China

The person posts on a public social-media account, under their own name, that the Holocaust did not happen and the gas chambers are a fabrication. The post contains no threat, no call to violence, and names no living individual.

No PRC law addresses Holocaust denial, and the Criminal Law's speech offences (incitement of ethnic hatred Art. 249, subversion Art. 105, defamation Art. 246) do not reach it. The Cybersecurity Law (Arts. 12, 47, 50) lets regulators order platforms to delete any 'prohibited' or 'false' information, so a takedown order is legally available, but the author faces no penalty. No case of a takedown or sanction for Holocaust denial was found.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · Cybersecurity Law (2016), China Law Translate

The person posts a public rant using slurs against an ethnic or religious group, saying the group is inferior and unwelcome in the country. No threat, no call to violence, no named individual.

Criminal Law Art. 249 punishes inciting ethnic hatred or discrimination with up to 3 years, or 3 to 10 years if especially serious. Below that threshold, PSAPL 2025 Art. 55 gives 10 to 15 days' administrative detention plus a fine of up to 3,000 RMB for posting ethnically discriminatory or derogatory content online. In practice posts against domestic ethnic minorities are deleted and sometimes punished with detention, while abuse aimed at foreigners or groups the state itself targets (official media portray Uyghurs as backward, per the State Department) is largely tolerated. No national enforcement statistics exist.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

At a lawful, peaceful protest in a public square, the person burns a national flag they own and a copy of the dominant religion's scripture they own. No fire-safety rule is broken.

Burning the national flag in public is a crime under Criminal Law Art. 299, punishable by up to 3 years; under the National Flag Law Art. 23, minor cases get up to 15 days' police detention. Burning a religion's scripture can be punished as ethnic discrimination (PSAPL 2025 Art. 55: 10 to 15 days) or, if serious, Art. 249. Peaceful public protests rarely get permits (see C2), so in practice the person would be detained at once and charged at least administratively.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · National Flag Law (2020), China Law Translate · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate

The person posts that the head of state is a criminal and a pedophile. They have no evidence and present it as their opinion of the leader.

Calling Xi Jinping a criminal can be prosecuted as inciting subversion (Criminal Law Art. 105(2): up to 5 years, 5 or more for 'major' cases) or as defamation that the state can prosecute itself where 'national interests are seriously endangered' (Art. 246: up to 3 years). The State Department reports that authorities 'routinely took harsh action against citizens who... criticized General Secretary Xi'. Xu Zhiyong got 14 years for subversion in 2023 after an essay calling on Xi to step down.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person prints and hands out a pamphlet praising an organisation the state has banned as terrorist or extremist, saying its cause is just. The pamphlet urges no specific act, and the person has no contact with the group.

Promoting terrorism or extremism by distributing materials is a crime under Criminal Law Art. 120-3: up to 5 years, or 5 or more if serious. Leafleting for a banned 'cult' such as Falun Gong is prosecuted under Art. 300: 3 to 7 years, or 7 or more if especially serious. Both are enforced: the State Department cites a Falun Gong practitioner serving 7.5 years for posting videos, others given 4 to 6 years, and a 9-year sentence for a Uyghur imam for 'promoting religious extremism'.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2021 version, incl. Amendment XI), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: China · US State Department: 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person repeatedly refers to a named transgender public figure by their former pronouns and name in public posts, with no threats and no contact with the figure.

No PRC law protects gender identity, and misgendering or using a former name is not an offence. The PSAPL's insult and harassment clauses (Art. 50(2) and 50(5)) require public insult, or repeated messages sent to the person. Regulators can still order platforms to remove content under the Cybersecurity Law's general content powers (Arts. 47, 50). No case punishing misgendering was found.

Sources: Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · Cybersecurity Law (2016), China Law Translate

A blogger writes that a named local businessman (a private figure) is a fraud. The claim is false, but the blogger honestly believed it after reading a news report.

Under Civil Code Art. 1025, reporting or comment that harms someone's reputation creates no liability unless the author fabricated or distorted facts or 'seriously failed' a duty to verify information from others. Art. 1026 weighs the credibility of the source, so relying on a news report is a strong defence. Criminal defamation (Art. 246) and damaging commercial reputation (Art. 221, up to 2 years) both require fabrication, which an honest belief rules out. Chinese damages awards are modest, but there is no fee-shifting.

