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CONTENTS
Feature on Youth Month
1. Results of the 11th China Youth May Fourth Medal Appraisal Made Known
2.China Young Heroes and Model Workers Meet
3. Fifth Citation of National Ethnic Youth Solidarity and Progress
4£®4th China University Student Psychological Health Festival
5. National Publicity Day on the Protection of Minors
6. MRPO ¨C China Youth Cultural Festival on Source of Henan Huaihe River 7. A 100-member Delegation of Yale Faculty Members and Students Visits China
News in Pictures
1. Youth and Current Affairs
2. Youth in Action
3. Local Youth Federations
4. Profile of ACYF NC members
5. Tracking Olympics 2008
6. Folklore at a Glance
Employment & Entrepreneurship
1£®ACYF Service to Youth Employment and Youth Business
2£®Measures of Local Youth Federations to Promote Youth Employment and youth Businesses
3. Stories of Youth Business
Youth Surveys
1.Youth Participation in Social Activity and Decision-making
--- Excerpts of China Youth Development Report
Youth Style
1. Zhou Yongzhi: Volunteers Find Greatest Happiness in Being Needed
International Exchange International Exchange: April 1 ¨C June 30
Feature on Youth Month
Results of the 11th China Youth May Fourth Medal Appraisal Made Known
During the May Fourth period, the CYLC Central Committee and ACYF awarded the title of ¡°China Youth May Fourth Medal Pacesetter¡± to ten young people who made outstanding contributions to various social areas. They were namely,(1) Xiang Libin, director of Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Sciences, (2)Liu Zhigang, captain of Wenzhou Warship, PLA Navy Unit No.91257, (3) Dou Hongbo, teacher of Luqing Primary School, Sangzhe Town, Pengshui County of Chongqing Municipality, (4) Liu Xingui, Party secretary and villager committee of Liancheng Village, Nanchangshan Town, Changdao County, Shandong Province, (5) Xue Kui, shift leader of Ethylene Workshop, Dushanzi Petrochemical Branch Co. of China Petroleum & Natural Gas Stock Co. LTD., (6)Huang Changfu, Beijing subway diametrical line engineering commander, China Railway No. 16 Bureau Group under the China General Railway Construction Co., (7) Xiang Enlin, chief of Civil Court No. 1 of Sangzhi County People¡¯s Court of Hunan Province, (8) Xu Tao, vice director of Science and Education Program Center, Beijing TV Station, (9) Peng Fei, section- chief on Bill Examination Division, Shanghai Customs, and (10) Hu Lingxin, doctoral student of spacecraft design at Nanjing Aircraft and Spacecraft University.Another 200 youths were awarded China Youth May Fourth Medals.
¡¡¡¡The China Youth May Fourth Medal is the highest honors granted by the CYLC Central Committee and ACYF to Chinese youths. Inaugurated in 1997, it aims to set up and publicize young models, encourage and guide Chinese youth to join the reform, opening up and modernization drive, to grow up healthily and make contributions and meritorious services in the practice.
The CYLC Central Committee and ACYF would take the occasion to carry out thematic practical education activities. Publicize the advanced deeds of medal winners and develop the essential connotations of patriotism, hard work, innovation and contributions. Display the role of organizing and guiding youths, serving them and defending their legal rights and interests. Encourage young people to combine their personal ambitions with the common ideals of the whole nation, study hard and excel in creation, ready to contribute their youth, wisdom and strength to the development of socio-economy, politics and culture, as well as the building of a harmonious society.
China Young Heroes and Model Workers Meet
In May 2007, over 200 representatives of outstanding youths in various historical periods since the founding of New China gathered together to mark the 88th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, and the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Communist Youth League of China. They attended a Chinese youth rally under the title of ¡°I Advance alongside the Motherland.¡± They joined young people of the capital in planting a youth forest center, making in-depth communications with youth of other provinces and carrying out a multiple program of visits and study tours.
The rally brought together young heroes and model workers from 1950s to 1980s , representatives of well- known figures since the 1990s, including China Youth May Fourth Medal winners, China Top Ten Outstanding Youths, China Youth Enterprising Medal winners, National Outstanding Young Skilled Workers, National Outstanding Young Migrant Workers, China Young Entrepreneurs Management and Innovation Medal winners, China Outstanding Young Farmers, Mother River Protection Prize Winners and National Village Young Cultural VIPs, etc.
