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Chapter 1How to avoid premature death
This section covers three main topics: preventing deaths from accidents and injuries such as car crashes, fires, and poisonings; reviewing several vaccines and screening tests backed by strong evidence; and explaining which bodily warning signs should prompt a medical checkup. The figures listed under “Benefit” come from randomized controlled trials, long-term observational studies, or official statistics. The “Cost” column offers a rough estimate based on current market prices; it is meant only for relative comparison, not for formal citations. All items here are grouped by theme, with their respective item numbers shown in parentheses. **On the road**: Always wear a seatbelt (Item 1), wear a helmet (Item 2), avoid speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol (Item 9), and use proper child safety seats (Item 10). **Fire, gas, and electricity at home**: Install smoke detectors (Item 3), replace gas hoses once they reach their expiration date (Item 4), never bring electric bicycles into stairwells or hallways (Item 6), keep fire extinguishers and first-aid kits handy (Item 26), and always use protective guards when operating angle grinders (Item 42). **Accidents involving children, seniors, and outdoor activities**: Fit window guards to prevent falls (Item 11), keep young children under constant supervision near water (Item 12), encourage seniors over 60 to practice balance exercises (Item 13), never eat wild mushrooms (Item 5), avoid picking up unknown metal objects (Item 36), and always measure ice thickness before stepping onto frozen surfaces (Item 41). **Vaccines**: Get tested for hepatitis B markers (Item 14), stay up to date with tetanus shots (Item 15), receive the HPV vaccine (Item 16), get an annual flu shot (Item 20), consider the shingles vaccine (Item 21), and get vaccinated against pneumococcal infections (Item 22). **Screening and disease detection**: Regularly monitor blood pressure (Item 7) and fasting blood glucose levels (Item 8); undergo routine breast cancer screening (Item 17), cervical cancer screening (Item 18), and colorectal cancer screening (Item 19). Also consider testing for Helicobacter pylori infection (Item 23), low-dose chest CT scans (Item 24), bone density measurements (Item 39), and anti-osteoporosis medications (Item 40). **Physical warning signs and sexual health**: Seek medical advice if blood appears in urine (Item 27); men experiencing erectile difficulties should first have their cardiovascular health checked (Item 28). Losing weight and quitting smoking can improve erectile function (Item 29). Always use condoms and never share needles (Item 30); get tested for HIV if needed (Item 31) and consider pre-exposure prophylaxis if at high risk (Item 38). **Mental health crises**: If you ever have suicidal thoughts, call 12356 immediately (Item 25). It also helps to confide in someone you trust (Item 32). Avoid gambling when you’re already in debt (Item 37). Finally, remember that surviving poisoning from pesticides or carbon monoxide often leaves lasting health problems (Items 33 and 34), and losing a kidney also carries significant long-term consequences (Item 35). You can also ask someone close to you directly whether they have thought about suicide (Item 43).
Chapter 2Avoid a slow death
This section covers just two types of long-term health risks: those with a major impact on overall mortality and those backed by solid evidence. A few entries are marked “randomized trials,” meaning participants were randomly assigned to different groups for comparison — this is the most reliable type of evidence. All other figures come from observational studies that only track people over time without random assignment. These studies produce ratios such as HR and RR, but they also contain two kinds of confounding factors: participants naturally differ from one another, and some adopted those behaviors because they were already ill. Therefore these numbers only indicate general trends and approximate magnitudes; they do not guarantee that following these steps will bring about exactly those reductions.
Chapter 3Don’t waste energy
This section only counts energy and time. It looks at four things: how much attention you can use each day, how fast you react, how many mistakes you make, and how long it takes to get back after an interruption. Most figures are measured directly, from experiments or from tracking a group of people over time. These numbers are not converted into lifespan or mortality. Most items in this section have evidence grade B. That is how this field is; it does not mean the advice fails. Item 19 is about expectations when dealing with police, doctors, and bank tellers; it cites regulations, not experiments, so its grade is C. Item 15 (treat pessimistic thoughts as a symptom) and item 22 (treat “others expect me to be perfect” as a symptom) cite mortality and suicide-risk figures. Their frame differs from the rest of this section; do not compare them side by side. Items are grouped by theme below, with item numbers in parentheses. **Attention at work**: Turn off non-essential notifications (item 1), batch-process messages each day (item 5), block brief interruptions (item 6), do one thing at a time (item 7), use earplugs in open offices (item 12), and do not keep adding weekly work hours for their own sake (item 13). **Sleep and staying up**: Keep a fixed wake-up time (item 2), get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night (item 3), avoid caffeine after 2 p.m. (item 4), skip glowing screens for the hour before bed (item 8), go to bed on time (item 9), make no major decisions late at night (item 10), take a 10-minute nap when drowsy in the afternoon (item 11), try cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia first for long-term insomnia (item 26), and get checked for sleep apnea if you snore, stop breathing in sleep, or are sleepy by day (item 27). **Thoughts in the head**: Switch to a hands-on task when you keep replaying something (item 14), treat pessimistic thoughts as a symptom (item 15), halve your estimate when you feel you looked foolish (item 21), and treat “others expect me to be perfect” as a symptom (item 22). **Anger and low mood**: Leave first when angry (item 17), do a few high-value things first when mood is low (item 18), do not vent anger by punching a bag (item 23), and write what is on your mind for several days in a row (item 24). **People and social media**: Learn to decline requests you do not want (item 16), treat police and doctors as people who work by rules (item 19), and set limits on apps that show peers’ feeds (item 20). **Pain in the body**: For period pain, take an ibuprofen-type painkiller (item 25).
Chapter 4Don’t waste time
This section is all about time. We look at how many hours you can save each day, week, or year, and how much the odds improve of finishing a task on schedule. We don’t convert time into extra years of life or into money. When money does come up, we only give the calculation method — no final figures. Most of the items here are backed by a single study or overall statistics from time‑use surveys, so the evidence grades are mostly B or C.
