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Mobilizing to embrace the future

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-07 13:45

"I have long dreamed of being a part of these heroes."

That "heroic dream" is one shared by many new recruits China Daily met at the railway platform.

Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhengquan, head of the publicity team of the Beijing Military Conscription Office, said students from colleges in Beijing who joined the military last year will also get a grant of 10,000 yuan ($1,460) before enrolment and an equal amount after serving two years in the military. Soldiers from urban areas who choose not to rely on the government to find jobs for them when they leave the military will also get an additional grant, depending on the budget of the districts they are from.

The highest amount offered to a Beijing college student is expected to be able to cover almost all of the costs during a typical four years on campus.

"To be honest, the grant is quite attractive to me, as my family is under great pressure from the costs of my study," said a college student, surnamed Chen, who was seeing his friend off at the railway station.

In Guangdong province, local governments have made the incentives for joining the military even higher.

In the provincial capital of Guangzhou, each demobilized soldier will get a gratuity of 70,000 to 80,000 yuan in one-off payments, local media reported.

Sun Yat-sen University, considered to be one of the most prestigious of its kind in Southeast China, has promised that its students who join the army and earn second-class merit in their stints will be able to pursue the university's coveted postgraduate programs, without having to sit for exams.

A senior officer of the conscription office under the Ministry of National Defense (MND) who spoke on condition of anonymity, as required by the ministry, said college graduates with a bachelor's degree and good performance in the military will get a leg up in becoming officers.

"Students with lower education but some skills, such as high school and vocational school graduates, can also follow the route of a senior non-commissioned officer, a life-long position," he said.

That could stand to benefit Jin Bochao, a Beijing native who was also heading for the Hebei army camp.

Jin, 19, worked as a tour guide after he graduated from high school a year earlier.

"My family all believe serving the army will open new doors for me. It'll be a quite promising job if I can stay in the military after two years," he said.

Behind all these moves to beef up the armed forces is the Central Military Commission's move to modernize the military.

"In earthquake relief work, the military used hi-tech equipment such as satellite navigation and life-detection devices. New requirements of the times demand that soldiers are of high caliber, can react swiftly and possess strong capabilities to handle new equipment," an article written by the head of the department of the People's Armed Forces of quake-hit Dujiangyan in Sichuan and published in the PLA Daily on Dec 19 said.

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