Issued under the symbol Chinese People's **** and State Presidential Decree No. 50
Issued on September 4, 1991
Effective on January 1, 1992
Outdated on January 1, 1992
Expired on January 1, 1992
Classification State Laws and Regulations
Document Source -----------
Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors
(Adopted at the Twenty-first Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 4, 1991
Published by Presidential Decree No. 50 of September 4, 1991)
Chapter I. General Provisions
Article 1 In order to protect the physical and mental health of minors, safeguard their lawful rights and interests, and promote the all-round development of minors in terms of morality, intellect and physical fitness, and to train them to become idealistic, moral, cultured and disciplined successors to the socialist cause, this Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution.
Second Article The minors referred to in this Law are citizens who have not reached the age of eighteen.
Article 3 The State, society, schools and families shall educate minors in ideals, morals, culture, discipline and the rule of law; educate them in patriotism, collectivism, and internationalism, ****anism; advocate love of the motherland, love of the people, love of labor, love of science, love of socialism, and the public morality; and oppose the encroachment of capitalist, feudalist and other corrupt ideas.
Article 4 The protection of minors shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles:
(1) safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of minors;
(2) respecting the dignity of the human personality of minors;
(3) adapting to the characteristics of the physical and mental development of minors;
(4) combining education and protection.
Article 5 The State guarantees the inviolability of minors' personal, property and other lawful rights and interests.
The protection of minors is the ****same responsibility of state organs, the armed forces, political parties, social organizations, enterprises and institutions, urban and rural grass-roots mass self-governance organizations, the guardians of minors and other adult citizens.
Any organization or individual has the right to dissuade, stop, or report or complain to the relevant authorities about acts that violate the lawful rights and interests of minors.
The State, society, schools and families shall educate and help minors to use legal means to safeguard their lawful rights and interests.
Article 6 State organs at the central and local levels shall, within their respective areas of responsibility, do a good job of protecting underage adults.
The State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in accordance with their needs, take organizational measures to coordinate the work of the relevant departments in the protection of minors.
***Productivist youth unions, women's federations, labor unions, youth federations, student unions, juvenile vanguard squads, and other relevant social organizations assist people's governments at all levels in doing a good job of protecting minors, and safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of minors.
Article 7 The people's governments at all levels and the departments concerned shall reward organizations and individuals who have made remarkable achievements in protecting minors.
Chapter II: Family Protection
Article 8 Parents or other guardians shall, in accordance with the law, fulfill their duties of guardianship and rearing of minors; they shall not abuse or abandon minors; they shall not discriminate against female minors or minors with disabilities; and they shall prohibit the drowning of infants or the abandonment of infants.
Article 9 Parents or other guardians shall respect the right of minors to receive an education; they must ensure that minors of school age receive compulsory education in accordance with the regulations, and shall not cause minors receiving compulsory education at school to drop out.
Article 10 Parents or other guardians shall educate minors with healthy thoughts, conduct and appropriate methods, guide minors to engage in activities beneficial to their physical and mental health, and prevent and stop minors from smoking, abusing alcohol, vagrancy, and the gathering of gamblers, drug addicts and prostitutes.
Article 11 Parents or other guardians shall not permit or compel minors to marry, and shall not enter into marriage contracts for them.
Article 12 Parents or other guardians who fail to fulfill their duties of guardianship or infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of minors under their guardianship shall be held liable in accordance with the law.
If a parent or other guardian commits any of the acts listed in the preceding paragraph and fails to change through education, the people's court may, on the basis of an application by the person or unit concerned, revoke his or her guardianship; and in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the General Principles of the Civil Law, determine another guardian.
Chapter III Protection in Schools
Article 13 Schools shall fully implement the State's education policy, and provide underage students with moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor education as well as guidance on social life and education on puberty.
Schools shall care for and love students; they shall patiently educate and help students with shortcomings in character and behavior and learning difficulties, and shall not discriminate against them.
Article 14 Schools shall respect the right to education of underage students, and shall not arbitrarily expel underage students.
Article 15 The teaching staff of schools and kindergartens shall respect the human dignity of minors, and shall not inflict corporal punishment, disguised corporal punishment, or other insults to the human dignity of minor students and children.
Article 16 Schools shall not allow minor students to move about in school buildings and other educational and teaching facilities that jeopardize their personal safety and health.
No organization or individual may disrupt the teaching order, or encroach upon or destroy the school premises, houses and equipment.
Article 17 Schools and kindergartens shall arrange for minor students and children to participate in collective activities such as assemblies, cultural recreation and social practice, which shall be conducive to the healthy growth of minors, and prevent accidents of personal safety.
Article 18 Minors sent to work-study schools to receive compulsory education in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, work-study schools shall provide them with ideological education, cultural education, labor and technical education and vocational education.
The teaching staff of work-study schools shall care for, love and respect the students, and shall not discriminate against or abandon them.
Article 19 Kindergartens shall do a good job in child care and education, and promote the harmonious development of young children in terms of physical and intellectual ability, and character.
