Always young at heart

Youthful ideals

Ever since its founding on July 23,1921, the CPC has had no special interests of its own. It was the promotion of Communist ideologies to save China from chaos that attracted many Chinese, especially young people, to join the Party and fight for independence.

"The founding of the CPC was the choice of that era," Kazuteru Saionji says. "The Kuomintang could not win independence and make China a modern nation and, thus, it was the CPC's historic mission to free the Chinese people from oppression by colonial powers. The Party made it by always standing on the side of the people and through fearless sacrifices and struggles".

Kazuteru Saionji says the Party, which was founded by a group of young people, has always emphasized the importance of appealing to, and continuing to engage with, the country's youth.

This emphasis on young people and students can be traced back to the anti-imperial political movement in the 1910s.

When the First National Congress of the CPC was convened by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in 1921, the average age of representatives in attendance was 28, meaning the founders of the CPC were in their 20s and 30s. This included Mao Zedong, who was 28 years old at the time.

Both Chen and Li studied Marxism in Japan. They, as well as many of the Party's early members, were among Chinese intellectuals who were influential in the 1919 student protests known as the May Fourth Movement.

The Party has since grown from about 50 Marxists to become the second-largest in the world-after India's Bharatiya Janata Party-with some 95.1 million members, more than the population of Germany.

According to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, more than one-third of the current 95.1 million CPC members are under the age of 40, and over 80 percent of new Party members admitted from 2020 to 2021 are 35 years old or below.

Party rallying with young talent has been cited by top leaders as being vital to the country's prosperity, as demonstrated when President Xi Jinping addressed young representatives from all walks of life soon after he became China's president in 2013.

"If the youth are prosperous, the country is prosperous. If the youth are strong, the country is strong," Xi once said, adding that the country's development had always depended on its young people.

Kazuteru Saionji says Xi's remarks had reminded him of his father Xi Zhongxun, who also put a special focus on young people in the country's well-being.

"I met Xi Zhongxun in 1982 when attending a youth exchange program to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relationship," Kazuteru Saionji says.

"As the Chinese leader to meet with us young people, Xi Zhongxun quoted Mao in saying, 'Young people are in the bloom of life, like the sun at 8 or 9 in the morning. Our hope is placed on you and the future belongs to you.'

"When I told him that we visited Urumqi, Turpan and Xi'an during the trip, Xi Zhongxun smiled and listened happily and told me, 'You should make good friends at each place.'

"His words echoed exactly with those of Zhou Enlai's and for a moment, I had this strong sensation of deja vu which took me back to the old days in Beijing," he recalls.

Kazuteru Saionji says behind the Party's consistent emphasis on youth is the leaders' belief that, in all of the people, especially the young, there exists the capacity for great courage-that there is a longing to make a contribution to their motherland, a willingness to help other people and the hope of building China into "a great, modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful".

Just like what President Xi said in 2018: "The people are the creators of history, the fundamental force of determining the future of the Party and the country. Our Party comes from the people, has its roots in the people, and serves the people … We must always rely on the people to create history." The Party always sticks to its people-centric philosophy to develop, evolve and advance.

As a result, one in every 15 people in China is now a Communist Party member and there are almost 4 million local-level Party organizations, pervading every aspect of Chinese society, from villages, schools and neighborhoods to private companies and institutes.

The formation of the CPC, which used to represent mainly the three revolutionary classes-workers, farmers and soldiers-also evolved to attract more intellectuals, professionals and entrepreneurs.

According to the organization department, between 2007 and 2019, the share of blue-collar and rural workers in the Party fell from 41.5 percent to 34.8 percent, while the proportion of managers and professionals increased from 22.4 percent to 26.7 percent.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by China's Education Ministry showed that 80 percent of 250,000 students polled at some 140 universities across 15 provinces wanted to join the Party.

A Pew survey in 2019 found that China topped the global rankings in terms of satisfaction with government performance, with over 86 percent of Chinese surveyed expressing satisfaction, far above the global average of 47 percent.