Shanghai adopts innovative measure to encourage college students to join army

Pan Xingyuan (Photo/thepaper.cn)

Shanghai has adopted a new technique to encourage young college graduates to serve in the military.

On June 13, the recruiting office of armed forces in Shanghai organized a show to entice graduates from East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL). Wang Rong, chief of armed forces of ECUPL, said the innovative form of publicity was very persuasive; dozens of students expressed their willingness to join the army after watching the show.

Pan Xingyuan, the lead actor in the show, now a retired solider, joined a performing troupe of the Shanghai Armed Police Corps in 2013. Pan said he learned to sing, dance and even write songs in the army. After he retired, he got a chance to perform in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2016, and played the role of young Li Dakang in the popular Chinese anti-corruption TV series "In the Name of People."

(Photo/thepaper.cn)

Such opportunities resulted from Pan’s hard work during his service. He once traveled 270 kilometers to perform at a sentry post that had only one soldier. The lonely soldier asked to sing a song for his father in front of a camera, which brought Pan and his comrade-in-arms to tears.

University graduates can adapt to army life and learn new things very quickly. They play a key role in promoting army modernization, said Ma Zongrui, staff officer of the recruiting office in Shanghai's Changning district. Ma added that the army in return serves as a platform for those students to fully develop themselves.

The Chinese military started enlisting college graduates in 2001. In 2016, graduates from colleges and universities in Shanghai accounted for nearly 80 percent (the highest proportion in the country) of total recruits from the city, after a consecutive increase across five years, according to military authorities.