Students from different middle schools join the opening ceremony of Hong Kong Youth Military Summer Camp at San Wai Barracks of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison on Monday. It is expected that the students' national awareness will be enhanced through this training. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Some 260 Form 4 students from 100 Hong Kong schools are participating in a 15-day military summer camp in San Wai Barracks of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison in Fanling.

Speaking at the camp's opening ceremony on Monday, Political Commissar of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison Yue Shixin said the camp had received an overwhelming number of applications from students.

The annual summer extracurricular activity started on Sunday and ends on July 26. Apart from the traditional military training and lectures on national defense, it has introduced laser-gun war games for the first time.

A total of 2,285 young students have participated in the camp since it was first established in 2005. The number of female participants in the camp has been doubled to 110 students since the first enrollment in 2007.

This year, the young people will be separated into five platoons and 20 squads, living together with 47 instructors. The camp's previous success has strengthened communication between PLA soldiers and Hong Kong students, a spokesman for the event said.

A participant in last year's camp told reporters of the changes it had induced in her. Wong Ka-yee, 17, from Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin), said her parents had noticed a difference in her attitude after completing the camp. She has been more willing to do household chores and has become more independent.

Wong, who fainted last year during the foot drill at the beginning of the camp, said she wanted to quit at first but was encouraged by her peers as no one gave up. As the representative from last year's camp, Wong said she had learned a lot from it - especially about perseverance.

Meanwhile, the current camp participants were excited by the new experience which they felt was totally different from their normal lives. The experience also gave them a new image of PLA soldiers.

Echoing Wong, 16-year-old newcomer Li Xinying was astonished by what she had found in the camp, saying things there were totally different from life at home.

Li said discipline was the key difference. After joining the camp for one day, the Form 4 student found the soldiers different from what she had been told. She said they were nice and Li admired their strong loyalty to the country.

Another volunteer, 16-year-old Wong Chi-ho, said the experience was unique as the camp offers things that normal school activities in Hong Kong cannot provide.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 07/14/2015 page5)