Chapter 5Do not waste money
This section counts only money: how much can be saved, how much the yearly gain differs, and how much a sum returns when it is averaged over a long stretch. These are not converted into years of life or into time. Items that involve investing only explain how to do the arithmetic. They use only historical figures that have been checked. None of them is investment advice. The items are grouped by subject below. Item numbers are in parentheses. **Everyday spending**: turn off automatic renewals (item 1), recalculate the mobile and broadband plans (item 4), refuse extended warranties on electronics (item 11), choose drugs selected in pooled procurement (item 12), drink boiled tap water (item 14), pay for the gym by the visit (item 21), set a cooling-off period on a large purchase (item 23), do not stock up because of a crossed-out price (item 24). **Impulse spending and children's money**: do not buy lottery tickets (item 5), do not tip livestreamers (item 8), a child's top-ups and tips can be claimed back (item 9), anyone who has a child read out a verification code is a scammer (item 10), count bracelets and trendy toys as money already spent (item 33), for jewellery and jade accept only a CMA report (item 34), blind boxes, card draws, and other sales by chance (item 35). **Online shopping and getting the money back**: a written contract for money paid in advance (item 22), online shopping follows the platform's rules (item 29), something bought in a livestream goes wrong (item 30), unsafe food is ten times the price (item 31), check sampling tests and certification before a large purchase (item 32), if you want to read the ingredient list, buy pre-packaged food (item 36). **Tax, the housing fund, and medical insurance**: the individual-income-tax settlement (item 2), the housing fund can also be withdrawn for rent and for renovation (item 3), bind family sharing of the medical-insurance account (item 13), the personal pension account (item 20), if you pay employee pension insurance yourself, pay at the lowest band (item 46). **Saving, borrowing, and investing**: walk away the moment you see a high return (item 6), turn borrowing into an annual rate first (item 7), do not trade stocks often (item 15), do not borrow to invest (item 16), a broad index fund as the base holding (item 17), pick a fund with a low fee (item 18), do not put the money in one place (item 19), save an emergency fund first (item 27), compare before paying a mortgage off early (item 28), sell a stock that has lost money by the rule (item 37), buy U.S. stocks through QDII or Stock Connect (item 38), do not buy virtual currency (item 45). **Insurance**: prefer insurance you pay for and do not get back (item 25), buy enough third-party liability cover (item 26), insure only losses you cannot carry (item 39), buy term life first for the person who earns (item 40), surrender inside the cooling-off period (item 41), at a bank counter, tell a deposit from insurance (item 42), do not hire an agent to surrender a policy (item 43), name a specific person as beneficiary (item 44). **Buying a car**: inspect the car when you collect it (item 47), write on a used car that it is not an accident car (item 48), do not pay a financial-service fee at a 4S store (item 49).
Chapter 6The anti-list
This section collects things that look cheap and effective. Once the original studies are opened, their benefit is close to zero, equal to zero, or in some cases negative. The items are grouped by subject below. Item numbers are in parentheses. **Supplements**: multivitamins (item 1), ordinary fish oil (item 2), vitamin D supplements (item 3), antioxidant supplements to prevent cancer (item 4), chondroitin for knee osteoarthritis (item 5), vitamin C to prevent colds (item 6), spending a lot on health products (item 10), taking probiotics long term (item 11), buying detox and colon-cleansing products (item 13), loading calcium after a fracture (item 30), relying on melatonin to cure long-term insomnia (item 34). **Check-ups and small findings**: a whole-body PET-CT and a tumour-marker panel (item 7), a general check-up package (item 18), do not take medicine for high uric acid if it has never hurt (item 19), do not have a gallbladder stone removed if it has never hurt (item 20), do not give up calcium to prevent kidney stones (item 21), do not have arthroscopic clean-out for degenerative knee pain (item 33). **Health sayings**: counting on a wristband to help you lose weight (item 8), buying organic food (item 9), cold showers to strengthen immunity (item 12), not forcing yourself to drink water (item 14), blue-light glasses (item 16), treating blood donation as health care (item 17), breakfast or intermittent fasting to control weight (item 26), counting on a correct lifting posture to prevent low-back pain (item 29), demanding an IV drip for a cold or fever (item 35). **Spending money on luck and on mood**: paying for fortune-telling and horoscopes (item 15), buying crystals, pixiu, and similar objects (item 22), buying things to improve your mood (item 23), spending more in order to move up a tier (item 24), not saving because you think people can die at any time (item 32). **Willpower and sex**: willpower is like a muscle (item 25), masturbation harms the body (item 27), conversion of sexual orientation (item 28). **Answers from AI**: judging your own illness with an AI chatbot (item 31).
Chapter 7How to get by when you have no money
This section is about money and social safeguards. How much you can receive, what fees you can avoid, what services you can get, and what conditions you must meet are all written here — not converted into years of life. Policies change every year and differ by place, so amounts and thresholds follow what your locality publishes for the current year. Items in this section are grouped by topic below, with item numbers in parentheses. **Losing a job**: Apply online for unemployment insurance benefits (item 1); get recognized as someone facing employment difficulties (item 12); claim vocational training subsidies (item 13). **Unpaid wages**: File a complaint with labor inspection first (item 2); apply for legal aid (item 3); when wages are owed, first figure out who hired you (item 22). **Emergency relief**: Go to a shelter (item 4); apply for temporary assistance (item 6); apply for dibao (item 7); the two disability subsidies (item 8); replace a lost ID card at once (item 11); when you truly have nowhere to sleep (item 21); when you already cannot repay credit cards or online loans (item 23). **Medical and social insurance**: Do not let resident medical insurance lapse (item 9); for serious illness, use medical insurance and medical assistance first (item 10); do not panic if social insurance contributions are interrupted (item 18); add a medical or critical-illness policy (item 20). **Finding work and starting over**: Public employment services and gig markets (item 5); use a systematic approach when job hunting (item 14); pay no deposit and surrender no ID (item 15); even after prison or bankruptcy there is a path to start over (item 19). **Housing and food**: Queue for public rental housing (item 16); cut housing and food to the minimum (item 17).
