All sections

34 sections. Within each, items run from the best value for cost to the least.

Section 1·43 items
Don't Die Early

deaths from external causes, gas and poisoning, vaccines, screening, the time scale of mental crises and suicidal thoughts, what remains after being saved, the year after a serious fall injury, the accounting for the remaining kidney after selling one, home emergency kit, visible blood in the urine and other signs to get checked, bone density tests for women 65 or older and medication once osteoporosis is found, measuring ice thickness before stepping onto ice in the wild, fitting the guard and wearing goggles when using an angle grinder, asking the people around you directly whether they have thought about suicide. Outcome type: all-cause mortality or specific causes of death.

A 28B 12C 3
Section 2·44 items
Don't Die Slowly

smoking and drinking, exercise, sleep, diet (low-sodium salt, nuts, whole grains, processed meat, bulk home-pressed peanut oil, vegetable oil instead of lard), sitting for long periods, and concrete ways to quit smoking and drinking (stop-smoking medication, quit day, smoking cessation clinics and hotlines, e-cigarettes, alcohol withdrawal is not something to tough out on your own), nap length, how to recover after staying up late, the accounting on years of night shifts, turning on the range hood when cooking, getting hormone therapy evaluated for hot flashes around menopause, the accounting on dog ownership and lifespan. Outcome type: all-cause mortality or specific causes of death. For the long-form piece, see The body clock and night shifts.

A 32B 12C 0
Section 3·25 items
Don't Waste Energy

sleep, interruptions, multitasking, interpersonal debts, the expectations to bring when dealing with institutions, don't tough out period pain. Outcome type: energy/time.

A 6B 17C 2
Section 4·18 items
Don't Waste Time

projects with no return, sunk costs, procrastination (the emotional explanation, changing your environment, commitment devices, how long a habit takes, self-help materials), meetings, commuting. Outcome type: time.

A 4B 12C 2
Section 5·46 items
Don't Waste Money

subscriptions, lottery tickets, interest and converting any borrowing to an annualized rate first, insurance, fund fees, private pensions, car insurance, prepayments, livestream selling, the medical insurance personal account, children being scammed and refunds of top-ups, bead bracelets, luxury watches and designer toys don't count as investments, how to check the test report for jewelry and jade, blind boxes and gacha draws, which legal channel to use if you want to buy overseas assets, and the six items at the end of the section are about insurance: buy it only for losses you can't absorb, the person who earns the money buys term life insurance first, cancel during the cooling-off period, at the bank counter don't take insurance for a deposit, don't use an agent to cancel a policy, beneficiaries and time limits for claims; then don't buy virtual currency, as transactions buying coins are not protected by law and losses can't be recovered; the last item is how the numbers work for people without an employer who pay into employee pension insurance on their own: paying at the lowest tier and first completing the required years is the best deal, and even at the lowest tier it takes about 10 years of drawing it to break even. Outcome type: money.

A 25B 10C 11
Section 6·31 items
The Counter-List

things that look like good value for cost but actually aren't, including the claim that “willpower runs out”, relying on learning lifting technique to prevent back pain, loading up on calcium and drinking bone broth after a fracture, and relying on AI chatbots to judge your own medical and legal problems.

A 17B 11C 3
Section 7·22 items
How to Get By When You Have No Money

assistance, subsidies, finding work, lodging and food, medical care, fighting unpaid wages, avoiding traps. Outcome type: money/security.

A 16B 5C 1
Section 8·46 items
Don't Drag Yourself Down: Legal and Financial Safety

traffic accidents, stopping payment after being scammed, AI face swaps and voice cloning, how much surrendering and truthfully confessing reduce a sentence and why the route of “waiting out the limitation period for prosecution” doesn't work, what routes are open after you are accused or someone files a report against you built on fabricated facts, the line between threatening to report someone to get money out of them and making a normal claim yourself, conflict and extreme violence to vent anger, urges to hurt others and the right of the people around someone to bring them in for diagnosis, the four legal gates against insuring a family member and then harming them, going through platforms and injunctions after online abuse, betrothal gifts (caili), premarital property, acting as guarantor, anti-fraud, acquaintances asking you to scan your face, “AB loans” where you read out a verification code to take out a loan, limitation periods, being subject to enforcement and the defaulter blacklist, dog owners' liability and rabies vaccine registration, the case-acceptance receipt after reporting to the police and remedies when no case is opened, paying money to make things go away is the crime of bribery, door and window locks and motion-sensor lights against burglary. Outcome type: money/personal freedom.