Sources: PRC Civil Code, China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

A journalist accurately reports, with evidence, that a sitting politician is having an extramarital affair. The politician sues for defamation and invasion of privacy.

Truth defeats a Civil Code reputation claim (Art. 1025), but Arts. 1032 and 1033 forbid disclosing 'private activities' without consent unless a law permits it, so a privacy claim against a true report is possible. The bigger risk is the state: only licensed media may report on officials, and the State Department reports that unaccredited reporters 'could face legal fallout or even criminal charges'. Charges like 'picking quarrels' (Art. 293, up to 5 years) are used against people who report embarrassing facts.

Sources: PRC Civil Code, China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

A foreign billionaire sues a local critic in local courts over a harsh but clearly opinion-based review of their business conduct.

There is no anti-SLAPP law or early strike-out for opinion. A foreign claimant can sue in a PRC court under Civil Code Art. 1024. Art. 1025(3) makes 'insulting words' that demean someone's reputation actionable even when no facts are false, so harsh opinion is exposed. A victim can also bring a private criminal complaint for insult under Criminal Law Art. 246 (up to 3 years). No data on suits by foreign billionaires against PRC critics was found.

Sources: PRC Civil Code, China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person wants to buy a common centrefire semi-automatic rifle (e.g. an AR-15 pattern rifle with a 30-round magazine) and keep it at home.

The Firearms Control Law (Art. 3) bans private possession of guns except for narrow categories such as shooting clubs, hunters in designated areas and herders (Art. 6). Illegally possessing a gun is a crime under Criminal Law Art. 128: up to 3 years, or 3 to 7 years if circumstances are serious (several guns).

Sources: PRC Firearms Control Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person wants to buy a 9mm handgun and keep it loaded at home for self-defence.

No civilian can lawfully own a handgun for self-defence: the Firearms Control Law limits civilian guns to sport units, hunters and herders (Arts. 3, 6), and self-defence is not a recognised purpose. Possessing one is punished under Criminal Law Art. 128 with up to 3 years, or 3 to 7 years if serious.

Sources: PRC Firearms Control Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person wants to carry a loaded handgun, concealed, in everyday public places.

There is no carry permit for civilians. Carrying an illegally held gun is punished under Criminal Law Art. 128 (up to 3 years; 3 to 7 if serious), and carrying a gun into a public place or onto public transport under Art. 130 (up to 3 years). Administratively, PSAPL 2025 Art. 38 gives up to 5 days' detention for illegally carrying guns or controlled items.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate

The person wants to carry pepper spray, or a folding knife with a 9 cm locking blade, in public for self-defence.

PSAPL 2025 Art. 38 punishes carrying daggers and other knives 'controlled under state provisions' with up to 5 days' detention. Carrying them into public places or onto transport is a crime if serious (Criminal Law Art. 130). The Ministry of Public Security's controlled-knife standard covers daggers, spring-assisted switchblades and long blades, not an ordinary 9 cm manual folding knife, so carrying one is lawful except where security checks ban knives (stations, subways, events). Pepper spray is treated as a restricted police item and is not scored. Xinjiang has imposed knife registration on residents; the MPS standard and the Xinjiang rules were not opened as sources.

Sources: Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person wants to own a machine gun, or a destructive device such as an artillery piece or a grenade launcher with live rounds.

Machine guns and destructive devices are closed to all civilians under the Firearms Control Law (Art. 3). Possessing a gun or ammunition carries up to 3 years under Criminal Law Art. 128 (3 to 7 if serious). Storing explosives, such as live grenade rounds, falls under Art. 125: 3 to 10 years, up to death if serious. The more lenient route (a single machine gun) is scored.

Sources: PRC Firearms Control Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

At night, a stranger armed with a knife breaks into the person's home. The person shoots and kills the intruder with a lawfully held gun.

Criminal Law Art. 20(3) gives 'special defence': harm, including death, caused while defending against an ongoing homicide, robbery or other violent crime seriously endangering personal safety is never excessive and carries no liability. The 2020 SPC/SPP/MPS guiding opinions read any attack with a deadly weapon as qualifying, and do not require proportionality. The opinions were issued after public outcry over defenders being punished. A killing is still normally handled through criminal detention and investigation before a no-charge decision. Note that a 'lawfully held' gun is almost impossible for a civilian to have (see A2).

