Guide

Reading a Chinese employment contract

Updated 16 September 2026

Chinese employment law protects foreign employees in the same way as local ones. These are the clauses worth reading twice — and the rules the contract cannot override.

Get it in writing, and in time

An employer must sign a written contract with you when you start, or within one month. If it has not done so after a month, it owes you double wages (for up to a year). Your work permit application needs the signed contract anyway, so insist on seeing it before you travel. Contracts with foreign employees are fixed-term, for up to five years, and can be renewed.

The Chinese text is usually the one that counts. If the contract comes in two languages, ask which version prevails and get the Chinese checked.

Probation

For a contract of three months to under a year, probation is at most one month; one to three years, at most two months; three years or more, at most six months.
An employer may set probation only once. Contracts under three months, and contracts for a single project, have none.
Pay during probation must be at least 80% of the agreed wage (or the lowest wage for the same job there) and never below the local minimum wage.

Pay: gross, net and allowances

Check whether the salary is before or after tax. Individual income tax is withheld by the employer.
Foreign employees who are tax residents without a home in China can receive housing, children’s education, language training, meal, laundry, relocation, business travel and home-leave allowances tax-free until 31 December 2027 — or use the standard special deductions instead, not both in the same year.
Write down the pay date, the currency, and how bonuses and the “13th month” are calculated.

Social insurance

National rules (since 2011) require employers to enrol foreign employees in social insurance — pension, medical, work injury, unemployment and maternity. How strictly this is applied differs between cities. Citizens of countries with a social security agreement with China — among them Germany, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Spain — can usually be exempted from some contributions, typically the pension. Ask how your employer handles it in your city.

Hours, holidays and leave

The standard is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Overtime is paid at 150% on working days, 200% on rest days (unless time off is given instead) and 300% on public holidays.
From 2025 there are 13 days of paid public holidays a year (Spring Festival and Labour Day each gained a day).
Paid annual leave depends on your total years of work: 5 days after one year, 10 after ten, 15 after twenty.
Teaching contracts should state teaching hours and office hours separately.

Leaving

An employer can only end a contract on the grounds the law lists, and with notice or pay in lieu where the law requires it. You can resign with 30 days’ written notice (three days during probation).
Severance is generally one month’s pay for each year worked (half a month for less than six months). Unlawful dismissal doubles it.
Penalties for leaving early are limited. The law allows the employer to charge liquidated damages in only two cases: a service period agreed in return for training the employer paid for, and a non-compete agreement. A clause fining you for resigning is not enforceable — although you still owe the notice the contract and the law require.
Ask for the paperwork that cancels your work permit (the release letter); you need it for your next job.

A checklist

Job title and city match the work permit.
Salary: gross or net, pay date, bonus rules.
Housing: provided or an allowance, and who pays the deposit and bills.
Flights: when they are reimbursed, and whether it depends on finishing the contract.
Hours, teaching load, weekends and evenings.
Probation length and pay.
Notice periods, and any clause that charges you for leaving.
Who pays for the work permit, the medical check and document authentication.

General information based on the PRC Labour Contract Law, the rules on employing foreigners and national tax notices, checked in September 2026 — not legal advice. Local rules differ; for a dispute, contact the local labour bureau or a lawyer.