Over 53,000 young volunteers to serve in western China

(ECNS) -- Over 53,000 newly recruited university graduates are heading for less-developed and rural areas for an annual volunteer service program, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) said Tuesday.

The volunteers will be dispatched to 27 provincial-level regions, including Xinjiang, Xizang, Jilin and Guizhou, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. They will take up grassroots volunteer posts in these areas.

The volunteers will provide one-to-three-year services focused on rural education, rural development, rural healthcare, grassroots governance, border defense and youth work, with over 90% of positions located in towns and villages.

Since the start of the new era, over 400,000 college graduates have answered the call to serve in western China, rural areas and grassroots communities. They have played an important role in promoting local economic and social development, ethnic unity, border prosperity and stability.