Article 17 A labor contract shall contain the following terms:

(1) name, domicile and legal representative or the principal leading person of the employing unit;

(2) name, address and the number of the resident identity card or of other valid identity documents of the worker;

(3) term of the labor contract;

(4) job description and the place of work;

(5) working hours, rest and vacation;

(6) labor remuneration;

(7) social insurance;

(8) occupational protection, working conditions and protection against occupational hazards; and

(9) other terms which are required to be included in a labor contract, as provided for by laws and regulations.

In addition to the requisite terms mentioned above, an employing unit and a worker may agree to have other matters stipulated in the labor contract, such as probation period, training, confidentiality, supplementary insurance and welfare benefits.

Article 18 If a dispute arises because the labor remuneration rate, the standard for working conditions, etc. are not definitely specified in the labor contract, the employing unit and the worker may negotiate anew. If the negotiation is unsuccessful, the relevant stipulations of the collective contract shall be applicable. If there is no collective contract or the collective contract is silent on the issue of labor remuneration, equal pay for equal work shall be practiced. If there is no collective contract or the collective contract is silent on the standards for working conditions, etc., the relevant regulations of the State shall apply.

Article 19 If the term of a labor contract is more than three months but less than one year, the probation period may not exceed one month; if the term is more than one year but less than three years, the probation period may not exceed two months; and if the term is fixed for three or more years or is open-ended, the probation period may not exceed six months.

An employing unit and a worker may agree upon only one probation period.

No probation period may be stipulated in a labor contract that expires upon completion of a given job or in a labor contract for a term of less than three months.

The probation period shall be included in the term of a labor contract. If a labor contract only provides for a probation period, that period shall not stand and the term provided for shall be the term of the labor contract.

Article 20 The wage of a worker on probation shall not be lower than the lowest wage level for the same job of the employing unit or be less than 80 per cent of the wage agreed upon in the labor contract, and shall not be lower than the minimum wage rate in the place where the employing unit is located.

Article 21 An employing unit may not revoke a labor contract during the probation period unless the worker is found in one of the circumstances specified in Article 39 or Subparagraph (1) or (2) in Article 40 of this Law. If an employing unit revokes a labor contract during the probation period, it shall explain the reasons to the worker.

Article 22 If an employing unit provides special funding for a worker’s training and gives him professional technical training, it may conclude an agreement with the worker specifying the term of service.

If the worker breaches the agreement on the term of service, he shall pay a penalty to the employing unit as agreed upon. The sum of the penalty may not exceed the training expenses paid by the employing unit. The penalty that the employing unit requires the worker to pay may not exceed the portion of the training expenses allocable to the unperformed portion of the term of service.

Where the employing unit and the worker reach an agreement on the term of service, the raise in the worker’s remuneration according to the regular wage adjustment mechanism during the term of service shall not be adversely affected.

Article 23 An employing unit and a worker may have such terms stipulated in the labor contract as keeping business secrets of the employing unit and keeping confidential the matters relating to its intellectual property rights.

With regard to a worker who has a confidentiality obligation, the employing unit may have stipulated in the labor contract or confidentiality agreement competition restriction and payment of financial compensation to him on a monthly basis during the term of the competition restriction after the labor contract is revoked or terminated. If the worker breaches the stipulation on competition restriction, he shall pay penalty to the employing unit as agreed upon.

Article 24 The persons subject to competition restriction shall be limited to senior managers, senior technicians and other persons who are under the confidentiality obligation to the employing unit. The scope, geographic area and term of competition restriction shall be agreed upon by the employing unit and the worker, and such agreement shall not be at variance with the provisions of laws and regulations.

The term of competition restriction, calculated from the revocation or termination of the labor contract, for one of the persons, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, to go to work for a competing employing unit that produces or deals in the same type of products or is engaged in the same type of business as his original employing unit, or to establish his own business to produce or deal in the same type of products or engage in the same type of business shall not exceed two years.