didn't join, he was drafted, no? Taiwan's phasing out the draft. Assuming he can get Taiwanese citizenship (wouldn't say no myself, actually, but do they want random teenagers?) and assuming the ROC army wants him (mainland parents? Hmmm...), then yes, there is a very theoretical route to a uniform.

[imron]

Based on excerpts of what he wrote, 2 years military service is (or at least was) compulsory for all Taiwanese males, but apparently a large amount of leeway is given to foreigners who take up citizenship and they can get out of it if they want. He thought that if he was going to become Taiwanese then it's no good shirking the responsibilities of that and decided to do the 2 years service.

That said, taking up Taiwanese citizenship has to be a conscious decision, so he could have made the choice not to take that up if he wanted to avoid service.

[count_zero]

It must be quite boring in the PLA considering the PRC has never invaded another country or had any kind of uprising.

[liuzhou]

I live and born in The Netherlands but I'm Chinese.

I'm Chinese but live in The Netherlands

When you say you are Chinese, what exactly do you mean?

Yes, from what you say about your parents you are ethnically Chinese, but do you have Chinese nationality? A Chinese passport? A Chinese ID card?

If not, then you are not Chinese in the nationality sense.

If I read it correctly "My Chinese is little forgotten." means you have forgotten much of the Chinese language. (Or it could mean you haven't.)

Can you please explain to me why you think the Chinese army would want you as a recruit. They have millions of others to choose from. Most are recruited while in school in China. I can't see any general sitting down and thinking "Damn! Not enough recruits! We must try that guy in the Netherlands, wherever they are!"

All these comments are useless

Why useless? Because they don't give you the answer you want? The comments are accurate and sensible. Mostly.

[edelweis]

Also is your Chinese Putonghua or Wenzhouhua? can you read and write Putonghua?

If so, perhaps you had better go ask these questions in a Chinese language forum about the Chinese army?

If not, you need to learn Putonghua!

[gougou]

If so, perhaps you had better go ask these questions in a Chinese language forum about the Chinese army?

I'm not sure that would help, as I suppose he is in a situation that few other Chinese will have encountered. Also, don't forget that we are one of the few forums on the internet with a track record of advising foreigners about how to (or why not to) join the PLA!

[edelweis]

The over-abundance of sarcasm on this board is not terribly helpful to someone who obviously does not read and write English very well.

@AznYong: if you can read and write Chinese, then you can also use Google, Baidu and so on to look up requirements for joining the PRC army - in Chinese. Think of it as the basic requirement for joining the army.

[liuzhou]

I am more surprised by the low level of sarcasm.

I think the OP has already indicated that (s)he doesn't know Chinese well.

[edelweis]

Actually, the OP's message is unintelligible because of his poor English. I can't tell whether he "reads and writes" Chinese or another language, and "little forgotten" could mean he has not forgotten it at all.

Anyway the point is that literacy in Chinese (Putonghua) is probably a requirement (along with Chinese citizenship).

@AznYong: You should also contact the Chinese embassy in the Nederlands. They probably are used to such questions.

[liuzhou]

They probably are used to such questions.

I'd be very surprised！

In an average year, how many citizens of the Netherlands decide to want to know how to join the PLA?

[roddy]

Edelweis, find me one piece of evidence that suggests there is any way a foreign citizen can join the Chinese army. Otherwise, you're just wasting the kid's time. You might as well try and find him a career path to being Superman.