Chapter 8Protect yourself: laws and personal safety
If you’ve ever worried about how legal rules might affect your freedom or finances, this section is for you. It covers three main topics: what responsibilities the law requires you to meet, how following those rules can save you money, and what rights you have if something goes wrong. All article numbers match the official texts exactly. The items are ordered by impact: those that cause the biggest losses if ignored and are easiest to prevent come first; steps that need advance planning follow; and finally, practical tips without official backing. The topics are grouped as follows, with article numbers in parentheses: **Fraud prevention**: Stop payments immediately if you notice fraud (Article 2); strict anti-fraud rules (Article 3); seeing someone’s face on video does not count as verification (Article 4); never lend your bank or phone cards to others (Article 8); obtain free credit reports (Article 9); dealing with fraud in secondhand online sales (Article 22); always ask for a price quote before hiring a repair service (Article 27); never carry items for strangers (Article 29); helping someone with a facial recognition check can lead to illegal loan schemes (Article 45). **Signing contracts, borrowing money, and debt**: Read every document fully before signing (Article 17); always write a clear loan agreement (Article 18); legal claims have strict time limits (Article 19); report all assets honestly if enforcement actions begin (Article 20); understand what being placed on a credit blacklist entails (Article 21); avoid becoming a nominal legal representative for a business (Article 28); know that debts incurred by family members through gambling remain your responsibility (Article 44). **Conflicts and emotional distress**: Call police right away if a dispute arises (Article 10); self-defense is allowed when facing unavoidable harm (Article 11); do not seek revenge after a quarrel (Article 12); never harm people unrelated to the situation (Article 13); resist any urge to harm yourself or others (Article 14); remember that retaliatory actions rarely end well for anyone involved (Article 15); buying insurance for someone before acting only makes legal trouble worse (Article 38). **Relationships and marriage**: Think carefully before making large gifts (Article 23); use bank transfers for betrothal gifts (Article 24); clearly define pre-marital assets (Article 25); verify each other’s marital status before marriage (Article 26); seek police help immediately if domestic violence occurs (Article 43). **Police involvement, accusations, and evidence**: Hire a lawyer right away if you receive a summons (Article 5); voluntarily explain your side of events if something happens (Article 6); contest false accusations made against you (Article 33); demand acquittal when evidence is insufficient (Article 34); apply for state compensation when justified (Article 35); always request a case receipt when reporting a crime (Article 39); never offer bribes to investigators (Article 40); record conversations that might later become contentious (Article 41); photograph the scene from a wide angle first (Article 42). **Online speech and cyberbullying**: Avoid insults or spreading false information online (Article 16); activate protective measures immediately if targeted by cyberbullying (Article 37). **Sexuality and coercion**: Refrain from any sexual activity if a partner is unconscious or unable to consent (Article 31); report any attempts to extort money using intimate images to police at once (Article 32); victims seeking compensation should never meet their alleged aggressors alone (Article 36). **Driving, pet ownership, and theft prevention**: Never flee the scene of a traffic accident (Article 1); never drive after drinking alcohol (Article 7); always keep dogs on a leash (Article 30); install sturdy locks on all doors and windows (Article 46).
Chapter 9Legal red lines ordinary people often cross
This section runs two ledgers: your personal liberty, and your money. The acts below are ones ordinary people often treat as “no big deal,” yet they can bring detention, fines, and in serious cases prison. Each item gives the concrete figures in the statutes, plus cases published through official channels. The Public Security Administration Punishment Law cited here is the 2025 revision, in force from 1 January 2026; article numbers differ from the old law. The Criminal Law citations follow a consolidated text carried by the Beijing Public Security Traffic Management Bureau, marked as amended under Amendment (XI); the body notes the matching amendment where needed. Items in this section are grouped by theme below, with item numbers in parentheses. **Posting and forwarding online**: Do not forward unverified disaster, epidemic, or police news (item 1), do not forward content that insults heroes and martyrs (item 2), close foreign-site material after viewing (item 3), do not send pornographic videos into groups (item 4). **Helping others take money, loan fraud, and insurance fraud**: Part-time work that uses your card to receive money (item 5), packaging materials to cheat loans (item 6), do not withdraw from a found bank card (item 7), claim discounts under your real identity (item 8), do not lend your ID card (item 16), fabricating accidents to cheat claims (item 21). **Small everyday matters**: Do not throw anything from balconies or windows (item 9), do not buy imitation guns online (item 10), register drones under a real name first (item 11), card games without a rake or organizing for pay (item 13), do not eat wild game (item 14), never electrofish at any time (item 27), do not light fires in forest or grassland when visiting graves or cooking outdoors (item 28). **Conflicts and the police**: Do not detain people to collect debts (item 15), cooperate when police stop you (item 17), count the cost before hitting someone (item 19), do not carry telescopic batons or stun devices for self-defense (item 26). **Sex, children, and the body**: Do not secretly film others (item 12), no sexual relations with anyone under 14 (item 18), if you cannot raise a child use civil-affairs registration (item 20), do not sell your own organs (item 22), do not assume solicitation ends in a fine alone—default is detention (item 23). **Copyright and derivative works**: Fan translation, reposting, and pirated e-books (item 24), get permission before selling fan works for money (item 25). **Exams**: Do not take a test for someone else, hire a proxy, or buy or sell answers (item 29).
