The Communist Party of China ( CPC), the world's largest political party in terms of number of members, found that more and more young Chinese, college students in particular, intend to join it.

On Friday, which was the 84th anniversary of the birth of the CPC, official sources announced that last year 2.42 million people in China joined the Party, including 195,000 college students.

Currently, eight percent of total undergraduates across China are CPC members, compared to a proportion of 1.16 percent in 1990.

Professor Sang Yucheng with prestigious Fudan University said, "CPC membership is highly valued among college students today.Chinese universities have evolved into a 'source of fresh blood' for the Party."

In the eyes of Chinese college students, joining the CPC is a crucial choice in their lives, just like taking up an occupation, acquiring a higher academic degree and studying abroad, Sang said.

Chen Mingsong, a graduate at the Department of Computer Science at Nanjing University based in the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, became a CPC member in June this year. He said, "The reason why I joined the CPC is that I agree with the basic principles and guidelines of the Party." "I especially appreciate the Party's adherence to the principle of making the farmers richer," Chen added.

Official statistics also show that about 45 percent of undergraduates at Chinese universities and colleges have expressed their intention of joining the CPC. And the percentage was even as high as 90 percent in some universities.

"This stems from the fact that the students subscribe to the Party's governance philosophy," said Zhou Yongzhong, a sociologist studying young people in Jiangsu Province.

According to a poll conducted in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality at the beginning of the year, 92 percent of college students in the city considered that "it was necessary to adhere to the Party's leadership in building socialism".

Chen Mingsong said, "As a member of the ruling party, I will speak out my opinions more directly and keep the enthusiam towards polical affairs, though I don't want to be a statesman."

The poll also indicated that 65 percent of college students were satisfied with the Party's efforts to improve itself and combat corruption. They intended, with CPC membership, to help the Party upgrade itself to contribute more to the society.

A related survey shows that a considerable proportion of college students who are active in teaching in the underdeveloped western part of China are CPC members.

It is predicted that by 2007, CPC members will make up 12 percent of college students in Beijing, up from the current 10 percent. The proportion in graduates will remain at some 35 percent.

"How to prevent the CPC members among college students from separating themselves from the mass will be a significant task of the CPC, which has always followed the mass line," said Dr. Chang Jianjun, a specialist in the issue of Party building.

If the CPC solves this problem, Chang said, it will continue to acquire new members with high quality and high academic background, and "the Party, which is leading the 1.3 billion Chinese people to achieve the goal of peaceful development, will keep young and robust forever."

There are now approximately 70 million CPC members in China, or five percent of the country's total population.

Source: Xinhua