President Hu Jintao sent a letter to the assembly, extending greetings to the CYLC members and other young people of all ethnic groups and lofty greetings to the young heroes and model workers on behalf of the central government. The letter of congratulations fully confirmed the important contributions of young people to the socialist revolution, construction and reforms, highly evaluated the outstanding achievements made by the young heroes and model workers and raised earnest hopes for the CYLC members and other young people of all ethnic groups. The letter was a great inspiration to the assembly participants and the rising generation in general.
5th Citation of National Ethnic Youth Solidarity and Progress
On May 29, the 5th national meeting to commend winners of ethnic youth solidarity and progress prize was held in Beijing. Over 150 youth representatives of the 56 ethnic groups all over the country attended the meeting.
Wurichev, vice director of Inner Mongolian Normal University¡¯s research institute of sculpture and nine others won the prize of excellence under the title. Another 189 including Jin Na, associate professor with the institute of fine arts of Tsinghua University, won the outstanding prize. Another 45 units including Niujie Street CYLC Working Committee, Beijing Xuanwu District seized the advanced collective prize. Beijing Municipal Committee of Ethnic and Religious Affairs and 23 other organizations captured the activity-organizing prize.
The commendation program of national prize for ethnic youth solidarity and progress, co-sponsored by the CYLC Central Committee, the State Commission on Nationalities and the ACYF, has been held every three years since its inauguration in 1993. Ever since, it has commended a total of 140 advanced collectives and 688 advanced individuals that have contributed to the cause of national solidarity and progress.
4th China University Student Psychological Health Festival
On May 25, the 4th Chinese university student psychological health festival was held in the Northeast China Normal University as the main scenario under the co-sponsorship of the CYLC Central Committee, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the National Patriotic Sanitation Committee and the ACSF.
¡¡¡¡The theme of the festival is ¡°I love myself --- self-confidence and optimistic about careers¡±. The aim was to guide college students to approach employment and job seeking correctly through organizing various forms of psychological health education, so that they will face employment problems and possible setbacks and difficulties with a positive and optimistic mentality.
¡¡¡¡During the one-week program, college students in Beijing, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Guangxi held extensive psychological health knowledge publicity on the theme and unfolded expertise consulting activities by way of on-the-spot consulting, online consulting, expert forums, special report meetings and psychological health hotlines.
National Publicity Day on the Protection of Minors
The newly revised law on the protection of minors was enacted on June 1 officially. On May 27, League organizations held a day of concentrated publicity on the protection. Many localities held a series of publicity activities focusing on respecting and protecting minors as a responsibility for every citizen.
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region held a meeting to publicize and enforce the law in protection of the minors. The people¡¯s congress, the political and law committee, and the court were invited to deploy protection work. 1300 volunteers were recruited to carry out concentrated voluntary service in preventing juvenile delinquency, maintaining social security, community drug prohibition, AIDS prevention ABC publicity, legal institution publicity and juvenile psychological health care, etc.
¡¡¡¡LiaoningProvincesponsored a community program of popularizing the Minor protection law. 1000 lawyers were involved to run beneficial lectures on law in the communities. Law experts on Minor protection law were invited to explain to the public about the law and the knowledge related to the protection on the Minors.
¡¡ In Tianjin, primary and secondary school students drew a 100-meter long scroll of Minors protection. With their painting brushes, they pinpointed the contents of Minors protection in traffic security, net safety, self-protection, social corrections and judicial protection.
¡¡¡¡In Yangquan City, Shanxi Province, a Minor sunshine physiological therapy clinic was set up inviting 12355 youngster right guardians and outstanding youngster right experts from the courts and procuratorates to give free community psychological services, such as psychological consulting and psychological lectures and psychologist interviews, setting up psychological files for youngsters and stepping up psychological health education among youngsters.
¡¡¡¡Guangxi Autonomous Region organized a friendly get-together of refugee Minors, disabled orphans with school children.
¡¡¡¡Tibet Autonomous Region actively carried out publicity of the Minor protection law via setting up consulting desks, issuing non-ages protection leaflets and soliciting articles.