Chapter 10Is dating and marriage worth it
This section splits "is marriage worth it" into separate accounts for money, time, health, legal risk, and relationship quality, and counts them apart. Each account uses only figures whose source can be checked. Sources are limited to official statistics, or to meta-analyses (pooling data from many studies and recalculating them). There is no moral judgment here, and no conclusion is made for you. The health accounts are counted as death risk, the time accounts as how many minutes a day, and the legal accounts as what the articles say. These three ways of counting are not converted into each other. The method for splitting the accounts, a fill-in checklist, and common mistakes are in docs/结婚划不划算.md. Items in this section are grouped by topic below, with item numbers in parentheses. **Finding someone and dating**: meet more people (item 1), stop after the other person clearly refuses (item 2), judge interest from behaviour (item 3), take turns answering questions that go from light to deep (item 5), a long-distance relationship is not worse than one in the same city (item 6). **Whether the relationship is good**: look at how you feel inside it (item 4), argue about the matter not the person (item 17), go to couples therapy together (item 20). **The accounts of whether marriage is worth it**: look at the registration figures first (item 7), discount the health benefit because the data are observational (item 8), count the time account as unpaid labour (item 9), count the cost of leaving (item 15), keep a separate account of marrying for your elders (item 16), when divorcing write child support and visitation clearly (item 23). **Registering and the premarital check**: registering needs only an identity card (item 13), have one premarital medical check (item 14), go and get the marriage certificate even after the banquet (item 21). **Money and debt**: look first at the law's default rules for the money account (item 10), when parents pay for a home write down whether it is a loan or a gift (item 11), a large sum borrowed by one spouse (item 12), a spouse using joint money to tip streamers or transfer to someone outside the marriage (item 22). **Same-sex partners and sexual orientation**: same-sex partners should put voluntary guardianship and a will in place (item 18), do not marry by hiding sexual orientation (item 19).
Chapter 11Common legal pitfalls for programmers and tech professionals
This section’s metrics are personal freedom and money — what you get back is “don’t get locked up” and “don’t pay damages.” People who write code or do technical work often treat the items below as “just technical problems.” In fact they map to specific criminal offenses, or to a concrete civil sum you may have to pay. Each item gives the numbers in the statutes, plus cases published on the websites of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Supreme People’s Court. Criminal-law citations use the consolidated text “as amended by Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law” republished by the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. Item 1 is the general one: how to judge before you act, and what to do first if something goes wrong. Items in this section are grouped by theme below; numbers in parentheses are item numbers. **Before you act**: Before acting, ask whether anyone will file a police report (item 1). **Cheats, scripts, and cracks**: Game cheats and aids (item 2); ticket-snatching, fake-order, and coupon-farming scripts (item 3); crawl only public pages that need no login (item 4); tools that auto-skip or block ads in other apps (item 18); crack patches and keygens (item 20). **Touching others’ systems**: Do not run your programs on others’ computers (item 8); do not test others’ systems without written authorization (item 9); report vulnerabilities as required (item 10); DDoS traffic attacks (item 21). **Side gigs and client work**: Development orders for gambling, fraud, or adult-content apps (item 5); circumvention tools and VPN accounts (item 11); AI relay sites (item 19). **Leaving and ownership**: Hand over account access when you leave (item 6); do not take source code when you leave (item 7); non-compete agreements (item 12); code written with company resources belongs to the company (item 13); GPL and other open-source code (item 14). **Shipping a product**: Collect only personal information the business needs (item 15); complete ICP filing before launch (item 16); generative-AI security assessment and algorithm filing (item 17).
Chapter 12Starting a business: don't bet the family savings
This section counts only money and legal liability—not life expectancy. When you open a shop or form a company, which steps can wipe out your own money, family money, and your spouse's money together? What does the law require, and can you wall them off in advance? Items written from experience only, with no literature behind them, are grade C. Items in this section are grouped by theme below; numbers in parentheses are item numbers. **Before opening, don't bet the nest egg**: Only put in money you can afford to lose (item 1); don't sign personal guarantees on company loans (item 2); pick the right entity before you open (item 3); don't be a nominal shareholder (item 4); check franchise filing before joining (item 5); ask the right questions before paying someone to run your online store (item 24); when raising money for a business, only approach relatives, friends, and employees (item 26); put a partnership shop in a written agreement (item 28). **Registration and licenses**: Fix name, premises, business scope, and registered capital before registration (item 6); don't open until licenses are in hand (item 7); before leasing a shopfront, check whether that unit can host your trade (item 27). **Food**: See which regulatory tier you fall into (item 8); prepackaged food labels (item 9); ordinary food must not claim to treat disease (item 10); criminal lines for food (item 11). **Tax, annual reports, and invoices**: File on time even with zero income (item 12); issue invoices only for real transactions (item 13); anyone posing as the tax bureau demanding payment is a scam (item 14); file last year's annual report online in the first half of each year (item 25). **Contracts and hiring**: When taking money, write deposit (定金), not booking-fee wording (订金) (item 15); sign employment contracts within the first month (item 16); pay wages per contract and law (item 17); follow procedures on the job (item 22). **Products and sourcing**: Sell first, then make (item 18); run samples through a mass-production checklist (item 19); keep purchase receipts and upstream supplier details (item 20); use your own designs or buy a license (item 21). **Exit**: If you lose money, exit by the book (item 23).
