ABSTRACT
The revision of the Military Service Law (Bingyi fa), passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on December 29, 1998, represented the third change in the conscription system of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This revision represented the personnel component of the sweeping reform taking place in the PLA, a vital link in the military’s quest for professionalization and modernization. More specifically, it was designed to address the problems arising from the old conscription system that was based on the Military Service Law passed in 1984. The military was feeling the effects of market reforms and the overall loosening of state control on society-movements that both enabled it to finally begin its long-awaited modernization efforts and lessened its appeal to an increasingly open society where citizens were presented with more opportunities than ever before.