Chapter IV: Social Protection
Article 20 The State encourages social groups, enterprises, institutions and other organizations and citizens to carry out various forms of social activities conducive to the healthy growth of minors.
Article 21 The people's governments at all levels shall create conditions for the establishment and improvement of places and facilities suitable for the activities required by the cultural life of minors.
Article 22 Museums, memorials, science and technology museums, cultural centers, theaters, stadiums, zoos, parks and other places shall be open to primary and secondary school students on a preferential basis.
Article 23 The competent authorities and operators of business dance halls and other places unsuitable for minors shall take measures not to allow minors to enter.
Article 24 The State encourages the press, publishing, broadcasting, film, television, literary and artistic organizations and writers, scientists, artists and other citizens to create or make available works that are beneficial to the healthy growth of minors. The State shall give support to the publication of books, newspapers, magazines, audiovisual products and other publications specifically aimed at minors.
Article 25 It is strictly prohibited for any organization or individual to sell, rent or otherwise disseminate to minors books, newspapers, periodicals, audiovisual products that are obscene, violent, murderous, horrible or other poisonous to minors.
Article 26 Children's foodstuffs, toys, appliances and amusement facilities shall not be harmful to the safety and health of children.
Article 27 No one shall smoke in the classrooms, bedrooms, activity rooms and other indoor areas where minors are concentrated in primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and nurseries.
Article 28 No organization or individual may recruit minors under the age of sixteen, except as otherwise provided by the State.
Any organization or individual that recruits minors under the age of sixteen or eighteen in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State shall carry out the relevant provisions of the State in respect of the types of work, hours of work, intensity of work, and protective measures, and shall not arrange for them to be engaged in excessively heavy, poisonous, or hazardous work or dangerous operations.
Article 29 For minors who are vagrant and begging or who have run away from home, the civil affairs departments or other relevant departments shall be responsible for handing them over to their parents or other guardians; if their parents or other guardians cannot be identified for the time being, they shall be taken in by the children's welfare institutions set up by the civil affairs departments for their upbringing.
Article 30 No organization or individual may disclose the privacy of minors.
Article 31 No organization or individual may conceal or destroy a minor's mail; no organization or individual may open or discard a minor's mail, except where the public security authorities or the people's procuratorate inspect it in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law for the purpose of investigating a crime, or where the parents or other guardians of an incapacitated minor open the mail on their behalf.
Article 32 Health departments and schools shall provide minors with the necessary health care and do a good job of preventing diseases.
Article 33 Local people's governments at all levels shall actively develop child-care services, strive to run child-care centers and kindergartens, and encourage and support state organs, social organizations, enterprises and institutions, and other social forces to set up breast-feeding rooms, child-care centers and kindergartens, and advocate and support the organization of family child-care centers.
Article 34 The health department shall implement the vaccination certificate system for children, actively prevent and control common and frequent diseases among children, and strengthen the supervision and management of the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the operational guidance of childcare centers and kindergartens in health care.
Article 35 The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall take various forms to cultivate and train kindergarten and nursery school personnel, and strengthen their political thinking and business education.
Article 36 The State shall, in accordance with the law, protect the intellectual achievements and the right to honor of minors from infringement.
The State, society, families and schools shall create favorable conditions for the healthy development of minors with special talents or outstanding achievements.
Article 37 Where minors have completed the prescribed number of years of compulsory education and are no longer pursuing further education, the relevant government departments and social organizations, enterprises and institutions shall, in the light of the actual situation, provide them with vocational and technical training, and create conditions for them to engage in labor and employment.
Chapter V: Judicial Protection
Article 38 In regard to minors who have violated the law and committed crimes, the policy of education, probation and salvation shall be implemented, and the principle that education shall be the mainstay of education and that punishment shall be a supplement to it shall be adhered to.
Article 39 If a minor who has reached the age of fourteen commits a crime and is not criminally punishable because he or she is under the age of sixteen, the minor's parents or other guardians shall be ordered to discipline him or her; if necessary, he or she may be placed under government custody for correction.
Article 40 The public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's courts shall take care of the physical and mental characteristics of minors in handling cases of juvenile delinquency and may, as necessary, set up specialized institutions or designate specialists to handle such cases.
The public security organs, people's procuratorates, people's courts and juvenile correctional facilities shall respect the human dignity of minors who have committed crimes and safeguard their lawful rights and interests.
Article 41 The public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's courts shall guard minors in pre-trial detention separately from adults in detention.
Minors who have been sentenced by a people's court to serve a prison term shall be detained and managed separately from adults serving such a term.
Article 42 Cases involving minors over the age of fourteen and under the age of sixteen who have committed a crime shall be tried in camera. Cases in which minors over the age of sixteen and under the age of eighteen commit crimes are also generally heard in camera.
In cases of crimes committed by minors, news reports, film and television programs, and public publications shall not disclose the name, residence, photograph, or information that may be deduced about the minor before the verdict is passed.
Article 43 Families and schools and other relevant units shall cooperate with juvenile reformatories and other units where minors in conflict with the law are located to **** together with them in the education and redemption of minors in conflict with the law.
