How to join the PLA as an overseas Chinese

[happy_hyaena]

Have you talked to your Chinese dad about this? What does he think about it?

[Lumbering Ox]

16 hours ago, Shelley said:

When one man puts down his gun and walks away from war - I will smile,

         When ten men put down their guns and walk away from war - I will be thankful,

          When one hundred men put down their guns and walk away from war - I will rejoice,

            When one thousand men put down their guns and walk away from war - I will sing,

              When ten thousand men put down their guns and walk away from war - i will ring the bells

                When one hundred thousand men put down their guns and walk away from war - I will see the smiling faces of the children,

                  and the sun will shine down on the trees and lakes, the fish, birds and animals that share this great, green earth with us,

                    But it needs one man to put down his gun and walk away from war, walk away, walk away, walk, walk, walk away from war.

 

This is my poem/lyrics written to express how I feel about war. It is idealistic, but I hope it might happen one day.

 

 

Yep, when the "I" is a citizen of a potential hostile nation. Watching a potential enemy unilaterally disarm is a dream come true.

[Shelley]

I hope its not just one nation but the whole world, this is the only way it would happen, if every soldier in the world refused to fight.

 

It is a pipe dream I know, but it was good to write it down. I am not sure of it's poetic quality but I hope the sentiment comes through.

[The Humble Worker]

On 7/29/2017 at 7:49 AM, edelweis said:

I would first make a phone call to the embassy front desk to ask them.

 

I don't know, maybe roddy is right, it does sound like a crazy thing to do. 

On 7/29/2017 at 8:33 AM, roddy said:

If you tell the embassy you want to join the PLA they'll put you in the 'crazy' category

 

 

Is it even a normal question to ask an embassy? Would they even want to help me if I asked such a thing? If not, then I guess I'm unlucky.

 

 

On 7/29/2017 at 1:38 PM, Shelley said:

Why do you want be soldier?

 

It's not that I want to kill people or anything like that, I just want to be one because you get to do and learn things you never will do or learn in a civilian life, you also get to serve and protect the country and people you love. Whether it be a natural disaster or a war, you still help your country, but unfortunately for me I can't help the country that I feel like I belong to, many of my relatives still live there, I'm in the small part of my family that has moved away from their homeland. 

[The Humble Worker]

16 hours ago, happy_hyaena said:

Have you talked to your Chinese dad about this? What does he think about it?

 

He really doesn't care whether I join the Swedish or Chinese army, he just thinks I'm weird because I want to be in the military overall.

[Lu]

I wouldn't call the plan crazy, and it sounds like your intentions are really noble, but I think the things you want, namely 1) serve the country and people you love, ie China; and 2) learn cool shit; and 3) be in the army, will be pretty much impossible to combine. You can serve China and learn interesting things, but it likely won't be in the army; even if you would make it into the PLA, I doubt you'd learn all that many cool things; and if you'd join an army where you would learn cool things, it likely wouldn't be the Chinese one.

 

Still, my advice remains the same: go to China for an extended period (a year, for example), study Chinese there, pay attention to what you see around you, and then see how you feel about the country and your future. There are plenty of people to help and cool things to learn outside the military, for example.

[renzhe]

On 28/07/2017 at 3:51 PM, The Humble Worker said:

 

Somewhere in 2015, I know it has turned capitalist after Deng Xiaoping, but it still has the socialist culture as I said, not system, for example they still have the communist party in charge and they still worship Mao Zedong.

 

These are not the best indicators, though.

 

Better indicators of a socialist culture would be the level of inequality, the level of services provided equally to every member of the society (e.g. health care, education, public libraries, public spaces, etc.), the amount of legislation designed to protect the general public from factories and corporations, the amount of control workers have over their workplaces, and ultimately, how much regular people care about their neighbours. Only by looking at these things can you decide whether a country is more or less socialist than another country.

[The Humble Worker]

@renzhe Yeah I guess you're right, however I still love China for other things.

[renzhe]

There is plenty to like.

 

I do agree with others that spending a year in China (if you have not done so yet) would be a great way to gain much deeper understanding of China today.

[edelweis]

1 hour ago, The Humble Worker said:

I don't know, maybe roddy is right, it does sound like a crazy thing to do.

 

Hmm, perhaps you're right. It did seem like the most expedient method to get an answer in English (edit: or even Swedish). But perhaps embassies do not usually recruit for the military.

 

Next suggestion: learn enough Chinese so that you can search and read the Chinese military regulations and/or ask your question(s) on Chinese military forums.

[roddy]

How old are you? What family connections with China do you still have?

[The Humble Worker]

8 minutes ago, roddy said:

How old are you? What family connections with China do you still have?

 

I'm 15 years old, I have still have grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins there. I don't know them very well however, since we only visit them about once a year.

[Lu]

1 minute ago, The Humble Worker said:

I have still have grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins there. I don't know them very well however, since we only visit them about once a year.