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · China Law Translate: Standing your ground, China style (2020 justifiable-defence opinions)

On the street, a stranger attacks the person with fists. The person could safely walk away but instead punches back once, breaking the attacker's nose.

Art. 20 imposes no duty to retreat. Defence is 'excessive' only if it is clearly beyond what was needed AND causes death or serious injury; a broken nose is ordinarily a minor injury, so one punch is lawful. PSAPL 2025 Art. 19 now also exempts defensive acts from administrative punishment. In practice, police often treat such cases as 'mutual fighting' and detain or fine both sides (Art. 51: up to 10 days' detention); the 2020 guiding opinions were issued because of this practice.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · China Law Translate: Standing your ground, China style (2020 justifiable-defence opinions)

The person wants to buy a course of amoxicillin for a sinus infection without seeing a doctor.

Amoxicillin is a prescription-only drug under the classification system of the Drug Administration Law (Art. 54). A pharmacy that dispenses without following prescription rules is warned, and in serious cases loses its licence (Art. 130); the buyer is not punished. Enforcement is weak: a 2019 simulated-client study found 63.1% of 595 Guangzhou pharmacies sold antibiotics without a prescription.

Sources: PRC Drug Administration Law (2019) (official text, Wikisource mirror) · Kuang et al., PLoS One 2020: non-prescription sale of antibiotics in Guangzhou community pharmacies

The person wants to take a drug approved by the EMA or FDA but not approved in their own country, for a non-terminal condition.

Drug Administration Law Art. 65 lets individuals bring in small quantities of drugs for personal use under customs rules. Importing drugs without approval is punished with confiscation and fines (Art. 124), but the 2019 law says unapproved imports of small amounts of drugs lawfully marketed abroad may be punished less or not at all. Criminal Law Art. 142-1 (up to 3 years) applies only when an import is 'sufficient to seriously harm health'. Patients commonly carry foreign drugs in or buy through personal-shopper channels; no enforcement data against patients was found.

Sources: PRC Drug Administration Law (2019) (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC Criminal Law (2021 version, incl. Amendment XI), China Law Translate

A terminally ill patient wants a drug that has passed Phase 1 trials but is not approved anywhere, and the manufacturer is willing to supply it.

Drug Administration Law Art. 23 allows an investigational drug for a life-threatening disease with no effective treatment to be given to other patients with the same condition, after review and informed consent. It can be used only within the institution running the clinical trial. There is no right-to-try and no direct patient-manufacturer route. No approval statistics are published, and access is limited to trial hospitals.

Sources: PRC Drug Administration Law (2019) (official text, Wikisource mirror)

The person wants to sell one of their kidneys to a willing recipient, with surgery by licensed surgeons.

The 2023 Organ Donation and Transplantation Regulations ban any sale of organs (Art. 6). Living donation is allowed only to a spouse or close blood relative (Art. 11), so a sale to a stranger cannot be carried out lawfully. Parties to a sale are fined 10 to 20 times the price, and surgeons involved lose their licences for life (Art. 37). Organising the sale of organs is a crime under Criminal Law Art. 234-1: up to 5 years, or more if serious. Prosecutions target brokers; a recipient who arranges the deal can be charged as an organiser.

Sources: Regulations on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation (2023), China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2021 version, incl. Amendment XI), China Law Translate

An adult declines a vaccine the state recommends or mandates for adults (score the strictest adult mandate in force in the last 5 years).

No PRC statute mandates an adult vaccine, and COVID-19 vaccination was officially voluntary. During 2021 and 2022, however, some local governments and employers barred unvaccinated people from workplaces and venues. The State Department reports that most adults were required to use health-code apps tracking test results, vaccination and movement, with denial of employment and forced quarantine. No primary source on specific local vaccine orders was opened, so the score rests on the reported pattern of workplace and venue exclusion in the strictest localities.

Sources: US State Department: 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

A competent adult with a terminal illness and under 6 months to live asks their doctor for lethal medication to take themselves.

China has no assisted-dying law. Providing lethal medication is treated as intentional homicide under Criminal Law Art. 232: death, life or 10+ years, or 3 to 10 years where 'the circumstances are lighter', the category used for mercy killings. No recent prosecution of a doctor was found, but no doctor openly provides it; the scored outcome assumes a lighter-circumstances homicide conviction.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

A competent adult with unbearable but non-terminal suffering (e.g. advanced multiple sclerosis) asks their doctor for the same.