MRPO ¨C China Youth Cultural Festival on Source of Henan Huaihe River
May 18 saw the mammoth inauguration of MRPO (Mother River Protection Operation) --- China Youth Cultural Festival at the source of Huaihe River in Henan. Co-sponsored by the CYLC Central Committee and State General Administration of Environmental Protection, the meeting was attended by over 10000 youngster representatives and social figures from the five provinces the river runs through.
¡¡The theme of the cultural festival was ¡° Let¡¯s Join Hands in Green Harmony¡±. A series of activities were carried out during the festival, including a youngster forum on Huaihe valley eco-protection and energy conservation, HK, Macao and Taiwan youngsters¡¯ eco-tourism into the source of Huaihe River and their probe for roots in central China plain, and building a Huaihe source theme park.
¡¡ The MRPO is a social welfare program jointly sponsored by the CYLC Central Committee, the National Forestation Committee, the NPC Environmental Resources Committee, the CPPCC Population, Resources and Environment Committee, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture, the State General administration of Environmental Protection and the State Bureau of Forestry in 1999. During the past eight years, the MRPO has collected nearly 565 million yuan from home and abroad, built 2018 environmental projects along the mother river valleys with a total area of 3.2942 million mu (15 mu = 1 hectare). These played a positive role in protecting the environment, improving the eco-system, strengthening youngster eco-protection awareness, and promoting sustainable economic and social development. In 2001, the MRPO scored the first China Environment Prize and in 2005, it won the United Nations Inaugural Champions of the Earth.
A 100-member Delegation of Yale Faculty Members and Students Visits China
From May 16 to25, a 100-member Yale University delegation led by Yale President Richard Levin visited Beijing, Xi¡¯an and Shanghai.
During their stay in Beijing, they visited the central committee of Chinese Peasants¡¯ and Workers¡¯ Democratic Party, the Supreme People¡¯s Court and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in groups. Chinese vice-minister of education held in honor of the delegation a forum on China¡¯s education system and educational reform. The delegation visited Peking University and Tsinghua University and communicated with teachers and students. The delegation also visited Memorial of Zhan Tianyou, Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
The delegation also visited Shaanxi and Shanghai. In Xi¡¯an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province, they visited the Terra Cotta Warriors and horses and other cultural relics, Xi¡¯an Jiaotong University and held discussions with teachers and students. To gain a better understanding of China, the delegation¡¯s itinerary included visits to the Chinese countryside and ordinary Chinese residents. In Shanghai, the delegates visited the Shanghai Securities Exchange in groups, the Pudong New Area government and Shanghai General Motor Co. and held in-depth exchange with Fudan University teachers and students. Shanghai Municipal Youth Federation held a farewell banquet and friendly gathering in honor of the delegation.
News in Pictures
1. Youth and Current Affairs
1 ¨C 1 Activities to mark the May Fourth Youth Movement in different localities
1 ¨C 2 The 5th Cross-Straits Youth Forum in session
1 ¨C 3 Youth of various localities celebrate May Day
2. Youth in Action
2 ¨C 1 12355 Youngster right protection and psychological service hotline is on and youngsters across the country apply actively for legal consultant membership.
2 ¨C 2 More than 10 million applicants sit for the national college entrance examination this year.
2 ¨C 3 A team of Chinese young volunteers is setting off for Latin America for the first time.
3. Local Youth Federations
3 ¨C 1 Guangxi YV rural program is in full swing under the slogan: Say No to Drugs & AIDS
3 ¨C 2 Tianjin Municipal League Committee marking June 1 International Children¡¯s Day
3 ¨C 3 Youngster Eye Protection Day in Jilin Province
4. Profile of ACYF NC members
4 ¨C 1 Song Zuying, ACYF national committee standing committee member, wins the Kennedy Art Golden Prize.
4 ¨C 2 Zhu Jun, another ACYF national committee standing committee member, participates in the welfare singing gala of the Red Cross Society Brightness Angel foundation.
5. Tracking Olympics 2008
5-1 A glimpse of the stadiums for 2008 Olympics Beijing
5 ¨C 2 Applicants for Beijing Olympics and Paralympics voluntary service top half a million
5 ¨C 3 21 outstanding youth collectives in the capital named as Olympics Pioneers
6. Folklore at a Glance
6 ¨C 1 Water Festival in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province
Employment & Entrepreneurship
ACYF Service to Youth Employment and Youth Business
In serving youth employment and business creation, ACYF has concentrated on promoting college student employment and adopted measures mainly to link employment with skill training, and to support business creation with aid to employment. According to the methodology of grasping training to promote business creation and thus to create more jobs, it has made overall arrangements for employment and business creation among laid-off young workers, newly increased urban young labor force and surplus young laborers in the countryside.
