@Ocean: I think this is about 'kids with parents one of which is of Chinese nationality/citizenship and one is not', not 'mixed-race', isn't it? I mean, they're not into sorting out, say, Australian foreigner parents with Chinese parentage from Australian parents who do not have Chinese parentage, considering them as members of different 'races', are they?

Article 1: This law is applicable to the acquisition, loss and restoration of nationality of the People's Republic of China.

Article 2: The People's Republic of China is a unitary multinational state; persons belonging to any of the nationalities in China shall have Chinese nationality.

Article 3: The People's Republic of China does not recognise dual nationality for any Chinese national.

Article 4: Any person born in China whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality.

Article 5: Any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality.

Article 6: Any person born in China whose parents are stateless or of uncertain nationality and have settled in China shall have Chinese nationality.

Article 7: Foreign nationals or stateless persons who are willing to abide by China's Constitution and laws and who meet one of the following conditions may be naturalised upon approval of their applications:
1.they are near relatives of Chinese nationals;
2.they have settled in China; or
3.they have other legitimate reasons.

Article 4 applies to babies born in mainland china with either parent being a Chinese, the rule does not apply when the place of birth is in Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR, China.

one of my acquaintance experienced trouble when he travelled with his child first time and was told at the border that the boy IS Chinese and a exit permit is required from the local PSB. the child having a foreign passport (New Zealand) just wont cut it.

@rejected: Seems to me the data you posted (from the PRC Constitution?) is not quite clear, even when read carefully. your acquaintance: had the child already acquired NZ nationality? If so it would seem the border official misinterpreted. The kid was born in China, right?
Is there info on giving up Chinese nationality, especially for minors? Since the state does not recognize dual nationality, it would seem that those who acquire foreign nationality lose their Chinese nationality, right? But can a minor give up Chinese nationality?
They ought to have a rule somewhere.

@ocean
This is technically true - but the kid needs to be on someone's hukou to be a legal person (and go to school etc). If you have NOT added the kid to the hukou - they technically don't exist as a legal person in China...so there's a small window of opportunity.

The legally a chinese citizen thing designed to prevent foreign spouses from kidnapping children, born to a Chinese spouse, out of the country, without due process of law and attempted interference in China law by foreign governments.

At least that was my understanding.

The Chinese nationalities law is quite similar to many other countries law. The main difference is that they do not allow multi nationalities. I read that this was partially due to the large amounts of ethnic Chinese in SE Asia who were also local citizens.

第三条　中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。

Also different to the American situation is that being born in China does not make you a Chinese citizen, unless you have one parent who was a Chinese citizen.
第四条　父母双方或一方为中国公民,本人出生在中国,具有中国国籍。

So as in many other countries being born in the country with a local parent(s) means you are a citizen and don't need a visa.

Chinese children can have their nationality revoked if their parents apply (but the kids can apply for it back later.)
第十三条　曾有过中国国籍的外国人,具有正当理由,可以申请恢复中国国籍；被批准恢复中国国籍的,不得再保留外国国籍。

Having a foreigner as a close relative is an accepted reason to apply for revoking Chinese citizenship.

第十条　中国公民具有下列条件之一的,可以经申请批准退出中国国籍：

　　一、外国人的近亲属；

Citizenship is not linked to a Hukou, no Hukou means no ID card or Passport,,

@Yuantongsi

Refreshing to read real information rather than incoherent hearsay and opinion wrapped up in unrelated propaganda.

@Alien. yes, the boy was born in china to a chinese mum. the boy was registered with the new Zealand citizenship office claiming citizenship by descent so a passport was issued. apparently the passport was regarded by the border official as merely a travel document, not proof of nationality.

as to how minor can renounce Chinese nationality, I don't really know. I guess, a person must be fully aware of (minimum requirement) the consequence of what he/she is doing in order to renouncing something that he/she already in possession of. :-)

to get around the nationality conundrum, in the boys case.

the parents applied for an exit permit for the boy to hong kong (a kind of special travel document for mainland chinese entering hong kong and Macau exclusively, not chinese passport which is harder to get out of china, since with the passport you need a visa from a third country.) and the boy re-entered china on the new Zealand passport with a visa. problem solved? not quite. there are problems waiting when he reaches the school age. :-) interesting......

@rejected_goods I know of a similar case (child of a local Mum expat Dad) who came back to China on a foreign passport with a visa. The PSB in Kunming extend the visa once, but the next year they followed the law and did not renew the visa.

Regarding renouncing citizenship, you have to speak to the PSB as they are in charge of nationality issues and they can tell you what documents you need.

第十六条　加入、退出和恢复中国国籍的申请,由中华人民共和国公安部审批。经批准的,由公安部发给证书。

@Yuantongsi, thanks.