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Keep written evidence of your progress during a China probation period

Your probation period in China is part of your employment contract, not a separate trial run, and the reliable way through it is to keep written evidence of what you do and what you agree with your manager from the first week. A record turns a vague sense that things are going fine into something you can point to if a question about your performance or your pay comes up later.

This piece is written for you as the employee: someone inside or about to enter a probation period in China, who does not yet know the local requirements and wants the decision made explicit — what to check, what to ask, and what is out of your hands.

What the published rules and the statute fix

Two official references sit behind everything below: the Shanghai International Services Portal page Practical guide to probationary periods in Shanghai, and the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau's published text of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China. Each point below is linked at the sentence where it appears, so you can move from the statement to the official wording without hunting for it.

Probation is contract time. The portal states that the probation period is counted as part of the employment contract, and that if a contract stipulates only a probation period, it is treated as the full contract term rather than as probation. Article 19 of the Labor Contract Law states the same thing in statutory terms: the probation period is included within the employment contract term, and where a contract only stipulates a probation period, the probation is not established and that term is the employment contract term. Read both together at the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China and the Practical guide to probationary periods in Shanghai. Whatever else is uncertain, the weeks you spend on probation are contract weeks.

How long probation may last. Article 19 of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China sets the limits for ordinary contracts: for a fixed-term contract of three months to less than one year, probation must not exceed one month; for one year to less than three years, two months; and for three years or more, and for open-ended contracts, six months. The Shanghai International Service Portal English guide currently says three months for the middle band. That conflicts with Article 19; use the statutory two-month limit and confirm with your local human resources and social security bureau or the 12333 hotline if your contract says otherwise. Check your own contract term against the applicable band before you sign.

The same article adds two further limits, both repeated on the portal page:

  • Only one probationary period may be agreed between the same employer and the same employee. A second probation with the same employer is not something the text leaves open.
  • No probation period may be agreed for a contract based on completing a specific task, or for a contract with a term of less than three months. The portal adds the same two exclusions and states that no probation may be agreed for part-time employment.

The public-institution case. Article 13 of the Regulations on Personnel Management in Public Institutions says that a first-time employed worker who signs an appointment contract with a public institution for three years or more has a 12-month probation period. The Shanghai portal English guide describes this less precisely as a newly hired employee on a contract longer than three years. For the actual rule, use Article 13's first-time-employment and three-years-or-more conditions. Do not apply this narrow public-institution rule to an ordinary employer.

The contract itself. The portal states that an employment relationship is established on the first day of work, so a written employment contract must be signed when the relationship begins. If it is not signed at the start, it must be signed within one month of the first day of work, and an employer that fails to sign a written contract for more than one month but less than one year after work starts must pay double the wage for each month without one. There is no separate probation-only paperwork that replaces this.

Pay during probation. Article 20 of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China sets the structure precisely, and the structure is where people go wrong. A worker's wage during probation must not be lower than the lowest wage for the same position at the employer or 80 percent of the wage agreed in the employment contract, and in addition must not be lower than the local minimum wage standard where the employer is located.

The statute gives two wage reference points and, separately, a local minimum-wage floor. The wording does not establish from your documents alone which reference point should be used in a dispute. Compare the offer and contract with both published figures, ask HR to explain the calculation in writing, and check the interpretation with the local human resources and social security bureau or a practising labour lawyer. Do not assume that the employer may simply select the lower figure. Whatever interpretation applies, the wage may not fall below the local minimum wage standard where the employer is located. The Shanghai International Service Portal guide also lists those reference points and the local minimum.

Social insurance. The portal states that employers must apply for social insurance registration for employees within 30 days of employment, and that if registration is not completed the social insurance agency will determine the required contributions. It also states that both employers and employees must pay social insurance contributions in accordance with the law (Practical guide to probationary periods in Shanghai). If your onboarding paperwork treats probation as a period without registration, raise that with HR in writing and confirm the position with your local bureau.

Ending the contract during probation

This is the rule employees most often assume is looser than it is. Article 21 of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China states that during probation an employer may not terminate the employment contract except where the worker falls under Article 39 or under items one and two of Article 40, and that where an employer does terminate during probation it must explain its reasons to the worker. Probation is not an at-will window.

The Article 39 grounds set out in the same statute include: being proven not to meet the recruitment conditions during probation; seriously violating the employer's rules; serious dereliction of duty or graft causing substantial damage to the employer; a concurrent employment relationship that seriously affects the work, or refusal to correct it after being asked; invalidity of the contract; and criminal liability. The two Article 40 grounds that apply here are the medical ground — inability to do the original work or work otherwise arranged after the medical period ends — and the competence ground — inability to do the job even after training or a change of position. Anything outside that list is not a lawful basis during probation, and the stated-reasons requirement gives you something concrete to ask for in writing if it happens.

Rules versus practice

Keep the two apart, because mixing them leads to wrong decisions.

The rules are the points named above with links attached: probation counted as contract time, the length bands, the limits in Article 19, the narrowly defined Article 13 public-institution case, the written-contract and first-day requirements, the Article 20 wage structure, Article 21 on termination, and social insurance registration. These you can cite.