These mainly included the following six aspects of work:
£¨1£© Active service for youth employment: Pushed forward the plan to promote university student employment, widely mobilized young entrepreneur association member enterprises and ACYF national committee members in the enterprise circles to tap job posts suitable for university graduates, sponsored special recruitment meetings, organized campus job post recruitment activities and opened up university student and youth employment service hotlines. Scaled up university student employment internship. Helped university students in enriching their occupational experience and realizing periodic employment. Made great efforts to implement university student voluntary service in Development of Western China. Expanded the coverage of speedy job delivery program and deepened the Rural Youth Transfer Service Month activities.
£¨2£© Continuous deepening of the youth employment skill training: Deepened the project to give technical training to 1 million laid-off young workers, training them not only in skills but also in market adaptation aptitudes. Developed university student employment training and tutorship. Continued to implement Farmer Science Quality Action and sparkling S&T project to make people better off in cooperation with agricultural, S&T departments and science associations as well as secondary and tertiary schools. And sponsored illustrious S&T young expert service groups.
£¨3£© Increased support for youth business creation: Deepened implementation of successful business creation plan under the driving force of youth business creation with small credit loans, and with the supplementary support of business training, guidance, internship and incubation. Scaled up SYB training. Introduce KAB curricula in 200 colleges and universities. Set up business databank, sponsored business press conferences and set up university student business expertise guidance groups and engaged university student business consultants to provide services in all links. Stepped up implementation of YBC international plan. Named and supported a batch of rural youth business demonstration bases. And deepened service week for returned overseas scholars and service for newly returned students from overseas.
£¨4£© Stronger education among youth on employment concept: Gave employment concept lectures to change outmoded concepts among youth. Helped university students change their concept in employment via social practice and repertoire report activities.
£¨5£© In-depth aid to youth employment: Extended real aid to 10000 needy families. Mobilized youth model collectives of departments concerned to provide legal aid to laid-off young workers.
£¨6£© Stepped up efforts to develop youth businesses and contingents: Fully displayed the joint meeting role of youth business service central areas and trained backbone elements for youth employment and business creation, and developed information network positions.
Measures by local youth federations to promote youth employment and youth businesses
In Shanxi Province, League organizations made strenuous efforts to push forward the student employment project, sponsoring net recruitment meetings, providing face-to-face post recommendation, information consulting and employment guidance services. Strove for support from all social circles and mobilized member enterprises of young entrepreneur associations to collective job information and tap job posts.
Organized campus recruitment programs and continued to implement successful plans to provide funding support for young people working to create businesses, and undergraduates with mature plans to create business.
¡¡¡¡In Fujian Province, scores of thousands of undergraduates took part in recruitment meetings organized by Fujian provincial League committee. 170 young entrepreneurs were mobilized to join the recruitment. They provided more than 4600 jobs as human resource managers, financial personnel and administrative assistants. The gathering rolled out three special categories of recruitment: jobs for poor college graduates, nearly 500 jobs for undergraduates with young volunteer work experience and jobs for undergraduates from Taiwan.
In Shandong Province, League organizations actively provided more job opportunities by holding special recruitment meetings and campus recommendation meetings. They continued efforts to promote student voluntary service in the Development of West China, post-bachelor mobile station and undergraduate business creation base development.
In Sichuan Province, the League provincial committee took the lead in creating Sichuan provincial undergraduate employment and business network, undergraduate employment and business foundations, lecturers corps of youth business lecture hall, undergraduate business expertise guiding group, undergraduate vocational designer teaching group and undergraduate quality exhibition, employment information exchange, employment internship and business practice platforms.
In Guangdong Province, some colleges and universities set up off-campus undergraduate internship bases in enterprises and invited their CEOs and professionals to serve as off-campus professional guidance committee members so as to help increase the rate of success in undergraduate employment.
Stories of Youth Business
YBC is an entrepreneurship education project launched by the CCYL, the ACYF and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, which aims to help young people start their own businesses. In cooperation with the International Business Leaders Forum and Youth Business International, it mobilizes all social sectors, particularly the business community, to provide business-mentoring, seed-money, technical and network support to young entrepreneurs, thus help them succeed in business start-ups.
