Can patents be made public in advance at any time?

Of course. According to Article 34 of China's Patent Law, the invention application shall be published 18 months from the date of filing (from the priority date if there is priority). At the same time, the patent law stipulates that the applicant may request the publication of his application in advance. If the applicant requests to publish the application in advance, it will be published immediately after the preliminary examination is passed. In practice, this time is usually 4-6 months.