The government assigned this work to the youth seeking jobs in China, now they have to sift through the dust of every village.

The government has sent youth seeking jobs in China to villages. These youth have been asked to first promote the government in the villages. In return, they will be given preference in civil services. Apart from this, a promise has been made to give priority in private jobs also. The government believes that this can reduce congestion in cities and towns.

China's youth unemployment rate has reached a record high. Authorities have launched a series of programs to attract youth to work in rural areas, where they will be tasked with improving the quality of local crops, painting propaganda walls and praising the party's leadership for farmers. .

A group of college student volunteers recently painted anti-drug signs on a weed-filled wall in a village west of the southern city of Guangzhou. These college students believe that such a step will increase their chances of getting a government job. In another village, another group of youth working with the CCP made a career by teaching children to read.

Government sent to rural areas

Government efforts in this regard intensified after Xi Jinping in a speech called on officials to guide more college graduates to work in rural areas. Xi Jinping said that taking people to towns and villages can reduce pressure on some cities.

One such young woman, named Chen, studied in college and is now working with the Communist Youth League in southern China to make videos. The party is keen to take advantage of the digital savvy of youth like Chen and has tasked some of them with setting up e-commerce channels to sell local products ranging from prawns to peanuts. CCP's view is that the distinctive brand positioning of these products will attract domestic urban residents, motivating them to buy more rural products and generating income for poor areas.

Chinese Communist Party has been doing this before also

The idea of ​​sending youth to rural areas is recorded in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, when 1,600 students were sent under the leadership of Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 1970s. Among them, 15-year-old Xi Jinping was transferred from a privileged family in Beijing to a poor village in northern China. According to official media reports, he slept in a simple cave, herded sheep and tended fields with fellow villagers.

Now as the leader of China, Xi Jinping believes that this experience has changed his life and taught him that one must make sacrifices for the country. The youth should be more determined, which is also the basis for promoting rural work. However, today's campaign is different in some key aspects from Xi Jinping's experience of sending educated youth to the mountains and rural areas. First of all, the government is advocating for volunteers to go to rural areas instead of forcibly sending them.

Called volunteers as CCP propagandists

Official media have described some volunteers, such as Li Youyang, as CCP propagandists. Arrangements were made for them to visit farms to promote China's agricultural policies. Recent graduates are sent to work in rural areas for two to three years. Officially called volunteers, they are subject to political loyalty checks and receive approximately US$300 per month for room and board. After the participants finish their service, they will receive bonus points if they choose to take China's highly competitive civil service examination. The government also promised participants in the volunteer program that they would be given priority if they applied for jobs at state-owned enterprises.