China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) began as an all-volunteer force. In 1955, as part of an effort to modernize the PLA, the first Military Service Law created a system of compulsory military service.[1] Since the late 1970s, the PLA has been a hybrid force that combines conscripts and volunteers.[1][2][3] Conscripts who fulfilled their service obligation can stay in the military as volunteer soldiers for a total of 16 years.[1][3]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).In the late 1970s it adopted the current hybrid system of volunteers and conscripts.