Article 44 Minors who are exempted from prosecution by the people's procuratorates, exempted from criminal punishment by the people's courts, or given a suspended sentence, and who have been discharged from correctional facilities or released at the end of their sentences, shall not be discriminated against in resuming schooling, advancing to higher education, or obtaining employment.
Article 45 The people's courts hearing cases of inheritance shall, in accordance with the law, protect the inheritance rights of minors.
When a people's court hears a divorce case in which the divorcing parties are in dispute over the upbringing of a minor child and cannot reach an agreement, it shall adjudicate the case on the basis of the principle of safeguarding the rights and interests of the child and the specific circumstances of the parties.
Chapter VI Legal Liability
Article 46 Where the lawful rights and interests of a minor are infringed upon, the person who has been infringed upon or his or her guardian shall have the right to request the competent authorities to deal with the matter or to bring an action in the people's court in accordance with the law.
Article 47 Anyone who infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of a minor and causes property loss or other loss or damage to him or her shall be liable to pay compensation or bear other civil liabilities in accordance with the law.
Article 48 If the staff of a school, kindergarten or nursery school inflicts corporal punishment or corporal punishment in disguise on minor students and children, and if the circumstances are serious, the unit in which the staff works or a higher authority shall impose administrative sanctions.
Article 49 If an enterprise or institution or an individual industrial or commercial enterprise unlawfully employs a minor under the age of sixteen, it shall be ordered by the labor department to make corrections and shall be fined; if the circumstances are serious, the business license shall be revoked by the administrative department for industry and commerce.
Article 50 Where a business dance hall or other place unsuitable for minors' activities allows minors to enter, the competent department concerned shall order rectification, and may impose a fine.
Article 51 Anyone who sells, rents or otherwise disseminates obscene books, newspapers, audio-visual products and other publications to minors shall be severely punished in accordance with the law.
Article 52 Anyone who violates a minor's personal rights or other lawful rights and constitutes a crime shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the law.
Anyone who abuses a minor family member under aggravating circumstances shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the provisions of Article 182 of the Criminal Law.
If a judicial officer violates the regulations on supervision and imposes corporal punishment on a minor under supervision, he or she shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the provisions of Article 189 of the Criminal Law.
Whoever refuses to support a minor under the obligation to do so, under aggravating circumstances, shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the provisions of Article 183 of the Criminal Law.
Anyone who drowned an infant shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the provisions of Article 132 of the Criminal Law.
Whoever knows that a school building is in danger of collapsing but fails to take measures to cause it to collapse, resulting in death or injury, shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the provisions of Article 187 of the Criminal Law.
Article 53 abetting a minor to commit a crime shall be punished severely according to law.
Whoever induces, abets or forces a minor to take or inject drugs or engage in prostitution shall be severely punished according to law.
Article 54 Where a party is dissatisfied with a decision on an administrative penalty made in accordance with this Law, he may first apply for reconsideration to an administrative organ of the next higher level or to an administrative organ provided for in the relevant laws and regulations; if he is dissatisfied with the decision on the reconsideration, he shall then bring a lawsuit in the people's court; or he may bring a lawsuit directly in the people's court. Where the relevant laws and regulations stipulate that an application for reconsideration should first be made to the administrative organ, and a lawsuit should then be brought to the people's court if the decision is not accepted, the relevant laws and regulations shall be applied for in accordance with the provisions of the relevant laws and regulations.
The party concerned does not apply for reconsideration of the administrative penalty decision within the statutory period, nor bring a lawsuit to the people's court, and fails to fulfill, the organ that made the penalty decision may apply to the people's court for compulsory execution, or compulsory execution according to law.
Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions
Article 55 The relevant departments of the State Council may formulate relevant regulations in accordance with this Law and submit them to the State Council for approval and implementation.
The standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate measures for implementation in accordance with this Law.
Article 56 This Law shall come into force on January 1, 1992.
Attachment;
Related Provisions of the Criminal Law
Article 26 Whoever abets another person to commit a crime shall be punished according to the role he played in ****ing the same crime. A person who abets a person under eighteen years of age to commit a crime shall be punished more severely.
If the abetted person does not commit the abetted crime, the abettor may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
Article 132 If a person intentionally kills a person, he shall be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for ten years or more; if the circumstances are less serious, he shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three years or less than ten years.
Article 182 If a person abuses a family member under aggravating circumstances, he or she shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years, criminal detention or control.
Whoever commits the crime in the preceding paragraph and causes serious injury or death to the victim shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than two years and not more than seven years.
The crime of the first paragraph is dealt with only if told.
Article 183 Anyone who refuses to support a person who is old, young, sick or otherwise incapable of independent living and has the obligation to do so, under aggravating circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, criminal detention or control.
Article 187 A State official who, through dereliction of duty, causes major losses to public **** property, the State and the interests of the people shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention.
Article 189 If a judicial worker violates the supervision regulations by inflicting corporal punishment and abuse on a person under supervision, and the circumstances are serious, he or she shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are particularly serious, he or she shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.