Same as R1: there is no exception for non-terminal suffering. Helping a patient die is prosecuted as intentional homicide under Criminal Law Art. 232: 3 to 10 years where the circumstances are lighter, otherwise 10+ years, life or death.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

A layperson gets lethal medication for a competent friend who has clearly asked to die, and is present when the friend takes it. No payment.

Assisting suicide has no separate offence and is treated as intentional homicide under Criminal Law Art. 232: 3 to 10 years for 'lighter circumstances'. Relatives who supplied poison to dying family members have been convicted. In the widely reported 2015 Guangzhou Panyu case, Deng Mingjian got 3 years suspended for 4 years; that case report was not opened as a source here.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person is found with 5 grams of cannabis for personal use.

Possessing a small amount of drugs, or using them, is punished under PSAPL 2025 Art. 84 with 10 to 15 days' administrative detention plus a fine of up to 3,000 RMB. Police may force drug tests (Anti-Drug Law Art. 32) and register users. Users judged addicted get 3 years of community detox (Art. 33), and repeat or 'serious' cases get 2 years of compulsory isolated detox, extendable by a year (Arts. 38, 47). That is compulsory detention, so the law scores 0. A first-time user with 5 g typically gets the 10 to 15 days' detention, which is scored just above a criminal sentence.

Sources: Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · PRC Anti-Drug Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person is found with one personal dose of psilocybin mushrooms or MDMA.

MDMA and psilocybin are controlled drugs. Holding one dose is punished like cannabis under PSAPL 2025 Art. 84: 10 to 15 days' detention and a fine of up to 3,000 RMB. Repeat or addicted users face 3 years of community detox or 2 to 3 years of compulsory isolated detox (Anti-Drug Law Arts. 33, 38, 47).

Sources: Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · PRC Anti-Drug Law (official text, Wikisource mirror)

The person sells 30 grams of cannabis to another adult.

Criminal Law Art. 347 makes selling any quantity of drugs a crime. Below the 'relatively large' thresholds, the sentence is up to 3 years plus a fine, or 3 to 7 years if serious (for example, sales to minors). Large quantities carry 15 years, life or death. Courts routinely impose real prison terms for small sales.

Sources: PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

Two adults agree to have sex for money, in private, with no third party involved.

Selling or buying sex is punished under PSAPL 2025 Art. 78 with 10 to 15 days' administrative detention plus a fine of up to 5,000 RMB (minor cases: up to 5 days or 1,000 RMB), for both parties. 'Custody and education', which allowed up to 2 years' detention, was abolished in 2019. Police raids on hotels and massage venues are routine; the State Department notes rehabilitation-style detention for prostitution.

Sources: Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

Three consenting adults want to live together as a family, share property, and make binding arrangements for inheritance, medical decisions and parenting.

If none of the three is married, cohabiting is lawful. Bigamy (Criminal Law Art. 258, up to 2 years) and the Civil Code's ban on a married person cohabiting with a third party (Art. 1042) apply only if one of them is married. Wills and written voluntary guardianship designations (Civil Code Art. 33) cover inheritance and medical decisions. Legal parenthood cannot be shared by three adults.

Sources: PRC Civil Code, China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

Parents want to homeschool their 10-year-old using their own curriculum.

Parents must send children aged 6 to school (Compulsory Education Law Art. 11). Only health-related deferral can be approved, and only organisations approved for specialised training may teach compulsory education themselves (Art. 14). Parents who do not enrol a child are 'criticised and educated' and ordered to correct it by a deadline (Art. 58); there is no fine or criminal penalty. Homeschooling persists underground: ChinaAid, cited by the State Department, estimates 50,000 mostly Christian families homeschool illegally, and authorities raid house-church schools.

Sources: PRC Compulsory Education Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · US State Department: 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: China

The state wants to read the person's end-to-end encrypted messages, although they are suspected of no serious crime.

Under CPL Art. 150, police can use 'technical investigative measures' (interception) for broad categories of serious crime on internal police approval, with no judge. Cybersecurity Law Art. 28 requires network operators to give police and state security 'technical support and assistance'. The State Department reports that WeChat chats are automatically filtered, that Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram are blocked, and that unauthorised VPN use, needed to reach end-to-end-encrypted apps, is regularly penalised.

