Hundreds of women fail army enrolment

Sixty percent of female applicants who took part in the first two days of a recruitment drive for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have failed, the army's recruitment office in Beijing said yesterday.

Stringent health rules, which include physical and psychological examinations, have already upset hundreds of the 1,200 Beijing women who were asked to take the exams, starting Sunday.

This is the first year in which women can apply to the PLA without being recommended externally.