How to become a Police Officer

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 人民警察

Works for the public security authorities, protecting national security and public order under the law, protecting people's lives, freedom and lawful property as well as public property, and preventing and fighting crime.

Main tasks

• Protecting national security
• Keeping public order, stopping disorder, and preventing, solving and fighting crime
• Keeping roads safe and orderly and dealing with traffic accidents
• Organising firefighting and fire safety inspection
• Controlling guns, ammunition and restricted knives, and explosive, flammable, highly toxic and radioactive materials
• Regulating hotels and other specially regulated trades under the law
• Protecting people the state designates and guarding important places and facilities
• Managing gatherings, marches and demonstrations
• Managing household registration, nationality, entry and exit, and immigration matters such as foreigners studying, working, living and travelling in China
• Keeping order in border areas
• Carrying out sentences for people given short detention, public surveillance or loss of political rights and those serving sentences outside prison, and supervising people on probation and parole
• Overseeing the security of computer information systems
• Guiding and overseeing security at government bodies, associations, businesses, public institutions and major projects, and guiding community crime prevention groups
• Carrying out other tasks set by laws and regulations

Ways in

• University: Law & Justice degrees, Offered by 91 universities in China Related undergraduate subject classes in the Ministry of Education catalogue (2025): Public Security Studies (0306); majors such as Public Order Studies, Criminal Investigation, Border Control Management, Narcotics Control, Police Dog Technology, Economic Crime Investigation. Matched to the occupation by Peernovo.

Pay · AI and this job

• Median pay in China: CN¥54,000 a year (2025).
• Middle half: CN¥40,700 to CN¥75,600. One in ten earn less than CN¥30,800 and one in ten more than CN¥100,600.
• This is the figure for the mid group Security, Fire Services and Support Staff, not for this job alone.
• National figure: wage prices of enterprise employees from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) enterprise pay survey. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
• Guangzhou only: median CN¥71,880 a year (2025), middle half CN¥55,580 to CN¥110,086.
• This is the figure for the mid group Security, Fire Services and Support Staff, not for this job alone.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• The census group Security, Fire Services and Support Staff holds 1.24% of everyone employed in China; 10.6% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
• 30.9% are under 35, 44.6% are 35 to 54 and 24.5% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 45 to 49.
• Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a Police Officer?

Ways in include: Law & Justice degrees.

How much does a Police Officer earn in China?

Across China, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥54,000 a year (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), 2025). The public sector and the self-employed are not covered. It is the figure for the mid group Security, Fire Services and Support Staff. In Guangzhou alone it is CN¥71,880 a year (2025).

Will AI change the work of a Police Officer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS): 2025 enterprise pay survey information: wage prices of enterprise employees by occupation mid group, and digital occupations (P10 to P90 annual CNY) (2025 (published 2026-07-08)), retrieved 5 October 2026
• Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau: Guangzhou 2025 labour market wage prices (P10 to P90 annual CNY by occupation) (2025 (enterprise pay survey)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 5 October 2026