Small Toys Making Big Market
Wang Yong had an enviable job in a multinational joint venture, but the white-collar lady cherished a dream of bringing joy to others. She began preparing a downy-toy shop and devoted herself to introducing the international popular DIY model into China.
She happened to know YBC (Youth Business China) and tried to hand in her business plan. A few days later she got permission to attend an interview.
After investigating and assessing her plan and personal quality, the experts decided to support her plan.
Resigning from her high paying job, Wang began to concentrate on building her toy- shop. She found it was no easy thing to turn her dream into reality. With scanty fund to start off, she was sort of chinchy in all her expenditures. To save the transport costs, she would run personal errands to Beijing outskirts for the delivery of goods. To save expenses for maintenance and repairs, she took up all physical works including operating and repairing the machines.
She experienced hard, painful and helpless time but she survived them all. ¡°To start a business is a solitary process, but when all others are frustrated, you must not give up. You must always give others confidence and rays of hope, even though you are worried and fatigued.¡±
One year later, Wang¡¯s shop was inaugurated. She began to feel the joy of business creation when watching children enjoy the downy toys she made in her shop. ¡°I feel my ever-greater self-confidence whenever I finish a job I did not believe I could manage to finish.¡±
In 2006 Wang¡¯s project won the overall cooperation from China¡¯s leading children¡¯s dress enterprise PacLantic in funding, techniques, management and sales networks. Her shop soon spread to four and the company grew from a small workshop into the stage of creating famous brands and chain stores.
Diligence Counts
A Shandong woman farmer, Lou Laifeng had to quit senior middle school because of poverty and work in the capital city of Shandong Province as a migrant worker. The bitter experience of a decade-long migrant working, however, fostered in her a quality of fearing no hardships and fighting against difficulties.
Lou once worked in a brewery. Learning while practicing, she inherited from an old master his family¡¯s private art of brewery. After grasping the traditional art, she made innovations and succeeded in finding a small workshop to produce a soybean sauce without chemical additives. The sauce soon gained popularity in the locality. As time went on, it was in short supply and Lou decided to set up her own brewery in her hometown.
Back to her hometown, she spent all her savings in building a glass factory building, purchasing equipment and facilities, ready for a big business. Unexpectedly, she ran short of funds, having no money even for raw materials. She ran errands everywhere, but in vain. She failed to get a loan from any relative or to get a bank loan in the absence of a guarantor. Even her husband divorced her, depriving her of her child.
When she was utterly frustrated, she heard of YBC over the radio. Excited, she spent a sleepless night. She went to the capital city to fetch the YBC office in Shandong. After hearing her experience, the working staff helped improve her business plan. After expertise screening and interview, Lou obtained 50000 yuan funding and business guidance. Her brewery eventually went into operation.
Several months later, Lou¡¯s natural soybean sauce went on sale in the locality. She was busy peddling her product everywhere house to house in the villages during the daytime and went processing in the factory late into the night. She went to bed very late. Her business story soon made her somebody in the locality. Many difficulties would challenge her, but she would meet them defiantly, ¡°There are no insurmountable barriers in human lives!¡± She cherishes a dream of making access into the Beijing market by the time of Beijing Olympic Games 2008. By then, she will make available to Beijing residents and foreign guests her green and environment-friendly sauce.
Youth Surveys
Youth Participation in Social Activity and Decision-making
--- Excerpts of China Youth Development Report
The youth is an important force to promote social and historic progress, and the social development needs the youth's active participation. With the development of the cause to build a well-off society in an all-round way, more construction tasks ask the masses of youth to participate actively. Transformation of the functions of Chinese government and the rise and development of the non-governmental organizations, have offered larger and larger social participation space for youth. The all-round development of China's politics, economy and culture and the gradually improved policy system, the constant improvement of the education level and quality of Chinese Youth, have offered more chances and channels for youth to participate in social life and policy making, the youth participation is more active. Fields of Chinese youth participation in social life and decision-making expand constantly too. Chinese Youth¡¯s participation in contemporary social life and decision-making mainly focus on participation in the political life, economic construction, the management of the state authorities on the society, community service and social public interest affairs.