Sources: Criminal Procedure Law (2018), China Law Translate · Cybersecurity Law (2016), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person wants a prepaid SIM card and an internet connection without giving their identity.

Cybersecurity Law Art. 24 requires real identity for network access, phone activation, instant messaging and posting services, and providers must refuse service otherwise. The Anti-Telecom Fraud Law (Art. 9) requires full real-name registration of every phone card. Buying, renting or borrowing someone else's card or account is banned (Art. 31) and punished with fines of up to 20,000 RMB and up to 15 days' detention in serious cases (Art. 44).

Sources: Cybersecurity Law (2016), China Law Translate · Anti-Telecommunications Network Fraud Law (2022), China Law Translate

The person wants to pay a dealer 15,000 USD (or the local equivalent) in cash for a used car.

There is no cash-payment limit, and car dealers are not among the non-financial businesses with anti-money-laundering duties under the 2024 AML Law (Art. 64: real estate, lawyers, accountants, notaries, precious-metal dealers). The buyer's bank must file large-value transaction reports (Art. 35), so withdrawing the cash is reported.

Sources: PRC Anti-Money Laundering Law (2024), China Law Translate

The person is walking down a public street with no identity document on them. They are not suspected of anything. A police officer stops them and asks who they are and to see ID.

No law requires carrying an ID card. Under Resident Identity Card Law Art. 15, police may check ID when someone is suspected of an offence, at scene controls or emergencies, at stations and airports, and at places designated during major events; refusal is 'handled according to law'. Under People's Police Law Art. 9, a person suspected and of unknown identity can be taken in and held for questioning for 24 to 48 hours. In practice, checks at stations and in big cities during sensitive dates are routine. In Xinjiang (about 2% of the population with Tibet), checkpoints require Uyghurs to scan ID cards and faces to enter cities, markets and mosques, and political 'liabilities' are sent back to their hukou location. Those regions were weighted by population.

Sources: PRC Resident Identity Card Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC People's Police Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person wants to found a new religion, or an association, and hold weekly meetings without registering it.

Religious activity is lawful only in registered venues or designated temporary sites (Regulations on Religious Affairs Art. 41). Violations lead to bans, confiscation and fines of up to 50,000 RMB (Art. 69), and organisers of 'illegal religious activities' or cults get 10 to 15 days' detention (PSAPL 2025 Art. 31). A new religion is likely to be labelled a 'cult', which carries 3 to 7 years, or 7+ if especially serious (Criminal Law Art. 300). An unregistered association gets 10 to 15 days' detention (PSAPL Art. 65). The State Department reports at least 2,207 Church of Almighty God members sentenced in 2023, and routine raids, fines and detentions at house churches.

Sources: Regulations on Religious Affairs (2017), China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2021 version, incl. Amendment XI), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: China

The person organises a protest of 50 people in a public square with one day's notice to nobody. It is peaceful.

Any assembly needs a police permit applied for 5 days ahead (Assembly Law Arts. 7, 8). Organisers of an unpermitted protest who refuse to stop get 10 to 15 days' detention (PSAPL 2025 Art. 66). If they defy a dispersal order and seriously disrupt order, the crime carries up to 5 years (Criminal Law Art. 296); 'picking quarrels' (Art. 293, up to 5 years) is also used. The State Department reports that permits are rarely granted, that political protests are broken up quickly, and that activists are jailed for 'picking quarrels'.

Sources: PRC Law on Assemblies, Processions and Demonstrations (official text, Wikisource mirror) · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person publicly announces they have left the country's dominant religion, or Islam, and criticises it.

There is no apostasy or blasphemy offence. The Constitution (Art. 36) forbids compelling anyone to believe or not to believe, and the state officially promotes atheism, so leaving a religion has no legal or family-law consequence. Sharp public criticism of Islam can, however, be punished as ethnically discriminatory content with 10 to 15 days' detention (PSAPL 2025 Art. 55), or as incitement of ethnic hatred if serious (Criminal Law Art. 249). In practice, criticism of religion is tolerated unless it is read as attacking an ethnic minority.

Sources: PRC Constitution (official text, Wikisource mirror) · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person runs a free, non-commercial online group for women. They refuse membership to anyone they judge to be male, including a transgender woman who applies. She complains.

China has no law against gender-identity discrimination, and its equality provisions do not reach the membership of private, non-commercial groups. Nothing lets the state or the excluded applicant compel admission or claim damages.