A 34B 11C 1
Section 9·26 items
Legal Red Lines Ordinary People Cross

rumors, insulting heroes and martyrs, watching but not reposting content from abroad, spreading pornography, part-time money laundering, forging documents to get loans, faking accidents to cheat on insurance claims, throwing objects from height, replica guns, drones, secret filming, the line between legally placing a child for adoption when you can't raise them and trafficking or abandonment, gambling, wild game, selling organs and finding donors for others; Items 24 and 25 are on copyright: unofficial Chinese localization, reposting and sharing cloud-drive files infringe even if you charge nothing, and running ads or charging membership fees can lead to a criminal sentence, and get permission first before publishing and selling fan fiction; the end of the section is that carrying a telescopic baton, stun gun or dagger when you go out, for self-defense, will get you penalized. Outcome type: personal freedom/money.

A 24B 2C 0
Section 10·20 items
Are Love and Marriage Worth It?

partner-search strategy, the red line on pestering, signs of interest, relationship quality, long-distance relationships, the registration process, the premarital health check, the health accounting, the time accounting, the money accounting, parents paying toward a home and joint marital debt, exit costs, going to couples therapy together when the relationship is stuck. For the long-form piece, see Is marriage worth it?.

A 14B 5C 1
Section 11·19 items
Red Lines for Programmers and Tech Workers

game cheats, web scrapers, ticket-grabbing scripts, deleting databases, taking source code with you, freelance development gigs, non-competes, open-source licenses, filing, tools that skip or block other companies' ads, AI relay sites. Outcome type: personal freedom/money.

A 13B 4C 2
Section 12·24 items
Starting a Business: Don't Lose the Family Savings

start-up capital, guarantees, choosing a business entity, registration, permits, tax filing, invoices, tax-related fraud, contracts, hiring, mass production, the intellectual property red lines in sourcing goods and using images, exiting, and the last item of the section covers startup scams such as outsourced store operation, shop-opening training and “no-inventory” selling, which take a small sum first and then keep adding more. Outcome type: money/legal liability.

A 18B 4C 2
Section 13·44 items
Emergencies: What to Do First

cardiac arrest, stroke and posterior circulation stroke, eye stroke, heart attack, aortic dissection, thunderclap headache, chronic subdural hematoma, pulmonary embolism, severe bleeding, bites, burns and scalds, anaphylactic shock, epilepsy, low blood sugar, electric shock, carbon monoxide, accidental ingestion and chemical burns, foreign objects stuck in the body, splinting fractures, scams, privacy threats, heatstroke, fire, drowning, getting lost, hypothermia, snakebite, earthquakes, wild animals, lightning strikes, altitude sickness, ticks, drinking water in the wild; and whether you can afford to step in: how to help up an older person who has fallen, what to do when you come across a fight, who pays when you are injured saving someone; the end of the section is choking in babies under 1 year old and infant CPR. Outcome type: survival rate and money, with the last few items also touching on personal freedom.

A 8B 33C 3
Section 14·10 items
Account and Information Security

two-factor authentication, passwords, SIM cards, losing your phone, fraudulent bank card charges, logged-in devices, app permissions, facial recognition, the rights to access and delete, AI relay sites of unknown origin. Outcome type: money/personal information.

A 5B 1C 4
Section 15·9 items
Renting and Buying a Home

deposits, violent evictions, agents collecting payment on someone's behalf, supervision of funds, “sale does not break a lease”, checking property title, dedicated accounts for transaction funds, partitioned rooms, with an urban household registration (hukou) don't buy rural homestead land, you can only rent a rural house. Outcome type: money.

A 8B 0C 1
Section 16·9 items
Living With a Chronic Illness

taking medication as prescribed, cross-provincial settlement for outpatient chronic and special diseases, follow-up records, don't stop your medication to try folk remedies, long-term prescriptions, signing up with a family doctor, complication screening, preventing kidney stone recurrence, treat-to-target for gout. Outcome type: all-cause mortality/money. For the long-form piece, see Right after a chronic illness diagnosis.

A 7B 0C 2
Section 17·10 items
When There Are Older People in the Family

voluntary guardianship, forms of wills, accounts and sales pitches, “invest for retirement” and “house-for-pension” scams, long-term care insurance, pressure sore prevention for people bedridden long term, getting evaluated for surgery once cataracts affect seeing where you walk, older people walking dogs without getting pulled over. Outcome type: money/personal freedom; the three items on pressure sores, cataracts and dog walking are mortality.

A 4B 4C 2
Section 18·6 items
Is Raising a Child Worth It?

childcare subsidies, maternity leave and maternity allowance, protections during pregnancy, maternity and nursing, the time accounting, the money accounting. Outcome type: money/time.

