The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has recruited more than 20,000 civil servants, in which 16.5 percent hold master or doctor degrees.

The figures were revealed during a meeting on the education and management of PLA's civil servants held in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Thursday.

These civil servants have boosted the energy of the entire army and made "significant contributions" to the army's reform and construction, said an officer at the meeting.

Statistics show that about 41 percent of these civil servants are college graduates with an average age of 30. More than 5,400 are members of the Communist Party of China.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)