Xinhua Insight: The young Chinese admiring China's ruling party

After studying in Alabama for four years, Qian Siyuan has returned to China with a degree and a better understanding of China's ruling party.

At the age of 21, the human resource management major graduate of Alabama State University has applied to join the Communist Party of China (CPC) in hope of becoming a person who can always put the interests of others above his own.

Although the CPC Charter requires its members to be able to sacrifice their lives for the Party and the people when necessary, Qian thinks an immediate and foremost challenge for a Party membership applicant like him is letting go of selfishness.

Inspired by the speech by the Party leader Xi Jinping at a meeting marking the 95th anniversary of the Party's establishment on July 1, many young Chinese like Qian gained a better understanding of the arduous tasks facing the ruling party, and wish to do their bits.

A fervent fan of NBA star LeBron James for the latter's leadership style, Qian did not think his socialist motherland and the United States are immeasurably contrasting, "in particular when it comes to spiritual pursuits."

"Whatever cultural and historical tradition people may have, they want the same things: joy, kindness, courage, respect and success. Becoming a CPC member, for me, is to urge myself to repay society for what I have got," said the offspring of a rural-migrant-turned-entrepreneur.

Born in the impoverished Gushi County in central China's Henan Province which sees more than one third of its population leaving as migrant workers, Qian can't forget his early days when his family lived in a 12-square-meter makeshift home in Beijing.

"When times were rough, a branch of the Party called on people to donate to us and helped my parents start their business," said Qian.

Now, his father Qian Junfeng is running a brickyard factory with all bricks made by robots. With the financial support of his father, Qian had been able to finish his schooling in Alabama and afford to watch a live basketball match of LeBron James in Cleveland.

"Whenever thinking about my good life in Beijing and Alabama, I tell myself it's time to give back," he said.

It is the first time that Qian has expressed his desire to join the CPC. As required, he will go through a number of procedures, which usually take years.

As the CPC, the world's biggest political party with a membership of more than 88 million, has tightened membership approval to recruit only those who really want to dedicate themselves to the country, joining the Party has become increasingly difficult.

Official statistics showed that Party membership edged up only 1.3 percent to 87.793 million in 2014 from the previous year. The number of new recruits was 2.057 million, down 14.6 percent from the previous year. Of the new members, 5,006 were rural migrant workers, 18,000 were self-employed entrepreneurs while college students, about 767,000 of them, took up the largest proportion.

TOUGH APPROVAL

"There is no timeframe when it comes to the cultivation of young Communists. We only approve those who are qualified," said Miao Zhenshui, a Party member of 42 years in charge of the selection and training of new Communists with the Work Committee of the Gushi County Committee of the CPC.

Zhang Wei, another offspring of a Gushi migrant who runs a recycling plant in a northwest suburban district of Beijing, has been cultivated by the work committee for seven years since making his first membership application.

When local government officials came to him earlier this year persuading him to close his business and vacate his rented plot of land to make way for an anti-pollution project, Zhang refused as the closure would cost him 30 million yuan (about 4.5 million U.S. dollars) in potential earnings.

Zhang reported the issue to Miao who responded: "It is time for you to rise to the test of the Party! When the Charter says putting the interests of the public before your own, it is not for lip service."

Zhang finally made a concession. "If I refused, I guess the Party would put me under observation for the membership candidacy at least for one more year," he said.

APPEAL OF THE PARTY

Lawyer Diao Jiabing is also among the legion of young Chinese aiming to become a Party member. Having provided voluntary legal assistance to migrant workers from his home county Gushi in Beijing under the leadership of the work committee, Diao said he was touched by the dedication of the Party members around him.

With only a tiny amount of farmland in our village, Diao said, however intensive local farming became, it was impossible for all families to get adequate food.

"Without opening-up and reform, my parents could not have left their farmland to work in cities. I wouldn't have been able to go to college and become a lawyer," said Diao.

As well as gratitude to the Party, another motivation for the young lawyer to join the Party, as Diao admitted, is "mere happiness."

"Miao once told me that by helping others, you gain happiness. He was right!" said Diao.

Both Diao and Qian agree China is not perfect. Corruption, poverty in the countryside, deficiency in technical innovation, materialism and egoism are all severe challenges for the Chinese to rise to, they say.

Although China has become the world's second largest economy, Qian thinks the country still has much to improve in terms of etiquette and civility.

"In the United States, people driving on the roads seldom cut in line and always wait for pedestrians to pass by. This is not the case in China," he said.

"But most of the unruly ones in China are elders. The younger generation like my sister and I have paid attention to such details. I think that shows the power of education in the improvement of rule consciousness," said Qian. Endi