Practice is everything else — how your team runs its review, what good looks like in your role, how often you meet your manager. Neither official page speaks to these, so they are yours to establish with the employer. When you write a note about practice, label it as your own understanding rather than as a rule.

One mistake is worth naming: assuming that because one number is published, a related number must be published too. Article 19 sets length bands for ordinary contracts, while Article 13 of the public-institution regulations gives a specific figure for one narrow case; they do not give a probation length for every arrangement, and they state no general rule on whether probation can be extended. Where the pages are silent, mark the point as unverified rather than filling the gap yourself.

What to check before you sign

Practical checks, not rules from either page.

  • Confirm in writing what the probation length is, and check it against the band for your contract term set out above. Check too that this is the first probation agreed with this employer.
  • Read the wage line and hold it against the Article 20 structure: compare both reference figures, ask HR to explain its calculation, and check the figure against the local minimum wage standard where the employer is located.
  • Ask for the date your written contract will be signed, since it must be signed when the relationship begins and no later than one month from your first day.
  • Note who your point of contact is if the agreed tasks change.

These are all things you can reasonably ask for in writing before you commit.

Build the evidence from the start

This section is practical habit rather than law. The aim is to make your progress visible in writing, so that a later review runs on facts rather than memory.

  • Write down the objectives you and your manager agree on, and keep the note. A short list of what doing well means for your role is enough.
  • Keep a line each week of what you completed and what blocked you. A short note is fine; consistency matters more than length.
  • Save copies of written requests and decisions: emails and messages in which a manager confirmed a task or a change. A confirmation in writing is worth more than one remembered from a conversation.
  • When something goes wrong, name it in writing early. A problem raised early is easier to fix than one found late, and the record shows you raised it in time. This matters particularly for the competence ground in Article 40, where training or a change of position is part of the sequence.
  • Keep the record in one place you control, separate from any system you might lose access to.
  • At the end of each month, read the notes back and write one line on whether the opening objectives still hold. If they shifted, note the new version and when it was agreed.

The habit matters more than the tool; a plain document you actually update beats an elaborate system you abandon. The record is yours. You do not have to share every note, but having it means you can answer a specific question — what did you work on in the opening weeks — with a specific answer.

Questions to ask in the early weeks

A few questions are reasonable to ask your manager or HR before or during the early weeks. Asking signals that you want to meet expectations clearly, not that you doubt the role.

  • What does the probation review look like, who runs it, and against what criteria?
  • How was your probation wage calculated against the same-position wage, 80 percent of the contract wage, and the local minimum wage standard?
  • If the role, the team, or the location changes, how is that reflected in writing?
  • Who do you go to when a task or a blocker is unclear?

You are allowed to ask these as the employee. Capture the answers in your record so you can return to them later.

If any answer touches your pay, your social insurance registration, or the length of your probation, and it does not match the statute or the portal (bearing in mind their conflict about the middle probation-length band), do not settle it from memory: ask the question in writing, then check it with your local human resources and social security bureau, the 12333 hotline, or a practising labour lawyer who can read your actual contract.

What stays out of your hands

Some things you cannot change on your own, and naming them keeps your energy where it helps.

  • The statutory points and the contract terms already signed are fixed references. You can discuss them, but you cannot unilaterally rewrite them.
  • The probation length, once stated in a contract you signed, is not something you adjust by yourself.
  • The employer's internal review process is theirs to run. You can prepare for it, but you do not set its shape.
  • Whether your manager is available to answer questions is not within your control; the record is how you stay steady when answers are slow.

This boundary is not discouragement. It is the line between what you prepare for and what you simply work within.

If a pay figure looks below the applicable level

Practical guidance built on the wage rule above, not a new rule.

If the probation wage in your offer, or the amount actually paid, looks lower than a published reference figure or the local minimum wage standard where the employer is located, then the published wording above is what you hold. The step is to raise the specific figure in writing with HR or your manager, and to keep your own copy of the payslip and the contract page that states the wage. Whether and how to take it further depends on your case; neither page walks through a dispute process, so treat any next step as something to verify against the official text or a qualified adviser.

A demonstration note (fictional)

The sample below shows the format only. It is fictional for demonstration, corresponds to no real employer, and is not a sample of China market practice.

Sample week: Completed the onboarding checklist and the first draft of the monthly report. Blocked on access to the shared system; raised it with the manager and received access later that week.

That style is what makes a later conversation concrete. Replace the details with your own real tasks, and keep the habit each week.

Keep the evidence because it protects the talk

A written record lets you speak in facts during the review instead of impressions, and it gives you a reference if a disagreement about your wage, your tasks, or an early termination appears later. Start from the first week, keep it light, and let the evidence carry the discussion.

Everything cited above — probation counted as contract time, the length bands and the Article 19 limits, the narrowly defined Article 13 public-institution case, the first-day start and written-contract requirement, the Article 20 wage structure, Article 21 on termination, and social insurance registration — comes from the public-institution regulation linked above, the Shanghai International Services Portal page Practical guide to probationary periods in Shanghai and the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau's published text of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China. Rules and local application can change, so treat both pages as versions to re-check, and for anything that turns on your own contract or on a live disagreement, confirm with your local human resources and social security bureau or a practising labour lawyer.