Beijing: China’s military is accepting heavier recruits and will no longer reject people for sporting prominent tattoos as it steps up a drive to attract young, new entrants, state media said today.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — already 2.3 million-strong — is on a major charm offensive to attract recruits, particularly from a booming student population that has become more wealthy and fashionable.
As such, the army has relaxed some of the stringent standards governing health examinations for this year’s winter army conscripts, according to a Beijing News report posted on the defence ministry’s website.
It said that men sporting tattoos less than two centimetres in diametre on their faces or necks would now be allowed into the army.
According to Contemporary Medicine, a medical journal managed by China’s health ministry, a person’s standard weight in kilos is calculated by subtracting 110 from his or her height in centimetres. The changes come as the PLA targets young people — and particularly educated graduates — to bring skills the army needs to modernise. (PTI)