Chapter 13Emergency situations: what to do first
This section outlines exactly what steps to take, what to avoid, and what not to do at all. The entries on first aid and wilderness survival focus on specific causes of death and survival rates. Those dealing with scams and threats relate to financial loss and personal liberty. These two sets of figures aren’t interchangeable. Items are listed in descending order based on how common each situation is and how much difference proper action can make to someone’s chances of survival. These guidelines are primarily meant for you, your spouse, and close family members. Since 79.2% of cardiac arrests happen at home, you’ll most likely be helping someone you love. Friends and coworkers come next. Helping strangers can still be worthwhile, but this category ranks lowest in priority; doing so may even expose you to fraud or legal complications. Therefore, protective actions and legal safeguards are highlighted first in these entries. Only actions that must be taken within minutes are included here. Recognizing scams or handling blackmail situations requires longer-term responses and thus fall outside this section. Detailed anti-fraud rules and seven common scam types are covered in Section 8, Item 3. If someone threatens to release private photos or intimate videos, refer to Section 8, Item 32. Should money already have been transferred, call 110 or 96110 immediately to request a stop on the payment, as explained in Section 8, Item 2. The entries are grouped by topic, with item numbers shown in parentheses. **CPR and choking**: If someone collapses and stops breathing (Item 1), avoid rushing to help an elderly person who has fallen (Item 2). In cases of choking where speech is impossible (Item 26) or when an infant can’t cry due to blockage (Item 43), proper CPR techniques apply (Item 44). **Sudden medical emergencies**: Watch for facial drooping or weakness on one side (Item 3), sudden dizziness or loss of balance (Item 4), sudden vision loss in one eye (Item 5), intense eye pain and swelling (Item 6), chest pressure or pain (Item 7), tearing pains elsewhere (Item 8), the worst headache imaginable (Item 9), confusion following a head injury in seniors (Item 10), sudden leg swelling (Item 11), allergic reactions leading to shock (Item 15), seizures (Item 16), and sudden tremors in diabetics (Item 17). **Wounds and burns**: Apply direct pressure to stop bleeding (Item 12), treat dog or cat bites (Item 13), cool burns with water (Item 14), and never remove foreign objects from wounds (Item 40) or move suspected fractures (Item 41). **Poisoning, fires, and accidents**: Cut power first if someone is electrocuted (Item 18), respond to carbon monoxide alarms (Item 19), handle accidental ingestion of cleaners, pesticides, or medicines (Item 20), flush chemicals off skin (Item 21), recognize heat exhaustion without sweating (Item 22), give mildly salted water to heatstroke victims (Item 23), crawl low during fires (Item 24), spot drowning victims (Item 25), and check building safety after earthquakes (Item 30). **Wilderness survival**: Stay put if lost in remote areas (Item 27), watch for shivering and slurred speech as signs of hypothermia (Item 28), never cut or suction venom after snake bites (Item 29), handle encounters with bears, wild boars, or stray dogs (Item 31), seek shelter during thunderstorms (Item 32), ascend high altitudes gradually (Item 33), remove ticks carefully (Item 34), and always boil wild water before drinking (Item 35). **Conflicts and aftermath**: Defend yourself if robbed in isolated areas (Item 36), intervene cautiously if witnessing a fight (Item 37), and claim compensation for injuries or expenses incurred while saving others (Item 39). **Sexual assault and HIV exposure**: Seek immediate medical care after possible HIV exposure (Item 38) or sexual assault (Item 42).
Chapter 14Account and information security
Scope: money and personal information. When someone gets into your account, money is often the first thing lost. They may also use your account to scam people in your contacts. In effect, they have taken your identity too.
Chapter 15Renting and buying a home
Scope: money. When renting, the places money is most easily lost are the deposit and the agent. When buying, the expensive parts are the interest on the loan, and the things the seller knows that you do not. The items near the end of the section are about buying: which account the money should go into, when the earnest money and the purchase price can be asked back, and what to do if handover is late. Also how to stop a seller selling the same home twice, and how to talk the mortgage rate down. The last two items are about after you move in: the property manager must not cut water or power to collect fees, and for a new home that leaks, go to the developer for repairs within the warranty period.
Chapter 16How to live after a chronic disease diagnosis
Scope: overall mortality and money. After a chronic diagnosis you often still have decades ahead; this section is about how to manage those decades.
Chapter 17Elderly at home
Scope: money and personal freedom. When you have elderly family at home, most trouble is not running out of money. It is failing to talk things through and get papers signed in advance. Pressure ulcers from long-term bed rest, cataract surgery, fractures from an elder walking a dog, and a hospital check when memory gets worse: these four are counted in mortality terms and are not compared with the other entries in this section.
Chapter 18Is raising a child worth it?
This section breaks down the financial and time costs involved. Much like Section 10, which examined the costs of marriage, we’re simply laying out the numbers here — without offering any definitive conclusions. If you’re already pregnant and need to follow the necessary steps, please refer to Section 27. There are 18 key considerations to keep in mind when deciding whether raising a child is worthwhile.
Chapter 19Employment, resignation, and work injury
This section is about money: how amounts are calculated, what you sign, and how deadlines run. The first three items cover pay you should receive while still employed; the next five cover leaving a job; the following seven cover occupational disease and work injury. Work-injury payouts are an order of magnitude larger than layoff compensation, and the deadlines are tighter. Damage from occupational disease cannot be undone. Ten more items close the section. The first four cover what to do if you are bullied at work, how to obtain a separation certificate, how individual income tax on severance is calculated, and how to transfer social insurance when changing cities for work. The middle three cover double wages without a written contract, employers failing to pay social insurance, and liquidated damages demanded on exit. The last three cover how to respond to reassignment or pay cuts, who owes wages and damages to dispatched workers, and what to do after signing a blank labor contract.
Chapter 20How to care for a newborn
Scope: infant mortality and money. This section only covers what affects whether the child survives or how much you spend, and only where the gap is large enough and the evidence is solid. Soothing and day-to-day parenting tips are not covered here. For tasks before birth and on the day of discharge, see Section 27.
Chapter 21Traveling abroad, trips, and safety overseas
This section deals with both financial matters and personal freedom, and several points also relate to physical safety. Once you’re overseas, it’s the laws of the host country that apply — not Chinese law. There are clear limits to what China’s embassies and consulates can do to assist you. This section explains those limits in detail.
