The almost 70 million-strong Communist Youth League of China (CYLC)
is shifting its role to help the nation's youth solve its practical
problems and get more of them involved in helping others.
As the country is facing the possibility of higher unemployment
in the next couple of years, the organization, which boasts 69.86
million members, has been making greater efforts to help young
people find work.
Zhou Qiang, first secretary of the Secretariat of the CYLC
Central Committee, said this is a must if the organization is to
build stronger ties with young people. He made the remarks at the
ongoing session of the 15th National Congress of the CYLC in
Beijing.
Ma Chunlei, deputy secretary of the CYLC Shanghai branch, said:
"We used to stress our role as an educator of youth. But now we
should listen to the young people's needs on an equal basis, try to
satisfy their needs and at the same time guide them away from crime
and other bad influences."
League branches in Shanghai, Chongqing and Shandong Province
have taken action to help local laid-off youth find jobs or
establish their own careers over the past five years.
In addition to local branches' efforts, the CYLC Central
Committee has set up a total of 3,630 training centers around the
country to teach unemployed young people practical skills, and has
invited some young people who succeeded in their own careers to
deliver 5,100 lectures to young people, and acted as intermediary
agents to help more than 200,000 laid-off workers find jobs.
Starting from this year, the CYLC Central Committee began to use
the Internet to help young people find jobs. From the 15th to the
25th of the first month of each quarter, an online job-seeking fair
will be launched at www.chinajc.com.
(China Daily July 24, 2003)