Yes, the regulation permitting students to do part time work has been around for about 5 years. I have only seen this done in Shanghai. I don't know if anyone else has experience of this one.
This was a student of Chinese, at university, working part time in a hotel, with the permission of the univ.

thanks JanJal, but it doesnt say what are the conditions for obtaining the work permit.
Thats what I ment in my post. Nobody actualy can provide info about what actually ( according CN law ) the conditions are. As I said, I only know the ones about teaching .
" Foreigners who work in China shall obtain work permits and work-type residence permits in accordance with relevant regulations. " ...which are?

That would depend largely on situation. For example this regulation about "students working on student visa" is specific to students, and if I understand correctly, university students exclusively.

But if you want a legit work permit without having your employer to sponsor it for you, the only way to proceed is to register your own business and become your own employer.

Then you have a mountain (or small hill) to climb with the laws and regulations related to that process, before you are even close to the subject of work permit for yourself.

well, My aim is to be familiar with content of that "hill" before I even start to think about setting any company. As Ive heard so far, to set up the company as an investor and be actually allowed to work in that company are 2 different things. Basicaly Ive heard there is no mention that u can work in your company :-) It sounds a bit confusing to me.
Again, this is all verbal info Im getting, so Im trying to dig out the written one.

This studying, working rule must have been around longer than 5 years, surely.

I was at university in the late nineties and the university had 2 old ladies in an office that dealt with the issue.

Could have been someone bending the rules without much regard for law, and even less supervision from the authorities. The law hasn't been there until 2013.

Ah! the 90's. Before the great crackdown of 2008.

You can do part time work as a student, but the regulations only allowed students to be paid 15 RMB per hour!! The school worked out a little under the table deal.