Chapter 22How to relax: entertainment venues and stress relief
The first half covers entertainment venues: which spending is a waste, and where the emergency exits are. The measures are money and personal liberty. The second half covers stress relief, measured in energy and all-cause mortality. The figures from the two halves are not converted into each other. Items 11 and 12 at the end cover avoiding harm while having fun: do not soak in a hot spring or take a sauna after drinking, and wear a helmet when skiing or cycling. The measure there is mortality. Item 13 (hobbies) returns to stress relief and taking up a hobby after 50. Section 3 already covers what to do first when your mood is low; this section offers more specific methods.
Chapter 23Which skills are worth learning
This section counts money and time. Item 2 also counts mortality. The first six items answer one question: whether to keep studying. Item 1 first says which stretch of the options the law crosses out. Item 2 counts the relation between schooling and length of life. Item 3 looks at which band of education people across the country are in. Item 4 covers what aid there is when you cannot afford to study. Item 5 covers what paths remain if you do not get into an ordinary high school. Item 6 turns "study or go to work" into a sum, and gives a method you can run yourself. The next seven items answer another question: once you have decided to learn something, how to pick it. Wage statistics in China split by trade are hard to check item by item from public official sources. So this section writes only the things whose source can be found: roughly how much more pay one more year of school brings (also called the return to education), how to check whether a certificate is lawful, where training subsidies come from, and which dimension to look at so a skill is harder to displace. This book does not give a figure for how much a particular trade earns in a month. Items 14 to 19 answer a third question: once you have settled what to learn, how to learn it in less time. Those six items count time. They are not converted into money. Items 20 to 23 answer a fourth question: if you are already doing professional or technical work, where to apply for a title, how the exam works, which pitfalls to avoid, and what getting the title is worth. Items 24 and 25 answer whether, on finishing a bachelor's or a master's, to go on to a master's or a doctorate. China has no income figures that take out personal differences. What is cited is a UK study. The items are grouped by subject below. Item numbers are in parentheses. **Whether to keep studying**: under 16 there is no going out to work (item 1), count whether schooling is useful inside mortality (item 2), the education structure of the whole country (item 3), if you cannot afford it, run the policy figures first (item 4), the path if you do not get into an ordinary high school (item 5), turn study or work into a sum (item 6). **What to learn and how to pick it**: the return to one more year of education (item 7), check the occupational-qualification catalogue before an exam (item 8), take training through government subsidy channels (item 9), pick skills that need the hands and judgment on the spot (item 10), see whether a skill has a grade assessment (item 11), check the local catalogue of occupations in short supply (item 12), choose a short course that lets you start the job directly (item 13). **How to learn in less time**: close the book and test yourself when you finish (item 14), spread the time over several days (item 15), do not treat highlighting as the main way to study (item 16), mix several kinds of problem (item 17), do not pick a method by visual type or auditory type (item 18), turn what you have to memorize into questions and test yourself (item 19). **Professional titles**: find the channel for applying (item 20), the junior and intermediate accounting titles are a unified exam (item 21), do not hire an agent to get the title for you (item 22), holding the title is not the same as a pay rise (item 23). **Master's and doctorate**: whether to go on to a master's after a bachelor's (item 24), whether to go on to a doctorate after a master's (item 25).
Chapter 24Seeking medical care: How to save money and avoid unnecessary hassle
This section focuses on the practical steps involved in getting medical treatment — which hospitals to visit first, how to transfer between levels of care, and where you can cut down on expenses. It also explains how to wait in emergency queues, what evaluations and documents are required after serious injuries, and what benefits you may be eligible for (see Section 7). Long‑term management of chronic diseases is covered in Section 16, while immediate actions at the scene of an emergency are described in Section 13. The content is largely based on the “Several Measures on Accelerating the Development of a Hierarchical Medical System” issued by the General Office of the State Council in April 2026. This system directs patients to hospitals according to the severity of their condition. The document explicitly links using primary‑level facilities with lower medical costs. However, implementation varies by region, so the national rules outlined here should be cross‑checked with local policies issued by your social insurance and health authorities. Your “coordinated region” is simply the area where you’re enrolled in medical insurance — usually a city.
Chapter 25What to do after someone dies
Scope: money. This section only covers how to get the procedures done and how to collect the money. That includes what to do first right after the person dies, and which fees have a list you can check. It also covers which money sitting in which accounts can be taken back, and which matters close relatives have the right to handle in person. The first 5 items follow the order in which things happen: the scene, the death certificate, the body and cremation, what to do if you disagree with the cause of death, and canceling the hukou (户口 — household registration). Arrangements an older person should make while still alive, such as intended guardianship (意定监护 — a guardian named by agreement in advance), a will, and accounts, are in Section 17. The 3 benefits for a work-related death are in Section 19. The funeral part follows the new Funeral Management Regulations, in force from March (3) 30, 2026. How the funeral allowance and the survivor allowance under the pension are calculated is in item 9 (housing provident fund balance and social insurance benefits).
Chapter 26Building a website or platform: licenses, filing, and servers
You want to build a website or an app. This section answers 4 things: what kind of business it counts as in law, which permit you need, where the servers sit, and who is responsible for what users post and for the money that comes in. The measure is personal liberty and money. If you are a hired technician, the red lines are in section 11. How to register a company and how to file taxes are in section 12, and this section does not repeat them. A comparison table of the permits, and a decision table for choosing a server, are in docs/做平台要办哪些证.md.