Chinese government has always paid much attention to youth's important role in social life and decision-making, and offered improved policy support and fund guarantee to realize such an important role. In the past 10 years, Chinese government, together with Ministry of Education, Ministry of Personnel, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Construction, as well as the local governments, have issued more than 100 documents that support and promote youth to participate in social life and decision-making. In March 1994, " China's Agenda for the 21st Century" approved by the Chinese Government specially left a chapter for youth, and set down detailed goals and program of actions in the fields of youth education, protection of rights and interests, political participation, economic and social development, etc.
More channels for youth participation in social life and decision-making
Chinese youth joins the Communist Party of China actively and takes full role. The Communist Party of China is the ruling party in China. It makes great efforts to strive for the youth participation in politics, which is distinctly reflected in the Party¡¯s constitution. Chapter ten of the Constitution points out clearly, " the party should firmly support the Communist Youth League to livelily and creatively carry on the work according to the characteristics and needs of the masses of youth, and to give full play to its role as shock brigade and bridge between the Party and the vast youth ". The Communist Party of China also actively recruits youth members, appealing to youth increasingly. At the end of 1994, the Communist Party of China had 55,407,000 Party members. Among them, the number of Party members under the age of 35 was 11,664,000, accounting for 21 .1%of the total amount. Up to the end of 2004, the Party member's total amount was 69,603,000, and that of Party members under the age of 35 was 15,809,000, accounting for 22.7%of the total amount. The young Party member's absolute quantity and relative proportion all have grown. In addition, by the end of June of 2003, the number of student Party members in higher education was up to more than 700,000, accounting for 8% of all students. Compared to 1.16% in 1990, it increased by nearly 7 percentage points. The number of students in higher education system who apply to join the Party totals up to 3,950,000, accounting 46 .5% of the non-Party-member students. Meanwhile, proportion of youth in Party Committee at all levels rise constantly. At the end of 1994, the proportion of youth under the age of 35 in Party Committees at prefecture and county levels were 0 .39% and 3. 04%. By 1997, they increase respectively to 0.68% and 7. 25%.
Youth organizations and youth representatives actively attend people's congress and people¡¯s political consultative conferences at all levels, and actively participate in the decision making of public policy and youth policy. Among the members of the Ninth People's Congress of China, youth representatives under the age of 30 total at 45, accounting for 1.51%. Compared with the Ninth Congress, the trend of being younger in the Tenth National People's Congress is very obvious, and the average age dropped by more than 1 year. The number of members under 30 years old increased to 46, accounting for 1.54 percent. In the 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Communist Youth League and Youth Federations held 34 seats. In the 10th CPPCC, the number increased to 38. In local People's Congress and People¡¯s Political Consultative Conference, there are a certain proportion of youth members as well. These youth representatives represent the will of the youth, reflect youth¡¯s voice and fully take part in the political life of the country.
Chinese government attaches great importance to the selection and appointment of young cadres, and large quantities of young cadres are playing an important role in the government departments at all levels. Reforms of civil servants system and issue of Law on Public Servant of the People's Republic of China have offered the system guarantee for Chinese youth to work in government agencies, and also inspired their strong sense of political participation. Hundreds of thousands of young people enter civil servants team every year now. In general terms, among the civil servants that Chinese government newly absorbed in recent 10 years, the majority are youth. Meanwhile, Chinese youth play a great role in economic development, especially in Hi-tech and innovation field. At the end of 2003, the permanent staff of Chinese Academy of Sciences totaled at 45,000 people. Among them, young scientific and technical personnel under the age of 45 accounts for more than 70%, which fully demonstrate the great participation role of youth in social development and scientific and technological progress.
International youth exchange is the main channel and way for Chinese youth to participate in world youth affairs. There are more that 100 important youth exchange projects between Chinese youth and foreign youth in 2004, more than 3000 foreign young people visited China, and more than 1000 Chinese youth visited all the five continents as envoy of friendship. The All-China Youth Federation actively participated in the consultation, formation and evaluation process of the WPAY. Starting from 2002, the All-China Youth Federation and the Chinese Young Volunteers Association jointly implemented the " Chinese Young Volunteers¡¯ Overseas Service Plan". The program organized volunteers to go to the Puji island in Thailand to provide rescue service, and sent Chinese young volunteers to under-developed countries in Africa and Asia.