A 3B 0C 3
Section 19·19 items
On the Job, Leaving a Job, and Work Injuries

overtime pay, annual leave, probation; notice of occupational disease hazards and the three health exams, protection from dust and noise; severance (N), one month's pay in lieu of notice, double severance (2N), don't sign a voluntary resignation, keep evidence; the deadline for work-injury determination, employers that didn't enroll you in insurance, work-capacity assessment, work-related death benefits; separation certificates, individual income tax on compensation; transferring your pension and medical insurance when you change cities for work. Outcome type: money. For the long-form pieces, see What to do first after being laid off and Before changing jobs or cities.

A 16B 2C 1
Section 20·14 items
Caring for a Newborn

safe sleep, the first hepatitis B shot, immunization-program vaccines, breast milk and complementary foods, water temperature for mixing formula, honey, vitamin K, red lines for seeing a doctor with a fever, no shaking, diapers and big-ticket purchases, introducing peanuts early for high-risk babies to prevent allergy, the signs of newborn jaundice that call for a doctor, vitamin B12 supplements when the mother is vegetarian. Outcome type: infant mortality/money.

A 8B 4C 2
Section 21·11 items
Going Abroad, Travel and Safety Overseas

safety alert levels, 12308, the limits of consular protection, overseas medical insurance, high-paying overseas job scams, the annual limit on cash withdrawals abroad, lost documents, driving licenses abroad, agency filing. Outcome type: money/personal freedom.

A 8B 0C 3
Section 22·10 items
How to Relax: Entertainment Venues and Stress Relief

emergency exits, clearly marked prices, the red line on drugs, things other people hand you, choosing a venue for murder-mystery games; exercise, mindfulness, breathing, socializing, green space. Outcome type: money/personal freedom, and energy/all-cause mortality.

A 9B 1C 0
Section 23·23 items
Which Skills Are Worth Learning

school or work (the age line for child labor, education and mortality, the nation's education structure, tuition waivers, grants and student loans, routes from secondary vocational school to further study, how to run the numbers yourself), returns to education, knockoff certificates, training subsidies, which abilities are hard for machines to replace, skill levels, how to check occupations in short supply, and, once you've decided what to learn, how to learn it (self-testing, spaced practice, don't rely on highlighting, interleaved practice, learning styles have no evidence), and finally professional titles (application channels, exams in place of evaluation, the consequences of fraudulent evaluation through agents, being awarded a title doesn't mean being appointed to it). Outcome type: money/time, with one item on mortality.

A 17B 4C 2
Section 24·12 items
Seeing a Doctor: Spend Less, Avoid Detours

tiered care and referrals, continuous calculation of the deductible, differences in reimbursement rates, reserved appointment slots, the necessity assessment for seeking care outside your insured area, keeping and sealing medical records, the four-level order of emergency triage, emergency medical assistance when you can't pay, the timing of the disability assessment, how to get a disability certificate, no need to give doctors red envelopes, all-inclusive pricing for dental implants and what medical insurance covers. Outcome type: money/time.

A 12B 0C 0
Section 25·10 items
What to Do After Someone Dies

calling the police and the death certificate, transporting the body and cremation, disputing the cause of death and autopsy, canceling the household registration, the list of basic funeral services, illegal pricing, agency filing, housing provident fund balances and social insurance benefits, the deceased's personal information rights. Outcome type: money.

A 10B 0C 0
Section 26·11 items
Building a Website or Platform: Licenses, Filings and Servers

red lines on payment and settlement, ICP license and filing, livestreaming and audiovisual qualifications, platform verification and tax-related reporting, content governance, real-name registration, minors, notice and takedown, cross-border data transfer, choosing servers. Outcome type: personal freedom/money. For the long-form piece, see Which licenses a platform needs.

A 10B 0C 1
Section 27·17 items
Pregnancy and Birth: From Finding Out to Leaving the Hospital With the Paperwork

folic acid, registering the pregnancy and free prenatal checkups, screening for three diseases and blocking mother-to-child transmission, smoking and drinking in pregnancy, aspirin and gestational diabetes, signs to go to the hospital immediately, what to do when your water breaks, labor analgesia, indications for a cesarean, maternity insurance, the birth medical certificate, newborn screening, enrolling in insurance and household registration, the 42-day postpartum checkup, no need to give away the cat when you're pregnant. Outcome type: mortality and money. For the long-form piece, see Things to take care of before and after a child is born.

A 15B 2C 0
Section 28·9 items
Don't Wreck Your Body for Your Looks

extreme dieting and eating disorders, the two licenses for cosmetic medicine facilities and lead physicians, the facial filler sites that can cause blindness, weight-loss products illegally spiked with sibutramine, anabolic steroids, prescriptions and follow-up for weight-loss drugs and sex hormones, body image assessment, orthodontic aligners need a doctor's in-person exams and follow-ups. Outcome type: mortality (health endpoints), with the two cosmetic medicine items also touching on personal freedom.

