China focuses on youth in changing society
(People's Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-28 15:28

Time magazine's recent front page story which compared today's Chinese youth with the "beat generation" of 60s America has provoked heated discussion.

In the magazine's Asian edition published on Feb. 2, Beijing girl Chun Shu's photo was chosen for the cover, and a small group of Chinese youngsters were depicted as "the new radicals" as a counterpart to America's rebellious "beat generation".

The story follows the release of a document detailing a package of proposals from the Chinese government to promote the healthy growth of youth in the rapidly changing society.

"It shows the government's unparalleled attention to young people," said Sun Yunxiao, vice director of the China Juvenile Research Center.

"Chinese minors are exposed to various values and thoughts due to the increasingly complicated social environment they live in, it can be quite misleading at a time when their personalities and values are forming," Sun said.

China's 367 million youngsters under 18 account for nearly a quarter of the country's 1.3 billion population, and will become the backbone of society in the coming decade or so.

The document, issued by the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council, stretches 23 pages to elaborate the measures and regulations on improving the minors' ideology andmoral conduct.

The document calls for tough measures to ensure compulsory education for the children of the country's 100 million migrant workers.

Under China's laws and regulations, a migrant child without a registered permanent residence in a city should pay much higher tuition than authorized residents.

Although some special schools were set up for these children, the education facilities and teachers are often not qualified.

Critics fear the failure to provide good education for rural migrant children will condemn their families to perpetual poverty or induce unemployment and crime in future.

Premier Wen Jiabao has visited a Beijing school established for migrant children and stressed the importance of equal education opportunities.

To city children, the Internet, the symbol of information era, sometimes seems a mixed blessing.

In September 2003, Beijing Haidian District Court randomly surveyed 100 minors in custody and found that 66 percent were frequent visitors to computer game arcades, 30 percent frequently visited Internet bars and 61 percent admitted to having visited porn websites.

Experts say that students in primary and middle schools are at peak growing periods, physically and psychologically. They are sensitive and vulnerable, struggle for independence which reality doesn't allow, but the Internet can satisfy such conflicts and uneasiness. Over indulging can be unhealthy for young people and can make them susceptible to negative influences.

Last year, a 15 year old boy in East China's Zhejiang Province committed suicide because his father criticized him for staying at Internet bars for several days.

In response to such problems, the document sets strict rules barring people under 18 from entering internet cafes, the introduction of filtering systems to stop the viewing of pornographic websites, and implementing inspections of game software.

"All in all, adults should shoulder more responsibilities than juvenile criminals themselves, so society should join hands to purify the social environment, crack down on corruption, cultivate patriotism and breed healthy habits from infancy," Sun said.

According to the document, China will launch publicity campaigns to teach primary and middle school students to stay away from drugs, advocate science and civilization, and oppose superstition.

The central government also vows to offer financial subsidies to central and western areas and other poor areas for construction of public venues for young people, and formulate policies to encourage private investment in those projects.

Close

Today's Top News     Top China News
Opinion: What if RMB appreciates?         Beijing slams US for hailing Taiwan authority         China to write off huge Afghan debt         French lawyer says he will defend Saddam         'BMW case' reinvestigation ends         China focuses on youth in changing society	China to write off huge Afghan debt       'BMW case' reinvestigation ends       China focuses on youth in changing society       China confident in reaching goals       China agrees to talk with US on tax       Chinese experts call for enacting of Law on Human Rights