China's youth call for contributing wisdom to world peace, development: white paper

BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- China's youth have called on young people around the world to contribute wisdom and strength to world peace and development, a white paper on China's youth said on Thursday.

The white paper, titled "Youth of China in the New Era," was released by the State Council Information Office.

China's youth also call on young people around the world to uphold the values of beauty, uprightness, and goodness, to maintain a spirit of youth and vigor, and to shoulder the responsibility for national development.

China's youth in the new era work along with their peers from around the world to build a global community of shared future, and advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are the common values of humanity, for the purpose of creating a better future for all, said the document.

In 1978, China sent just over 800 students abroad. In 2019, more than 700,000 Chinese students went abroad to undertake education courses. Over the past four decades, the total number of Chinese people studying abroad has exceeded 6.5 million.

The number of Chinese overseas returnees grew from 248 in 1978 to more than 580,000 in 2019. The total number of overseas returnees has exceeded 4.2 million in the past more than four decades.

Under the framework of the Chinese Youth Global Partnership, China has established exchange and cooperation relationships with more than 100 international organizations, government youth agencies, political parties, and non-governmental youth organizations, according to the document.

Hundreds of thousands of young employees in Chinese companies operating overseas work hard in foreign lands far from home, contributing to local economic and social development.

At present, many volunteer Chinese teachers, most of whom are young people, are working in more than 100 countries to help youth in other countries to study Chinese culture.

By 2020, China had dispatched more than 40,000 peacekeepers, and 16 of them, under the age of 30 on average, had sacrificed their lives.

"The actions of Chinese youth have demonstrated that as long as people around the world unite with one heart and one mind and move forward hand in hand, we will build a global community with a brighter future," said the document.