Sources: PRC Civil Code, China Law Translate

The person and 1,000 others form a political party whose platform is to stop immigration by people of one race and repeal anti-discrimination law, by peaceful and lawful means. They apply to register it and run candidates.

The Constitution (Art. 1) makes CCP leadership 'the defining feature' of the system and forbids undermining the socialist system. The State Department reports that 'the government forbade the creation of new political parties' beyond the nine pre-1949 parties. Organising one is prosecuted as subversion (Criminal Law Art. 105: 10+ years for ringleaders): Lv Gengsong of the banned China Democracy Party is serving 11 years.

Sources: PRC Constitution (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person is a junior civil servant. Off duty and under a pseudonym, they post sharp criticism of their department's policy and of the minister. They reveal nothing confidential. They are identified.

Civil Servants Law Art. 59(1) forbids civil servants to 'spread speech damaging the authority of the Constitution, or the reputation of the CCP and the state'. Sanctions run up to dismissal (Art. 62). Appeals go only to the employing organ or the civil-service authority (Art. 95); dismissals cannot be challenged in court. Sharp online criticism of officials can also bring detention for public insult (PSAPL 2025 Art. 50) or 'picking quarrels' (Criminal Law Art. 293, up to 5 years). The typical result is dismissal plus party discipline.

Sources: PRC Civil Servants Law (2018), China Law Translate · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate

The person wants to move abroad permanently, taking 1 million USD of savings and shares.

Individuals may buy only USD 50,000 of foreign exchange a year under the Individual Foreign Exchange rules. Transferring personal property abroad on emigration needs SAFE approval under separate measures (both listed in SAFE's catalogue). Exit can be barred for suspects, people with court-ordered civil restrictions, or anyone a central authority deems a national-security risk (Exit and Entry Law Art. 12). The State Department reports that exit bans are used against activists and some government employees.

Sources: SAFE: Catalog of Current Major Laws and Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration (as of 30 June 2025) · PRC Exit and Entry Administration Law (official text, Wikisource mirror) · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person, who already holds another citizenship, wants to renounce this one.

A citizen who settles abroad and voluntarily acquires another nationality loses PRC nationality automatically (Nationality Law Art. 9). Anyone else must apply, and approval 'may' be granted to relatives of foreigners, people settled abroad or those with 'other legitimate reasons' (Art. 10). State personnel and active soldiers may not renounce (Art. 12). Approval is discretionary, but an ordinary dual national is usually approved; no fee or timing data was found.

Sources: PRC Nationality Law (official text, Wikisource mirror)

Police find 20,000 USD in cash in the person's car at a traffic stop. They charge no crime.

Under CPL Art. 141, police may seize property relevant to a case during an investigation without a court order, and must release it within 3 days of finding it unrelated (Art. 145). The PSAPL also lets police seize items in administrative cases. No judge reviews the seizure; the owner must complain to the police or procuratorate. Cash is not itself suspect, so a plain traffic stop rarely ends in seizure, but there is no independent check if police claim a link to fraud, gambling or money laundering.

Sources: Criminal Procedure Law (2018), China Law Translate · Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025), China Law Translate

The person is arrested for a non-violent offence carrying up to 2 years in prison. They have a home and a job.

Police can hold a suspect up to 37 days before a procurator (not a judge) approves arrest (CPL Arts. 91, 86). After arrest, investigative detention runs 2 months and is extendable for many more (Arts. 156, 158). No judge reviews detention before trial. 'Release on guarantee' exists (Art. 67), but the State Department reports that 'authorities released few suspects on bail' and that pretrial detention of a year or longer was common. National-security cases can use incommunicado residential surveillance for up to 6 months (Art. 75).

Sources: Criminal Procedure Law (2018), China Law Translate · US State Department: 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: China

The person wants to build a 20 m² wooden shed on their own rural land.

Rural land is collectively owned and its use is zoned (Land Administration Law Art. 4). Building on farmland needs approval to convert it to construction land (Art. 44). Unapproved structures bring orders to return the land and demolish, plus confiscation or fines (Arts. 77, 78), and occupying large areas of farmland is a crime (Criminal Law Art. 342). No enforcement data on small sheds was opened.

Sources: PRC Land Administration Law (2019) (official text, Wikisource mirror) · PRC Criminal Law (2017 revision), China Law Translate