About five years ago, when Jin Dafu was appointed general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee in Sichuan province's Gexin village, Guang'an, known as the birthplace of China's late state leader Deng Xiaoping, he faced an immediate conundrum.

Despite being initially impressed by farmland with arrays of pomelo saplings, covering more than 500 square kilometers, he realized that the trees unable to yield fruit fit for eating after 20 years meant the program would not benefit local people lagging far behind the national agenda to eradicate poverty by 2020.

However, unwilling to uproot the trees, Jin came up with an idea to explore the value of the byproducts from them. By working with local entrepreneurs and experts of Traditional Chinese Medicines, he found the blossoms and immature fruits could be collected to produce tea and herbs that would make the trees commercially viable after all.

"Sometimes, when seeking economic and social benefits, we need to think differently," he said.

Jin shared his first-hand experience at a panel discussion held at the opening ceremony in Beijing on Aug. 23 of a three-day contest entitled "2019 Youth Co-Lab National Dialogue (China)," jointly organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP China) and the China Soong Ching Ling Science & Culture Center for Young People.

This is the second dialogue hosted in China, where, this time, 73 finalists aged between 18 and 30 in 32 teams, selected from 248 applications focused on rural revitalization. Among the contestants, 79 percent have rural backgrounds.

"The dialogue empowers young people to lead social change via communities and accelerate the imitation of this strategies of social innovation and entrepreneurship," said Devanand Ramiah, Resident Representative a.i. in China of UNDP.

Despite China's rapid economic development, its rural regions still lag behind cities in terms of income levels, living conditions and public services, he said.

"In order to revitalize rural areas, innovation, entrepreneurship and youth leadership are the keys," he continued, explaining why the event chose to focus on the Chinese countryside.

In 2017, China launched a rural revitalization strategy to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development by 2020.

"This rural revitalization strategy is highly consistent with UNDP's strategic agenda 2030 and it is very much aligned with the 17 sustainable development courses," said Ramiah.

China has a rural population of 560 million, around 40% of the national total. However, with the outflow of a young labor force to towns and cities, the left-behind aging population now dominates the demographic structure in the far-flung areas where the poverty alleviation programs have suffered from a lack of young and active personnel.

Shen Xinquan, deputy dean from the school of entrepreneurship of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, told the panel session that the stereotyped concept in China's villages to revere those who have settled down in big cities has constrained young people from returning to their hometowns.

"A stimulus package of policies should be implemented at rural regions to persuade and reassure young people to stay," he said.

Besides, the infrastructure of transportation and the internet should be upgraded, making the environment for young entrepreneurs less inconvenient, Shen added.

Guo Xinbao, director of Soong Ching Ling Foundation Science and Culture Center for Young People, said the facility, built to fulfill the wishes of Deng Xiaopeng, was the largest venue in the country serving the young.

"Being in a partnership with UNDP is a good way to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship among young people," he added.

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