Perhaps start phoning them once in a while, or getting in touch over WeChat. My family likes it when I do that (they're not Chinese at all and also live in the same country as I do, but the point holds I think). You'll get to know them better, get a bit of an idea of what life in China is like, and you can practice your Chinese (assuming you know enough to make conversation. If not, you need to learn a little first).

 

Also, I hadn't realised you're that young. That puts your plan and your reasons for it in perspective (and I don't mean that in a bad way). Make sure you finish secondary school first, and I'm sure you'll find a good way of realising your ideals.

[The Humble Worker]

5 minutes ago, Lu said:

Perhaps start phoning them once in a while, or getting in touch over WeChat. My family likes it when I do that (they're not Chinese at all and also live in the same country as I do, but the point holds I think). You'll get to know them better, get a bit of an idea of what life in China is like, and you can practice your Chinese (assuming you know enough to make conversation. If not, you need to learn a little first).

 

I don't speak mandarin at all, I do however speak Cantonese, so does my relatives, but I do not speak very fluent though. I was thinking about picking mandarin as a modern language to learn once I start secondary school (secondary school starts when you're 16 in Sweden).  

[Lu]

1 minute ago, The Humble Worker said:

I was thinking about picking mandarin as a modern language to learn once I start secondary school

That is an excellent plan, whether you end up in the PLA or not.

[roddy]

Spend the next few years building up stronger links with China. Learn Mandarin, visit more, see if you can do an exchange program or summer camp, spend more time with family there. All of that will do good for any China-related future. By the time you're old enough to do anything about citizenship and enlisting in the PLA the rules may have changed anyway. And do think about a Plan B, because Plan A is mighty unlikely.

[happy_hyaena]

4 hours ago, The Humble Worker said:

He really doesn't care whether I join the Swedish or Chinese army, he just thinks I'm weird because I want to be in the military overall

 

I can relate. My parents are also immigrants, who fought very hard to make something of themselves in our (new) country. They worked shitty jobs in the beginning that would actually be beneath them in their home countries, but worked their way up in society, learning the language and not seldom having to deal with very direct xenophobia/racism. One of the things that help immigrants motivate themselves is the idea of a creating a better life for their offspring, who have access to so many opportunities that they could never even dream of: like studying at a world class university.

 

Our lives are our own, and we are free to do follow whatever dreams we have, but I hope you can see how the idea of becoming a soldier for the PLA (or Sweden) doesn't sit well with your father when you could study something like, say, engineering and be guaranteed a safe, stable cushy upper-middle class life in one of the best countries in the world? There are literally billions who would love to trade places with you.

 

Finally, let me tell you what one of my teachers once told me. My teacher's uncle served in the army. Her dad always wanted to join, but couldn't for whatever reason, which became a life-long regret for him since he (and those of his generation, born during the early-60s probably) always really looked respected that profession. In the end, her dad has had a much better life and career than her uncle, and now entering the PLA has gone from being something respected to something almost a little shameful, just a place to put rowdy young guys in who didn't really care about studying or anything, to straighten them out. That's just according to her, and I don't know if that's a sentiment shared by everyone else in China or not, but it's a little damning.

[Shelley]

"People's Republic of China – 18 (compulsory; only registration is compulsory. People do not have to serve in the military) "

 

This is from here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_enlistment_age_by_country

 

 

5 hours ago, The Humble Worker said:

I'm 15 years old,

 

So you have at least 3 years to contemplate your choices. As others have said you could spend time learning Mandarin, getting to know the country and its army. maybe try and start talking to some one in the army or just recently left. Find out what it is really like before you decide.

 

At 15 you are unlikely to have any idea what there is out there for you to do. When I was 15 I didn't know that the job I have spent the last 40 years of my life doing, even existed.

You can never know what is round the next corner, don't miss out on something that you may regret because it doesn't fit in with your 15 year old plans which may not even be your 18 year old's plans.

 

I think your love for China and its people could be encouraged in other ways, so don't be discouraged if the army doesn't work out, having lots of different choices will allow you to express your feelings.

 

[889]

So what am I missing. You're Swedish and want to be in the military.

 

Sweden is re-introducing compulsory military service. When you're of draft age you'll have the chance to serve. Whether you want to or not.

[The Humble Worker]

I asked this question in Quora once, but as I said they didn't answer on my questions fully, the only issue they said that I would have when applying for service in the PLA is the political background test. They did not say why however when I asked them, they just said foreigners are basically not allowed. So I searched up this political background test in Baidu (by combining crap Cantonese knowledge with google translate), since I do not know how to read Chinese fully. I think I found information about this, but I can't read it at an understandable level though. So it would be really nice if you guys who can read Chinese could maybe read this and see if I you think I qualify for these things. By knowing if I do pass this or not I will have a better plan and vision of my future, it depends on this.

 

https://baike.baidu.com/item/征兵政治审查工作规定