At least two years, generally not more than thirty years.
According to the provisions of the Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China*** and the State of China: Article 19 stipulates that the term of active service for conscripts is two years.
Article 20 provides that conscripts who have completed their period of active service may be changed to non-commissioned officers according to the needs of the army and their own volition, with the approval of the unit at or above the regimental level. According to the needs of the army, non-commissioned officers may be recruited directly from citizens with specialized skills in non-military sectors.
Non-commissioned officers are subject to a graded system of active service. The period of active service for non-commissioned officers generally does not exceed thirty years, and their age does not exceed fifty-five years. The methods of graded active service for non-commissioned officers and the methods of recruiting non-commissioned officers directly from non-military sectors shall be prescribed by the State Council and the Central Military Commission.
Expanded Information
The standard of the retiring allowance for conscripts is 400 yuan (varying from region to region) for those who have completed two years of military service.
Issuance of conscript discharge subsidy, when soldiers are discharged from the army, all according to their years of service (military service) are issued discharge subsidy. Those who were local employees before enlistment and did not receive any severance pay are paid severance pay according to their years of service; if they were employees of the army before enlistment and did not receive any severance pay, their years of service may be merged with their years of service to calculate the severance pay.
The standard of discharge medical allowance for conscripts:
(1) 150-200 yuan for the first class
(2) 100-150 yuan for the second class
(3) 50-100 yuan for the third class
(4) Conscripts who are directly assigned to work in a unit that enjoys publicly-funded medical care will not be given medical allowance.
The number of months remaining after a conscript's discharge on an anniversary basis, how to calculate the discharge allowance
If a conscript's discharge on an anniversary basis is less than half a year, he or she will be given an additional payment of 1/2 of the difference between the standard for the next anniversary and the previous anniversary; and if it is more than half a year, he or she may be given the standard for the next anniversary.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Chinese People's Armed Police Force