Officials have launched a series of projects to attract young people to work in rural areas. These young people's tasks in rural areas are to improve the quality of local crops, draw propaganda walls, and praise the leadership of the Communist Party of China to farmers.
The Chinese government hopes to provide jobs for underemployed young people and revitalize rural areas that have fallen behind in China's economic rise by sending hundreds of thousands of young people to underdeveloped areas in the country.
In fact, many young people are using these projects to delay the process of finding a job in big cities in China, and finding a job in a big city may not be easy nowadays. And their current work in rural areas often fails to solve the fundamental problems in rural China, including a lack of business and investment.
In a village in the western part of the southern city of Guangzhou, a group of college student volunteers recently drew a drug ban slogan on a wall. This village has been designated as Fuxing Village by the government, but it is deserted, with businesses closing down, some houses abandoned, and weeds overgrown.
Several of the college students said that by voluntarily hand drawing this wall and registering the job on the official application, they believe they will have an advantage in applying to join the party in the future. These college students believe that such actions will increase their chances of eventually obtaining government jobs; Working in government departments is fascinating due to its job security.
In another village, another group of young people working with the Communist Party passed the time by teaching children to read the expiration date on food labels. One of the women in charge claimed that this full-time volunteer program gave her time to plan her career.
She said, 'I don't know what else to do.'. Later, when officials arrived, she didn't say much more.
In October, job seekers were queuing up to attend a job fair. The youth unemployment rate has recently reached a historic high.
Life here is dull and boring "




  As of this summer, the unemployment rate of urban youth in China has exceeded 20%. In this situation, relocating people to towns can alleviate the pressure on some cities; These cities have not provided enough white-collar jobs that are favored by many college graduates.
However, many young Chinese still prefer to work at low wages in cities to make ends meet, usually as shop assistants or delivery drivers. Some people simply rely on their parents' money to live.
Volunteers use live streaming to help farmers sell grapes. Chinese officials have launched a series of projects to attract young people to work in rural areas, and one of their tasks in rural areas is to improve the quality of local crops.
Chen Lingmin, a graduate who has been serving as a party member volunteer in rural Guangdong since 2021, said that life here is boring and not as diverse as in the city.
She studied art in university and is currently collaborating with the Communist Youth League to produce videos to promote her rural town in the north of Zhaoqing; This is the home of over 4 million urban and rural residents in South China.
The Chinese Communist Party urgently hopes to leverage the digital sensitivity of young people like Chen, and has tasked some of them with establishing e-commerce channels to sell various local products from shrimp to peanuts. The idea of the Communist Party of China is that the unique brand positioning of these products will attract domestic urban residents, persuade them to purchase more rural products, and create income for impoverished areas.
However, this strategy cannot be effective in every village in China, as many villages do not have local specialties that can attract people from big cities.
Chen has redesigned the packaging of local rice in an attempt to increase sales outside of her work area. The new packaging is printed with text, emphasizing that the rice grows naturally in rural areas of Zhaoqing. She said that so far, these rice with a renewed image are mainly consumed by local governments and some villagers.
Chen greatly appreciates the administrative skills learned through volunteer projects and the unique experience of living in rural areas. But she does not plan to stay in the countryside for a long time, but plans to return to urban life after her volunteer service ends later this year.
In a village in rural Zhaoqing, Chen Lingmin has been working hard to promote the sales of local rice.
The Echo of Mao Zedong's Era
The idea of sending young people to rural areas has a tradition in the history of the Communist Party of China. In the 1960s and 1970s, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, over 16 million people were sent by the Communist Party to work in rural China.
  According to official media reports, he once slept in a simple cave, herding sheep and tending fields with his fellow villagers.
   


