The almost 70 million-strong Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) is shifting its role to help the nation's youth solve its practical problems and get more of them involved in helping others.

The congress opens on July 22 at Beijing's Great Hall of People. [www.cycnet.com]

As the country is facing the possibility of higher unemployment in the next couple of years, the organization, which boasts 69.86 million members, has been making greater efforts to help young people find work.

Zhou Qiang, first secretary of the Secretariat of the CYLC Central Committee, said it is a must if the organization is to build stronger ties with young people.

He made the remarks at the ongoing session of 15th National Congress of the Communist Youth League of China in Beijing.

Ma Chunlei, deputy secretary of the CYLC Shanghai branch, said: "We used to stress our role as an educator of youth. But now we should listen to the young people's needs on an equal basis, try to satisfy their needs and at the same time guide them away from crime and other bad influences.''

CYLC branches in Shanghai, Chongqing and Shandong Province have taken action to help local laid-off youth find jobs or make their own careers over the past five years.

In Shanghai, at least 500 laid-off young people have received training to start up their own businesses since 1998, and 60 per cent of them now actually own their own small enterprises thanks to the CYLC.

In Chongqing, more than 100 young people have benefited from a small-loan project launched by the local CYLC branch in 1999 and have developed their own business, which in turn provided jobs to nearly 1,000 laid-off young workers.

In addition to local branches' efforts, the CYLC Central Committee has set up a total of 3,630 training centers around the country to teach unemployed young people practical skills, and has invited some young people who succeeded in their own careers to deliver 5,100 lectures to young people, and acted as intermediary agents to help more than 200,000 laid-off workers find jobs.

Starting from this year, the CYLC Central Committee began to use the Internet to help young people find jobs. From 15 to 25 of the first month of each season, an online job-seeking fair will be launched at www.chinajc.com.

In the first two fairs, at least 50,000 vacancies have been listed at the website, and 12,951 job seekers reached an initial agreement with employers.

Shanghai CYLC branch is now drafting a 2004-10 plan to create a better developing environment for the youth, and a department specially dealing with matters concerning young people will be set up.

Among CYLC's future work plans, continuing to carry out social welfare activities like Project Hope and the project protecting major watercourses and organize voluntary services, have also been emphasized.

(People's Daily July 24, 2003)