According to1People's Republic of China (PRC)'s new military service law issued on February 29th, 1998 and1China People's Liberation Army's new military service law revised and issued by the State Council and the Central Military Commission on June 30th, 1999, active servicemen are divided into compulsory military service soldiers and voluntary military service soldiers according to their service nature. Soldiers with compulsory military service system are called conscripts, and the period of active service for conscripts is 2 years. Volunteers are called petty officers. Non-commissioned officers are selected from conscripts who have completed active service, and can also be recruited from citizens with professional skills in non-military departments according to the needs of the army. Non-commissioned officers should serve in active service by stages. The service life of non-commissioned officers is: 3 years in the first and second phases, 4 years in the third and fourth phases, 5 years in the fifth phase and more than 9 years in the sixth phase. The term of active service for non-commissioned officers is at least 3 years, generally not more than 30 years, and the age is not more than 55 years.