Chinese college students will go to the countryside during their summer vacation to publicize "new socialist countryside" policies and help rural residents improve their lives.

The students will head to around 1,000 villages in 600 teams, with 100 teams devoted to publicizing government policies, 100 publicizing the "socialist concept of honor and disgrace", 100 providing technical assistance to farmers, 100 giving lectures to rural students, 100 providing medical and health care and 100 teams of PhD students offering advice on local economic development, according to the activity plan.

The summer vacation of Chinese colleges and universities generally start in July and last for around one and a half months. The government usually organizes college students to make field trips to the countryside and other grass-roots units.

A circular, jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and several other organizations, said the the activity is "an effective approach" to improving the ideological and political education of college students.

"It is also an important measure to allow college students to play a role in the 'new countryside' construction," says the circular.

The government seeks to promote rural development with the "building of a socialist new countryside" program, which aims to improve agricultural production, ethos, living standards, appearance and public administration in the rural areas.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2006)