Youths embark on serving grassroots

About 43,000 newly recruited youths have set out for their voluntary services at grassroots positions in China's backcountry regions or border areas from mid-July.

These young volunteers — mostly undergraduates and postgraduate students, are under a State-level campaign operated by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League.

They will perform voluntary services at grassroots positions concerning education, healthcare and rural constructions or management in 27 provinces, regions and cities including Xinjiang Uygur and Xizang autonomous regions and Jilin in Northeast China.

"I hope I can help local people to solve some practical problems during my yearlong voluntary services. I wish to make contributions to Xinjiang's development. One year is not long, but it will mean a lot to my future life," said Yang Xiaoliang, a current postgraduate student from Peking University in Beijing who will spend a year for volunteering services in Xinjiang.

The voluntary serving campaign, that began in 2003, was launched by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Under the campaign, the youths recruited are required to offer voluntary services to some rural or border areas, with the serving period ranging from one to three years. The youths can get financial allowances during the serving period — with the money varying from area to area. The youths will be given preferential policies of applying for civil servants after finishing the service period.

Over the past two decades, the campaign has attracted over 540,000 college graduates and postgraduates students to serve at grassroots positions of about 2,000 counties nationwide since 2003, and the campaign is believed to have injected new life and ideas in the development of backcountry or border areas.