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On the eve of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) slated to open Friday, college students are closely following the impact of the congress on the future of China and their own life.
"No one with knowledge and brains will be indifferent to major state affairs," says Kang Jin from the Computer Department of Tsinghua University.
Despite the mid-term examinations, most students try to keep abreast with news relating to the congress through newspapers, television and the Internet. Message boards on campuses are pasted with notices for speeches and lectures on the national situation and reform analysis.
"No one can deny that the CPC has achieved great successes," says Zhang Yaoquan from the Finance Department of Peking University. The junior student from rural Fujian Province in east China entered college three years ago with a scholarship. "I could hardly have had the opportunity to attend college but for CPC's policies advocating science and education," he says.
Most college students believe that the 16th CPC National Congress will play an important role in resolving pressing issues facing the Chinese society.
Feng Yajun from the College of International Relations of Peking University says, "The 16th National Congress of the Party will no doubt exert a far-reaching influence on China's future." He notes that the CPC is undergoing a period of self-building to increase its cohesive force.
In the eyes of college students, the future of individuals is closely linked to the fate of the Party.
Xu Hui, who is graduating from the Economic Management Institute of Beijing University, had his job interview at Procter & Gamble Co. two days ago.
Several years ago, he says, many people chose to study abroad. But now many of his schoolmates have returned. Every day in Zhongguancun, the "Silicon Valley" of China, two or three companies are started by returned Chinese students on average.
Believing that China's reform will further deepen after the conclusion of the 16th CPC National Congress, Xu says, "Opportunities will arise despite challenges ahead."
What's worth mentioning is that the new generation of students takes a more rational attitude toward politics. Twenty-year-old Wang Feiyi from the Department of International Politics in Shanghai-based Fudan University, says, "It's natural to see problems in the course of reform and development. You cannot expect all issued resolved overnight."
Not a Party member, she says she feels that the Party congress is not distant from her. "Two years from now," she says, "I will be faced with a China with a new look, where there will be more job opportunities and bigger room for individual development."
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2002)
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