I. The New Era: Great Times with Ample Opportunities
Great times make fine young people and flourishing ages nurture true talent. The Chinese nation has achieved a tremendous transformation from obtaining independence and becoming prosperous to growing in strength, and the current new era bestows prosperity and hope. China's rejuvenation has become an unstoppable process.
Living in the best times in Chinese history, the current young generation enjoys an enabling environment for development, a broad space to grow, and wonderful opportunities to make a good career.
(1) Better Conditions for Development
China's economic and technological influence and composite national strength keep growing, which offers a sound foundation for China's youth to develop with increasing confidence.
Better material conditions. Affluence provides a good foundation for the young generation to develop and grow.
China has achieved two miracles - rapid economic growth and lasting social stability. In 2021, its economy ranked second in the world in size, with GDP exceeding 110 trillion yuan. As more than 25 million young people have escaped poverty, this generation can look forward to a better future of greater prosperity.
In pursuing a life of high quality, young people are changing their consumption habits from consuming mass products and services to customized ones. They are changing from buying to meet their basic needs to buying to enjoy life, from having clothing to wear to dressing fashionably, from having food to eat to eating well for good health, and from taking affordable transportation to choosing fast and comfortable vehicles. Their standard of living has seen qualitative changes and their prospects for development are supported by a solid material foundation.
Greater space for rich intellectual and cultural life. A rich and colorful intellectual and cultural life is a precondition for young people to prosper and grow.
With a growing number of libraries, museums, cultural centers, art galleries and other public cultural facilities being built,[ By the end of 2020, the number of registered museums had reached 5,788 across the country, with one new museum being opened every two days on average during the period 2016-2020.] young people now enjoy notably improved public cultural services. Instead of feeling amazed at any new place they visit, they are getting used to visiting all kinds of places, thus refining their cultural tastes. Through the buoyant growth of traditional cultural industries such as publishing, television, movies, and artistic performance, and emerging cultural sectors such as the digital creative industry, online audio and visual, digital publishing, digital entertainment and online performance and broadcasting, young people now find diverse public cultural products available to them. Instead of reading and watching whatever they could get hold of, they can read and watch whatever they would like, thus broadening their vision. As a huge variety of tourist products are created for them to choose, such as cultural tours, countryside tours, CPC heritage tours and international travel packages, their desire to travel around the world is now satisfied. Instead of affordable sightseeing trips near their homes, they can travel anywhere they wish, thus enriching their knowledge and experience. These expanding intellectual and cultural spaces offer greater possibilities for young Chinese to achieve more, set lofty goals, and refine their tastes.
Growing with the internet. The internet has profoundly shaped the current generation, and the current generation has also influenced the internet.
At the end of 2020, the number of netizens aged 6 to 18 reached 180 million in China, with the internet available to 94.9 percent of minors, and the gap in internet accessibility between cities and rural areas narrowed to 0.3 percentage point from 5.4 percentage points in 2018. The internet has become the "sixth sense" of contemporary young people and part of their lives, and offers them a space to grow.
Along with rapid popularization of the internet, more and more young people are using the internet to access information, exchange ideas, make friends, and shop, and their ways of learning, living and working are changing profoundly. Young people make up the majority of the users of short online videos, live-streaming viewers, and ride-hailing customers. As they become the main producers of information, consumers of services, and promoters of technologies related to cyberspace, they are exerting a tremendous influence on internet trends. In a complex online environment, young people are spreading positive energy and shaping new social trends in an effort to ensure a clean cyberspace.
(2) More Opportunities to Fulfill Potential
Only when the country prospers can its young people prosper. With rapid economic and social development, young people in China in the new era have access to better opportunities for development and a growing stage on which to fulfill their potential.
Equal access to education. Young people in China enjoy more equal and higher-quality educational opportunities as the country continues giving high priority to education. In 2021, the completion rate of compulsory education in China reached 95.4 percent, the gross enrollment rate in senior secondary education reached 91.4 percent, and the gross enrollment rate in higher education reached 57.8 percent, with 44.3 million students on campus, ranking first in the world. More and more young people have stepped onto this important path to success and excellence.
The country has established and been improving the system of financial aid to students, which offers full coverage from preschool to postgraduate education. By 2020, subsidies had totaled over 240 billion yuan and assisted nearly 150 million students, achieving full coverage from preschool education, compulsory education, and senior secondary education to undergraduate and postgraduate education, across public and privately-run schools, and for all students from families with financial difficulties. The right of particular groups to receive compulsory education and their interests have been well protected, including children living in cities with their parents who are migrant workers, and students from rural and poor areas. In 2020, 85.8 percent of children living in cities with migrant worker parents studied in public schools or filled the slots purchased by the government in privately-run schools. From 2012 to 2021, more than 820,000 students from rural and poor areas were enrolled in key universities through special enrollment plans. More young people have thus been granted equal opportunities to receive better education, which prevents poverty from passing down from one generation to the next.
Diverse career options. The career choices of young people in China are increasingly diverse and market-oriented, and made, more often than not, on their own. Young people now look beyond a stable lifelong job in the traditional sense, and non-public economic entities and new social organizations are gradually becoming their main channels for employment. The options of "either workers or farmers" are a thing of the past, and the tertiary industry has become an important gathering place for the young workforce. In 2020, the tertiary industry employed 47.7 percent of those in employment across the country, up 13.1 percentage points from a decade ago. In particular, new and rapidly-rising industries and new business forms have given birth to a large number of new career options, such as esports players, live-streaming hosts, and web writers, and engaged a large number of young people in flexible employment, such as parcel and food couriers. There have emerged what they call "Slash" people with multiple titles, jobs, and ways of working and living. All these have testified to the greater range of opportunities and choices available to young people as times change.
