Some 2,000 Ph.D. candidates will set out tomorrow to work
in China's western areas to assist with local economic development.
At a departure ceremony held at Qinghua University on July 2, a senior official from the
Central Committee of the Communist Youth League said that the doctoral students from
around the country will form 179 groups.
There are some one million college students nationwide participating in the volunteer
program.
Liu Huan, a volunteer and also a Ph.D. candidate from Qinghua University, said that the
volunteers will give lectures and help out with some projects to assist the west.
He added that he values the opportunity of going to the west because he has set his sights
on a career in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province.
Meanwhile, six students from Hong Kong are also participating in the program. "We
students from Hong Kong are very concerned about the development of the west. We are not
merely content with the summer vacation volunteer program; we will maintain contact with
the local governments after the program finishes," said Liu Weiping, a Ph.D.
candidate from the University of Hong Kong.
The summer vacation program, which started in 1997, has played an important role in
helping promote local economic development in China.
The program is jointly sponsored by the Department of Publicity of the Communist Party of
China Central Committee, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, the
Ministry of Education and the All-China Students' Federation.
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