  Firstly, the government is advocating for volunteers to go to the countryside instead of being forcibly deported.
Unlike the situation during the Cultural Revolution when the Communist Party hoped that urban residents would learn from farmers, the government now says it needs university graduates to help rural areas achieve modernization.
The official media described Li Yueyang and other volunteers as propaganda personnel of the Communist Party of China, arranging them to go to the fields to promote China's agricultural policies.
Chinese media quoted Li Yueyang as saying to fresh graduates this summer, "Three years of grassroots work have brought me great rewards
At a time when the Communist Party is concerned that many unemployed young people are disappointed with China's development direction, it is particularly important to instill the ideology of the Communist Party in young people.
The government's expectation is for graduates to align their careers more closely with the needs of the country, which means they need to be willing to take root in rural areas and engage in lower income jobs.
Great Revival
Officials from Guangdong Province have stated that they plan to attract 200000 young people to work in rural areas by the end of 2025. Their plan includes encouraging young people who move to cities to find jobs to return home and work.
In a project, fresh graduates agree to work in rural areas for two to three years. Although participants are officially referred to as volunteers, they undergo a political loyalty review and receive a monthly allowance of approximately $300, along with housing and food allowances. Many people work with local officials within the township government.
After the expiration of the participant's service, if they choose to participate in the highly competitive civil service exam in China, they will receive additional points. The government also promises to those who participate in volunteer projects that if they apply for jobs in state-owned enterprises, they will also receive preferential treatment.
The picture shows a railway station in rural Zhaoqing. Many young volunteers are active in Zhaoqing.
This spring, some professors and officials gathered students in the lecture hall to promote this action plan in Guangdong Province. Through this plan, nearly 10000 graduates have been dispatched to work in rural areas. The latest batch of participants raised their right hands before departing in August, promising to do their utmost to serve the community and contribute to the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Officials from the central and Guangdong provincial governments did not respond to requests for comment. In recent visits by journalists to the region, many project participants refused to accept interviews with foreign journalists without the permission of Chinese Communist Party officials.
  Persuading them to stay for a long time is another matter.
The living conditions in rural areas may be more rudimentary than in big cities. A young graduate volunteer working in rural Guangdong captured a video of her residence, which showed that her room was very simple, with cement walls and anti-theft bars installed on the windows. She covered the bed with a mosquito net to prevent insects from entering.
The Limit of Feedback: 29 year old Lai Qiang's hometown is in a rural area in northern Guangdong Province. He said that after receiving a graduate scholarship, he wants to repay the country.
After graduating from university, he found a job in a trading company in a manufacturing center in Guangdong Province. Lai Qiang said that his monthly salary at the time was equivalent to $1500, which was a relatively generous income for a newly graduated college student.
But he said he has an impulse to return to campus. In 2021, he was admitted to an agricultural master's program in Guangdong Province, and he said he chose this major purely because it was easier to get into than other majors.
Last year, as Lai Qiang was preparing to graduate, the local Communist Youth League organization was openly recruiting volunteers to join rural Guangdong. He signed up to become one of them.
   
He said in an interview at the government office of an agricultural town in northern Guangzhou: 'It was the country and the school that trained me, and I really want to give back.'.
Without the permission of the party organization, Lai Qiang will not answer most of the questions related to his work. According to previous reports by official media, Lai Qiang, as a volunteer, has played a crucial role in purchasing high-quality seeds for local farmers to improve productivity by utilizing his graduate resources.
His efforts received special recognition from the Party Central Committee. But looking ahead, Lai Qiang is not sure if he can stay in rural Guangdong.
His girlfriend comes from the provincial capital city of Guangzhou and is not interested in moving to rural life. And Lai Qiang said that the money you can earn in Guangzhou is still much more than in rural areas.
He said that after all, he comes from a rural background and also needs to consider the issue of making money.

This summer, the number of college graduates in China reached a new high, but many of these young people find it difficult to find satisfactory jobs, so they go home and live with their parents to do household chores in exchange for compensation. The Wall Street Journal analyzed the reasons for China's youth unemployment rate reaching a historic high, as well as the phenomenon of "full-time children" and "lying flat". Cover image production: Adam Adam