The increasing number of young idlers in urban Chinese cities is posing a threat to social stability, a CPPCC member, at the on-going session of China's top advisory body said in Beijing on Tuesday.

 

Aging from 14 to 19, having just graduated from or dropped out of junior or senior high school, such young idlers feed on their parents, refusing to work and spending much of their time in net bars. Naive and vulnerable to corruption, these young idlers have become a possible threat to social stability.

 

Zhou Tianmin, curator of the Shaanxi History Museum and a CPPCC member, says he has discovered that the number of young idlers in urban cities is growing quickly. Take Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, for instance, where the number of young idlers is growing by 80,000 each year.

 

Zhou Tianmin suggests that the twelve-year compulsory education system -- three years more than the current nine-year system, should be adopted in cities, to ensure that the country's young generation don't waste their youth. Residential community and vocational training should also play a part in helping young people become good citizens, He added.

 

(CRI March 8, 2007)