Unimpeded mobility and more development opportunities. As the socialist market economy develops, the vitality of market players increases, and various factors of production flow more easily, young people enjoy more development opportunities and greater mobility. With the extension of the strategy for coordinated regional development, young people in China, who used to flock to economically developed southern and eastern regions of the country, have gradually diversified the target cities where they seek development opportunities and where they can fit in and thrive. Many young people from rural areas settle down and realize dreams in cities through hard work. In 2020, the number of migrant workers reached nearly 170 million and most of them were young people. Young permanent urban residents accounted for 71.1 percent of the total young population in the country, 15.3 percentage points higher than ten years ago and 7.2 percentage points higher than that of the permanent urban residents in the country's total population. More young people are making their homes in the city and leaping forward in development through urbanization.
(3) More All-round Protection and Support
The development of young people calls for strong protection and support of the state. As fairness and justice in society have steadily improved and people's rights and interests have been effectively safeguarded, young people in China in the new era can grow and prosper in a better legal environment and enjoy stronger policy support, more reliable social security, and greater care from a range of organizations.
Better legal protection. With progress in the rule of law in all respects, the system of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is steadily improving, providing strong protection for young people to develop. As the fundamental law of the country, China's Constitution clearly stipulates that "the state shall foster the all-round moral, intellectual and physical development of young adults, youths and children", which has laid a basic foundation for a legal framework to protect youth development. The youth development involves a wide range of areas and requires highly systematic, concerted efforts from all sectors. The Civil Code stipulates various civil rights and interests of young people. Laws including the Education Law, Compulsory Education Law, Vocational Education Law, Higher Education Law, Law on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools, and Family Education Promotion Law, among others, have prescribed a sound legal environment to ensure young people their right to education. Laws including the Employment Promotion Law, Labor Law, Labor Contract Law, Social Insurance Law, Law on Scientific and Technological Progress, Law on Population and Family Planning, Law on Physical Culture and Sports, and Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women have effectively safeguarded the rights and interests of young people in various fields. Laws including the Criminal Law, Law on the Protection of Minors, Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, and Anti-Domestic Violence Law have helped build a legal shield protecting the legitimate rights and interests of young people.
More considerate policy support. China has made policies and improved its policy system to cater to the diverse needs of young people in the country. Considerations for young people have been clearly embodied in the 13th and 14th Five-year Plans for National Economic and Social Development, and the needs of young people have been given particular attention when putting in place major national strategies, such as the strategy for invigorating China through science and education, the strategy on developing a quality workforce, the innovation-driven development strategy, the rural revitalization strategy, and the Healthy China initiative. Increasing attention and support have been given to young people in top-level design. In April 2017, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Middle- and Long-term Youth Development Plan (2016-2025), the first national-level plan directed towards young people in the history of the People's Republic of China, providing fundamental policy guidance for young people in China to grow and develop in the new era. The Party and the government have paid close attention to issues of immediate concern to young people in areas including job-hunting after graduation, innovation and entrepreneurship, social integration, dating and marriage, support for the elderly, and children's education. A series of policies and measures have been introduced, and the building of youth-development-friendly cities is in full swing, with the concept of prioritizing young people growing in popularity. Now, a basic mechanism for youth work from the central level to the local level has been generally put in place, and a preliminary policy system for youth development with Chinese characteristics has taken shape. Young people have been benefiting from the policies fully and they feel that they have been taken care of and their important needs are being addressed.
Improved social security services. As China has built the largest social security system in the world and further developed inclusive social security services, young people in China are shielded by social security when they enter the workforce, and free from various worries when pursuing their dreams. They can therefore live a more comfortable life, feel more at ease at work, and have greater confidence about the future. The government has introduced a series of policies to support flexible employment through multiple channels, gradually improved the social security services for those engaged in such employment, and supported young people in taking up flexible jobs. Housing supply for young people has been increased, and more big cities have increased the supply of government-subsidized rental housing for new urban residents and young people, mitigating housing problems for young people. The country is working towards an integrated national scheme for basic old-age insurance, and will continue to expand the coverage of such insurance policies as unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance to young working population. Young people are better protected by the social security system.
Strong institutional safeguards and support. Organizations help young people grow and develop. As a CPC-led people's organization composed of progressive young people, the CYLC has always prioritized safeguarding the rights and interests of young people, and their development opportunities. It has earnestly advocated the idea of prioritizing youth development, made full use of its organizational strengths and vigorously mobilized social resources to carry out policy advocacy on the pressing difficulties and problems that are of the greatest concern to young people. It has been doing its best to address specific problems by every means possible to create a good environment for young people to grow and develop. As one of the basic people's organizations under the leadership of the CPC, the All-China Youth Federation has always represented and safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of young people of all ethnic groups and all sectors of society, guided them in their active and healthy participation in public activities, and worked hard to help them healthily grow and prosper. As a federative body of student unions and graduate student unions at universities and colleges and student unions at secondary schools under the leadership of the CPC, the All-China Students' Federation has voiced and safeguarded the specific interests of young students in accordance with the law and the Constitution of the Federation, and organized healthy, positive, and colorful extracurricular and community service activities to help them grow and develop.
