Xi Focus: Link personal pursuit with the country -- Xi's message to Chinese youth

BEIJING -- China celebrates its annual Youth Day on Sunday, honoring the legacy of the patriotic May Fourth Movement of 1919 that shaped modern Chinese history.

Around this time, President Xi Jinping usually sends greetings to young people and champions the inseparable bond between youth empowerment and national progress.

Still fresh in the public's mind is Xi's visit to an AI incubator in Shanghai on Tuesday. During the inspection of the AI industry in the eastern metropolis, Xi spent some time engaging with young entrepreneurs participating in an innovators' salon.

"AI is a nascent industry, and it's also an industry that belongs to young people," Xi said, encouraging the younger generation to demonstrate their talent and capabilities at a time when "China is advancing the great cause of building a strong nation and realizing national rejuvenation on all fronts."

Xi urged the young people to cherish a deep love for the country, set their sights on serving the nation, and strengthen their capabilities. The youth should "closely link their personal endeavors with the country's future," he said.

Xi has on multiple occasions stressed the necessity for young people to have unwavering dedication to the nation and the people, a conviction forged from his early experiences.

In the late 1960s, as part of a national movement, millions of urban youth went to rural areas to work and live alongside farmers, aiming to foster resilience through hard labor. Among them was 15-year-old Xi, who arrived in a remote village in Shaanxi province.

Taking on farming, hauling coal, and building dams, Xi's resilience, thirst for knowledge, and reputation as a "learned problem-solver" won the trust of villagers, who elected him as their Party branch secretary.

As a young man toiling on the barren Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi, Xi's aspiration at that time was to ensure that all fellow villagers could have enough to eat. It was there that Xi forged a conviction to dedicate his life to the country and the people.

Now, as China's top leader, Xi frequently urges the younger generation to devote themselves to national development.

Ahead of the Youth Day 2023, Xi penned a reply letter to students from China Agricultural University. For over a decade, the university has been operating the "science and technology backyards" program, sending postgraduate students specializing in agriculture to rural areas to assist in solving practical problems.

In his letter, Xi expressed the hope for the students to closely integrate textbook knowledge with practices in rural areas, and devote their youth and strength to speeding up rural and agricultural modernization and the construction of a modern socialist country.

In an article published on Thursday in Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Xi again underscored the importance of strengthening the ideals and convictions of the younger generation.

Young people should serve as pioneers and vital forces in areas such as scientific and technological innovation, rural revitalization, green development, social services, and national defense, the article noted.

In his latest Youth Day greetings, Xi commended a group of volunteer teachers working in a remote border school in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In the reply letter to the volunteer teachers, Xi noted that more young people have chosen to serve as volunteers in the country's western regions and rural areas over the years, demonstrating their spirit of dedication and sense of responsibility.

"Contribute to the country's modernization drive by serving where the nation and the people need you most," he urged.