Over the past 10 years, China has already formed a relatively sound security system and organization system for youth social participation. Youth organizations like the Communist Youth League of China, the All-China Youth Federation, the Chinese Young Entrepreneurs Association offered a comprehensive organization guarantee for youth participation in social life and policy-making. In 1997, the total number of Communist Youth League members was 68,540,000, accounting for 21.3% of youth. By the end of 2004, League member's total amount has increased to 71,880,000, the Youth League Committees at the grassroots level totals at 212,000, Youth League Cells total at 2,540,000, and full-time League cadres at 191,000. The Communist Youth League becomes the youth organization with strongest appeal, biggest sense of ownership and highest reorganization among youth. To meet the needs of economic development and youth work, various kinds of youth organizations actively promote youth's extensive and deep social participation. At the end of 2003, there are 142,000 social organizations in the whole country, 13 of them are national youth organizations, which have offered abundant platforms and channels for youth participation in social life and policy-making. According to the statistics, 31% of the Beijing youth have joined social organizations, and those with highest youth participation are sodalities, hobby associations and various kinds of public interest organizations.
Broader fields for youth participation in social life and decision-making
Chinese youth base themselves upon their own job positions and fully realize their participation in social life and decision-making in their work. The ¡°Model Youth Units¡± activity is jointly launched by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and other 24 government departments. It aims to encourage youth to base themselves upon their job positions, and actively participate in social life and decision-making in their work. The activity organizes on-post learning, promotes contest among youth and youth teams, carries forward the spirit of professionalism, creates the outstanding achievement, thus promotes youth participation and youth achievement. In the past decade, over 5 million youth teams from more than 30 different industries joined the activity. There are 5160 national Model Youth Units and 250,000 Model Youth Units at all levels. At the same time, the¡°Model Youth Units¡± create a new approach for youth participation and youth development. According to incomplete statistics, almost 200,000 outstanding youth talents have been appraised by the Model Youth Units at all levels.
Chinese youth actively provide voluntary service for big social events. At the end of 1993, Central Committee of the Communist Youth League decided to carry out the ¡°Chinese Young Volunteers Operation¡±. After that, the campaign swept the whole country swiftly. At present, young volunteers association and volunteers associations have been established in every province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government), more than two thirds prefectures and some counties. 89,000 community service centers and more than 100,000 volunteer teams were set up. Registered volunteers, including middle-aged and senior citizens, total at 13.79 million. Around 150 million youth provided over 4.5 billion hours of voluntary service to the society.
Chinese youth actively participate in development aid for poverty-stricken areas. Since the social practice project of Sending Culture, Science & Technology and Medical Care to Rural Areas was launched in 1996, about 1 million college students have been to rural areas in volunteer teams, particularly poverty-stricken and less developed areas, to provide voluntary service every summer vacation. Up to now nearly 10 million college students went to grassroots countryside through participating in this program. The Chinese Young Volunteers Poverty-alleviation Relay Project started the pilot projects in 1996 and was widely carried out in 1998. It mobilizes and organizes youth in urban areas to provide half-year to two-year voluntary service in poverty-stricken areas of the mid-west part of China. Till now, over 300,000 urban youth applied and 14,240 youth have been recruited and sent to 19 provinces (autonomous regions, municipality directly under the central government) in mid-west China, including Tibet and Xinjiang and 223 poverty-stricken counties. In 2000, the project Sending Culture, Science & Technology and Medical Care to Rural Areas by PhDs was launched. In the same year, nearly 2000 doctors in 180 teams went to the west to provide voluntary service in poverty-stricken areas. The ¡°Go west¡± College Students Voluntary Service project started in 2003. Up to now, nearly 30,000 college graduates have been sent to almost 300 poverty-stricken counties in the west and provided volunteer service at the grassroots.
Chinese youth actively participate in community service and construction. Since 1994, Chinese youth have sprung up the ¡°one-helps-one¡± long-term voluntary service project, and provided service to people of difficulty in community in pairs. By the end of 2001, the number of the paired-up groups has increased from 0.15 million to more than 2.5 million, and more than 40 million youth have been involved in community voluntary service. Masses of youth actively dedicate themselves in building ¡°Youth Model Community ¡±. Up till now, there are already 1000 Youth Model Communities at the national level, and nearly 3000 youth model communities at the provincial (prefecture) level. Youth extend their enthusiasm in community construction, which has effectively promoted the development of community culture.