A 5B 3C 1
Section 29·13 items
After a Major Blow

the cardiovascular window in the first month of bereavement, the first week after a serious diagnosis, job loss, the six months after losing a spouse, bereavement by suicide, how to replace that person when you have no family and no friends, children whose parent has died, where to book an appointment when grief gets stuck, divorce, 12356 and 12355, don't make irreversible decisions during acute stress, using death to pay off debts doesn't work. Outcome type: all-cause mortality, with the four items on spending and benefits being money.

A 9B 3C 1
Section 30·18 items
Children Once They Start School

emergencies measured in hours, don't delay treatment for exams, what to do about bullying, 2 hours outdoors every day, student health checkup reports, adolescent depression screening, products for curing myopia, hard rules on sleep and homework, taking leave from school while keeping enrollment, dilated eye exams and follow-up, pit and fissure sealants, disciplining children without hitting or yelling, parenting classes, don't send kids to internet addiction schools. Outcome type: mortality and health endpoints, plus one or two items each on money and time.

A 8B 9C 1
Section 31·16 items
The Paths Open After Eighteen

the legal entry requirements for twelve paths; joining the military (military service registration, two years of compulsory service, joint penalties for refusing military service, tuition compensation and further study, job placement and reporting within 30 days, discharge pay, years of service and taxes); targeted recruitment exams for grassroots service programs; special-post teachers getting a permanent post when their term ends; firefighters and military civilian staff; self-study exams, adult college entrance exams and the Open University; the 6-year service commitment for state-funded teacher trainees and targeted medical students; what kind of company to look for when working abroad; individual income tax and receiving foreign payments when working remotely from home for a company abroad; business start-up guaranteed loans; social insurance for flexible employment; occupational injury protection for delivery riders. Outcome type: money/time, with the item on refusing military service also touching on personal freedom.

A 16B 0C 0
Section 32·10 items
Studying Abroad: Status, Work, Insurance and Degree Recognition Back Home

check the list of recognized institutions before paying tuition; the new US F-1 rule of “four years at most, leave within 30 days of finishing” has been suspended by a court, so for now it is still until you finish plus a 60-day grace period; the caps on work hours in the four countries of the US, Canada, the UK and Australia; full-time enrollment is the root of your status; report a move within 10 days; the Ministry of Education's study-abroad alerts; Australia's OSHC must not lapse; the UK's health surcharge; the 10 to 20 working days for degree verification by the overseas study service center (留服); the list of institutions under enhanced scrutiny. Outcome type: money/personal freedom.

A 10B 0C 0
Section 33·20 items
Living With a Disability

three on-the-spot steps for autonomic dysreflexia, the suicide window in the ten years after becoming disabled, the voluntary principle for psychiatric hospitalization and its two exceptions, caregivers' own risk of death, pressure-relief wheelchair cushions, scams promising a cure, the six benefits to ask about in full after getting the certificate, long-term care insurance is not only for older people, rehabilitation assistance for ages 0 to 6, subsidies for home accessibility modifications, quota-based employment and the disability employment security fund, individual income tax reductions, guide dogs and free rides, reasonable accommodations for the college entrance exam, schools may not refuse admission and teaching delivered at home, the C5 driving license, how to choose a rehabilitation facility, hearing aids, determination of legal capacity and guardianship. Outcome type: mortality/money/time/personal freedom.

A 17B 3C 0
Section 34·11 items
Household Medicines: Don't Let Them Hurt You

don't double up on acetaminophen, no aspirin, nimesulide or metamizole for children's fevers, who is at high risk of stomach damage from ibuprofen, don't give combination cold medicines to children under 2 on your own, don't take ibuprofen on your own after 20 weeks of pregnancy, omeprazole on your own for 7 days at most, no antibiotics for colds, rehydrate first for diarrhea and no antidiarrheals for children, taking too many painkillers actually causes headaches, put expired and leftover medicines in hazardous waste, no alcohol while taking cephalosporins or metronidazole and for 7 days after stopping. Outcome type: mortality.

A 3B 8C 0

Within each section, items run from highest to lowest value for cost. Section titles such as “Don't Die Early” and “Don't Waste Time” name the outcome the section is trying to prevent; whether an item itself is something to do or not to do is decided by the item title. Further long-form pieces: Home emergency kit checklist, Which licenses a platform needs, Is marriage worth it?, Should you stop when a stranger is in trouble?, The body clock and night shifts, and four scenario checklists in time order: What to do first after being laid off, Things to take care of before and after a child is born, Right after a chronic illness diagnosis and Before changing jobs or cities. The verification of each item's sources is recorded in Verification records.