Chapter 27Pregnancy and childbirth: From confirming pregnancy to discharge and paperwork
The first half of this section measures death risk for the pregnant woman and the fetus. The second half measures money and the time spent running errands. The two accounts are not converted into each other. The content only covers “what to do when.” Things without hard evidence, or with only a small effect — prenatal nutrition, fetal education, and the like — are not written here. Maternity allowances, maternity leave, and the money side of raising a child are in Section 18; how to care for the child after birth is in Section 20; emergencies are in Section 13. Figures from the World Health Organization: in 2023, about 260000 women worldwide died from pregnancy and childbirth. About 75% of those deaths came from five causes: postpartum hemorrhage, infection, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (blood pressure that rises after pregnancy, including preeclampsia and eclampsia), complications during delivery, and unsafe abortion. The WHO also says that “most maternal deaths are preventable, because the health-care solutions to prevent or manage complications are well known.” The items in this section with the largest effect are exactly those that catch these problems early. Items in this section are grouped by theme below; numbers in parentheses are the item numbers. **What you can do yourself before and during pregnancy:** start folic acid when you are preparing to conceive (Item 1); no cigarette and no drink of alcohol (Item 4); you do not need to rehome the cat (Item 17); inactivated influenza vaccine (Item 18); from 28 weeks onward, lie on your side when you fall asleep (Item 19). **Prenatal care and screening:** register for the Maternal and Child Health Handbook (Item 2); HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B (Item 3); low-dose aspirin (Item 5); gestational diabetes screening (Item 6). **Go to the hospital at once when something is wrong:** the “go to the hospital immediately” list (Item 7); if your water breaks, lie flat where you are (Item 8). **During childbirth:** if you want labor analgesia, say so directly (Item 9); do not ask for a cesarean without a medical indication (Item 10). **After birth:** the 42-day postpartum checkup (Item 16); breastfeeding is not the same as contraception (Item 20). **Money and documents:** confirm maternity insurance (Item 11); the Medical Certificate of Birth (Item 12); heel-prick screening and hearing screening (Item 13); enroll the child in resident yibao (医保 — basic medical insurance) (Item 14); file the birth registration (Item 15).
Chapter 28Don't harm your body just to change its appearance
This section is about a few ways of changing how you look by doing something to the body: going hungry, taking drugs, getting injections, and having surgery. The decision is usually made by comparing yourself with other people. The cost falls entirely on you, and a fair part of it cannot be undone. This section does not judge what anyone wants to look like. That is each person's own affair. For the same goal, you can look for a prescription, a qualified provider, and follow-up, or you can buy online, go to a beauty salon, and raise the dose yourself. This section only compares how far apart the risks of those 2 ways are. The account looks mainly at what actually happens to the body, such as blindness, a stay in hospital, and death. Those 2 items on cosmetic medicine also involve criminal liability for practicing medicine illegally.
Chapter 29After a major blow
Losing a relative, being told of a serious illness, losing a job, or a divorce. In the research these events share a finding: what goes wrong is not only the mood, but the body. The stretch of highest risk sits in the first weeks through the first year. This section does not explain how to "get over it." It only says which things someone has to watch during this stretch, which decisions have to be put off, and when to go and register at a clinic. Most items are scored on the chance of death. The items that talk about spending and about benefits are scored on money. They are: do not start by paying for grief counseling (item 9), call 12356 and register at a mental-health clinic (item 11), push irreversible big decisions back (item 12), and do not treat death as a way to pay a debt (item 13). These kinds of figures are not converted into each other. If there is no relative and no friend to turn to, how "find someone to watch" actually gets done is in item 6. If you yourself went through a traffic crash, an assault, or a disaster and the nightmares and flashbacks are still there, see item 14 (trauma-focused psychological treatment). The paperwork at the time a relative dies, the body, and the money to collect are in section 25. Guardianship and a will for an elder while alive are in section 17. What you can receive after losing a job is in section 7. Exercise and daylight when mood is low are in section 3 and section 22. If suicidal thoughts appear, call 12356 first; see section 1, item 25. The time scale of the thoughts is in section 1, item 32. Lasting harm after a person is brought back is in section 1, item 33. This section does not repeat any of that.
Chapter 30Children after starting school
Section 20 covers the first year after a child is born. Section 18 covers how much money and time raising a child costs. The years in between, ages 3 to 18, are in this section. The item on screen time by age starts at age 0, because the official tiers are 0–3, 3–6, and primary/secondary school; splitting them would make the guidance harder to use. This section first answers one question: when “don’t delay schoolwork” collides with “the body,” which things cannot wait. They cannot wait because they have time windows; once missed, they cannot be made up. Whether schoolwork should be that intense is not discussed here — only the windows and the numbers. Later parts cover school bullying and leave from school, parenting at home, and safety on roads and playing fields. The first eight items, item 12 (cycloplegic refraction), item 13 (pit and fissure sealants), items 15 through 19, and item 21 (head hit during sport) are scored on death and lasting physical or mental harm. Among them, items 16 and 17 are about how to parent at home: no hitting or yelling, and take a parenting class that teaches concrete skills. Item 18 is about not sending a child to a closed “internet addiction” school. Item 19 is about teaching a child which body parts are private and to tell you if they were touched. Item 9 (do not buy products that “cure myopia”) and item 20 (do not ride on the road under age) are scored on money. Item 10 (written rules on sleep, homework, PE, and rankings), item 11 (leave of absence with enrollment kept), and item 14 (when a child loves games) are scored on time. Drowning, traffic, helmets, and HPV vaccine are in Section 1. Infants are in Section 20. Scams against children and game top-ups are in Section 5. Red lines minors themselves must not cross are in Section 9. How to recognize an emergency and call a car is in Section 13. Children after a parent dies are in Section 29. None of that is repeated here.
Chapter 31What options are available after turning 18?