Youth Style
Zhou Yongzhi: Volunteers Find Greatest Happiness in Being Needed
¡°Farmers¡¯ approval of our volunteers is the best remuneration for us. The great happiness of volunteers lies precisely in feeling that we volunteers are always needed.¡± This was the feeling Zhou Zhiyong summed up as a rural Party member modern long-distance education volunteer over his one-year-long voluntary service in Henan Province.
¡¡¡¡In July 2005, Zhou Zhiyong graduated from computer science specialty of Henan University of Technology and went to Weiqiu Township of Yanjin County, Xinxiang City of Henan Province to develop long-distance education service. On December 5, 2006, the Henan provincial League committee and provincial YV association granted him the title of one of the ten top young volunteers in Henan Province.
¡¡¡¡The township he was working in administered 44 administrative and 2 natural villages with a total population of more than 43000. It was a typical large agricultural township. Though mentally prepared, he was still surprised to find the township even more backward than he had expected. Located in the heartland of central China plain as it was, it had virtually no industry! But soon the ardor of the locals dispelled his frustrations.
¡¡¡¡ ¡°I feel that I was needed here and decided to do something with my own knowledge.¡± Zhou made it his first mission in the township to get to the villages and get informed about the practical conditions of the whole township.
¡¡¡¡In less than one month, Zhou traveled 44 of the township¡¯s 46 villages by walk or by bike borrowed from his colleague and got familiar with the basic condition of long-distance education stations and technical managerial staff. This soon set him ready and fully prepared for his job.
¡¡¡¡According to the information obtained from the survey, in early 2006, Zhou hammered out a software teaching aquatic breeding lessons in cooperation with two other volunteers working in the county. The Henan Long-distance Education Databank adopted it.
¡¡¡¡¡°Farmer friends were very eager to receive education in science and culture, but they felt helpless in facing the S&T era and cultural reform and development. Long-distance education precisely provided them with a vast platform to gain new knowledge and develop new thinking.¡± Through surveys Zhou deeply realized the inevitable trend of long-distance education in the countryside. Farmers began to ponder on ways and means to get better off and enrich their cultural lives after tackling the food and clothing problem. Here again long-distance education afforded them the chance to get informed on how to get better off and enrich their cultural activities.
¡¡¡¡In his communications with the township cadres, Zhou got to know that the township was a well-known pepper producer yet the growers were worried for the sales. It turned out that in 2004 the township government called on the growers to plant 12000 mu of peppers, but nobody purchased them due to low price offered, causing widespread discontent. After sizing up the situation, the township Party committee and government collected over three million yuan by hook and by crook and purchased most peppers from the growers. However, the peppers did not sell and had to be stored up in rented cold storehouse.
¡¡¡¡Knowing this, Zhou told the township leadership his idea to sell peppers on the net and then featured supply information on the net. After network linkage, over 800000 catties of peppers were sold to Heilongjiang Province.
¡¡¡¡Ever since, local farmers showed him greater confidence. While providing technical guarantee for long-distance education, Zhou helped repair computers and imparted basic knowledge about computers. He went deep into all villages organizing party cadres in their studies, helping them grasp the skills and explaining questions from villagers on general and scientific knowledge as well as in applied techniques.
¡¡¡¡At the present time, local pig diseases are fairly rampant. Zhou is busy collecting and downloading information on their prevention and cure, printing it into leaflets and sending them into the hands of pig farmers through many channels such as township animal husbandry stations, township cadres going to the villages and the stations he got to.
¡¡¡¡Meanwhile, Zhou brought to Weiqiu Township a spiritual feature peculiar to the students. He often learnt from grassroots leading cadres, exchanged with them the rural experiences and organized ball, chess, skating games with them, fetching ways and means to get better off from the net and commenting on current domestic and international affairs.
¡°Through one year¡¯s work, I have deeply integrated myself with the locality. I would work over a longer period of time in the rural forefront if I have the chance to.¡± In Weiqiu Township, 25 year-old Zhou sometimes did feel lonesome and perplexed, but he never repented his own choice. He had signed for one-year service here but he signed for another year after the expiration of the term.
International Exchange International Exchange: April 1 ¨C June 30
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