This section deals with money and time, while the option of avoiding military service also affects personal freedom. It serves as a roadmap of possible paths, not a step‑by‑step guide for any single one. First, we list the legal requirements for each path. Then we describe the details that become relevant only after you decide to pursue them: what benefits military service provides, other ways to enter the civil service besides the civil service exam, which college majors directly lead to government positions, how to later upgrade your education, what kind of employers to seek for overseas work, how to handle social insurance without a formal job, and whether there are government loans that cover part of the interest for those lacking startup capital. Let us be clear: after turning 18 there are many more options than those covered here. We only include paths for which nationwide official documents specify eligibility criteria, requirements, and benefits. Paths such as joining state‑owned enterprises, working in factories, becoming a seafarer, pursuing freelance work, or continuing high school or university lack such uniform documentation. They are certainly possible, but without verifiable legal references we cannot describe their conditions in this book. Choosing a path is entirely up to you. This section provides two things only: the official documents that set the eligibility rules, and the deadlines and qualifications that expire once you start down a particular route. How to weigh the decision between studying and working, and how to pick relevant skills, is explained in Section 23. Overtime pay, workplace injuries, and severance after joining a job are covered in Section 19. Starting or closing a business is discussed in Section 12. Studying abroad is the topic of Section 32, while safety nets for the unemployed are outlined in Section 7. None of those topics are repeated here.
Chapter 32Studying abroad: status, work, insurance, and recognition back home
This section counts money and personal liberty. It does not discuss whether you should go abroad, and it does not compare schools. Not knowing the following will cost you: how a visa status stays unbroken, where the cap on work hours is, which insurance and fees you must pay, and whether the diploma will be recognized after you return. It covers the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, with the figures listed country by country. The sources are official pages from each country's immigration authority and China's Ministry of Education. **Study-abroad rules in these countries change often, more often than regulations in China. The earliest reference date for figures in this section is September 2026; where an item gives a separate cutoff or recheck date, use that date. Before you leave, and before each renewal, check again yourself using the links in the Sources line.** How to find an embassy or consulate if something happens while you are abroad, what 12308 can cover, and how to buy overseas medical and evacuation insurance are in section 21. The account of studying versus working is in section 23. Stolen accounts are in section 14. Telecom fraud is in section 8. Those are not repeated here.
Chapter 33Living after disability
This section is about life after a disability has already happened. How to prevent disability is in Section 1 and Section 13; it is not repeated here. The four score types are kept separate and are not converted into one another. Items on emergencies and complications are scored on mortality. Items on subsidies, benefits, and lawsuits are scored on money. Items on schooling and paperwork are scored on time. Items on psychiatric hospitalization, capacity, and guardianship are scored on personal liberty. The WHO fact sheet on disability (残疾), published in March 2023, gives three figures. About 1.3 billion people worldwide have significant functional difficulty — 16% of the world population, roughly one in six. Some people with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than people without disabilities. Their risk of depression, asthma, diabetes, stroke, obesity, or poor oral health is twice as high. The fact sheet states that these health gaps come from unfair conditions people with disabilities face: discrimination, poverty, barriers to school and work, and barriers inside the health system itself. So half the items in this section are about the body, and half are about procedures and rights. Five topics already covered elsewhere are only pointed to here, not repeated. How to get a disability certificate, the seven categories, and levels 1 to 4 are in Section 24, item 10 (disability certificate). When to do a disability assessment is in Section 24, item 9 (disability assessment). How to claim the two disability subsidies is in Section 7, item 8 (the two subsidies). Work-capacity assessment after a work injury and how grades convert into money are in Section 19, item 14 (work-capacity assessment). How to apply for long-term care insurance for severe disability is in Section 17, item 7 (long-term care insurance). That item sits in the “older people at home” section, but the benefit has no age floor — younger people can claim it too. Most items in this section benefit you and your family, the top two beneficiary tiers. Places that involve other people are noted separately in Notes. Items in this section are grouped by theme below (numbers in parentheses are item numbers). **Body and rehabilitation**: sudden severe headache after spinal cord injury (item 1); switch the wheelchair cushion to a pressure-relieving type (item 5); do not buy therapies that claim to cure paralysis (item 6); do rehabilitation at a proper facility (item 16); get a hearing aid when hearing declines (item 17); after spinal cord injury, do not leave an indwelling catheter in long term without a plan (item 21). **Benefits and subsidies**: go to the Disabled Persons’ Federation (残联) and ask about every benefit at once (item 7); apply for rehabilitation aid for a disabled child (item 8); apply for subsidies for ramps, handrails, and bathroom modifications (item 9); personal income tax reduction (item 11). **Work and rights**: say at job search that you hold a disability certificate (item 10); if you are refused hire because of disability, you can sue (item 20). **School and travel**: take a guide dog into public places (item 12); apply for reasonable accommodations on the gaokao (高考) (item 13); schools must not refuse a disabled child (item 14); you can still take a driving test with both lower limbs missing (item 15). **Mental health and caregivers**: suicide risk in the first decade after disability (item 2); caregivers must look after their own health (item 4). **Mental disorders and guardianship**: psychiatric hospitalization is voluntary in principle (item 3); capacity must be determined by a court application (item 18); guardians follow the statutory order (item 19).
Chapter 34Do not let medicines kept at home cause serious harm
Fever reducers, painkillers, cold medicines, stomach medicines, and anti-diarrhea medicines: many of them can be bought at a pharmacy with no prescription. Being able to buy them with no prescription does not mean any way of taking them is fine. This section does not say which medicine to take for each illness. It only picks a few actions that each avoid a serious outcome. All items in this section are classified under the mortality measure. Most examine serious outcomes such as liver failure, stomach bleeding, and newborn kidney failure; a few examine headaches or reactions while driving. Most of the benefit is one fewer serious accident. Studies do not give a figure for how much doing it would cut the risk. The size of the benefit is judged by how heavy the outcome is, and each note says why it was set that way. What is already written elsewhere is only pointed to here. If a medicine or a cleaning product is swallowed by mistake, see section 13, item 20 (accidental ingestion). For taking a chronic-disease medicine in full as the doctor ordered, see section 16, item 1 (finish the medicine as prescribed). For buying a prescription drug online, the prescription has to be checked first, see section 28, item 6 (get weight-loss drugs with a hospital prescription). The people these items benefit are you and your family, the top two tiers.
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