Deeply understand the urgent need to enhance young people’s ability to engage in mass work.

Faced with the complex challenges posed by a century of global upheaval, the strategic demands of serving the great cause of national rejuvenation, and the pressing need to respond to the profound changes occurring among young people, it is an important mission for young cadres in the new era to deeply understand and vigorously enhance their capacity in this regard.

Actively respond to challenges posed by the external environment. Today, the world is undergoing a major transformation unseen in a century. The global economy is undergoing profound adjustments, geopolitical competition is intense and complex, “black swan” events keep occurring one after another, and the global governance system and international order are undergoing deep-seated changes. Certain Western countries are imposing economic and technological containment on China, intensifying their scramble for young Chinese talents amid the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Meanwhile, some external forces are seeking to infiltrate China politically and ideologically—particularly through the internet and new mobile media—in an effort to influence the values held by young people. How to effectively prevent and resolve various external risks and challenges, and how to provide a compelling answer to the critical question of “who can win over the youth”—these are pressing issues that urgently call for young cadres to enhance their ability to engage with young people, guide today’s youth to firmly listen to and follow the Party, firmly establish core socialist values, cultivate ambition through the unity of knowledge and practice, strengthen their moral integrity and bolster their confidence, and showcase the self-confidence, resilience, and proactive spirit of Chinese youth on the global stage.

Actively serve the overall interests of the Party and the country. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party has systematically outlined a grand blueprint for further deepening reform in a comprehensive manner and advancing Chinese-style modernization. Promoting Chinese-style modernization is an unprecedented, pioneering endeavor that must rely on young people—and will undoubtedly help them achieve their aspirations. As the most vibrant, enterprising, and least conservative segment of society, today’s youth see their growth and striving periods closely aligned with the historical process of building a strong nation and realizing national rejuvenation. They should naturally become proactive actors and pragmatic doers in further deepening reform in a comprehensive manner, as well as the driving force and assault team behind advancing Chinese-style modernization. How to shoulder the important mission entrusted to young people by the Party in this new era and on this new journey—how to unite, organize, and mobilize young people on the broadest possible scale—urgently calls for young cadres at all levels to enhance their capacity for working with young people. They must lead young people to deeply understand the significance and necessity of further deepening reform in a comprehensive manner, strengthen their sense of historical responsibility and mission, ignite their youthful passion for making our country strong, and strive to grow into the new generation of young people who are fully capable of shouldering the great task of national rejuvenation, thereby pooling powerful youthful energy to advance the cause of building a strong nation and achieving national rejuvenation.

Effectively respond to the evolving development trends of the youth population. The youth stage is not only a critical period for forming one’s worldview, outlook on life, and values, but also a pivotal time for personal growth, career exploration, and professional path selection. As social structures undergo adjustments and transformations, the composition of the youth population is changing in tandem with other segments of society—and these changes are becoming more profound and frequent. In recent years, the rapid development of new technologies, new business models, and new formats has triggered deep-seated shifts within the youth demographic. Traditional youth groups continue to grow in size, while new youth groups are constantly emerging, giving rise to numerous emerging occupational categories such as food-delivery riders, ride-hailing drivers, and online streamers. Today’s youth increasingly exhibit characteristics such as fragmentation into diverse subgroups, fluid and mobile distribution, and an increasingly networked lifestyle. Young people’s aspirations and needs for a better life are continually broadening in scope and deepening in substance, no longer confined solely to material well-being but extending to various domains and levels—including spiritual life, political participation, rule-of-law development, social integration, and ecological civilization. To adapt to the new features of the evolving youth demographic structure and to effectively address the multifaceted challenges posed by young people’s diverse value demands, it is urgently necessary for young cadres to enhance their capacity to engage with youth, gain a thorough understanding of and adapt to the unique traits of young people, and pay close attention to the shifts in the substance, structure, levels, and modes of expression of youth needs. We must go to great lengths to relieve young people of their difficulties and anxieties, and promptly and effectively meet their rising expectations.

Accurately grasp the approaches and methods for enhancing young people's ability to engage in mass work.

To enhance young people’s ability to engage with the masses, the key lies in mastering scientific and effective methods and approaches. This calls for young cadres to put great effort into ideological refinement, political experience, practical training, professional development, and style cultivation, thereby comprehensively enhancing the core competencies required to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively.

Continuously strengthen ideological refinement. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The original aspiration will not naturally remain pure and fresh; if we’re not careful, it may become obscured and fade away. If left unattended for too long, it will dry up and wither, making it all too easy to lose sight of why we set out in the first place and where we aim to go—easy indeed to get separated or even lost along the way.” To do well in the Party’s youth mass work in the new era and enhance our capacity to engage with young people, we must always adhere to using Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to fortify our minds, guide our practice, and drive our work forward. We must ensure that everything is grounded in reality, that theory is closely linked to practice, and that we seek truth from facts, testing and developing truth through practice. Seeking truth from facts, as the Party’s guiding ideological line, complements the Party’s mass line and is entirely consistent with it in its essential requirements. We must insist on starting from objective reality, adopting a comprehensive and dialectical perspective when examining youth groups and analyzing youth development issues, and closely integrating the Party’s innovative theories, guidelines, and policies with practical work. “Constant systems cannot wait for change; a single path cannot respond to infinite possibilities; carving a boat to search for a lost sword is futile.” Only by grasping the pulse of youth and tailoring our thinking and approaches to the new changes and characteristics in their lifestyles and work patterns—ensuring that our plans and schemes are fully aligned with actual conditions—can we keep pace with the advancing times, the development of youth, and the spirit of practical innovation.

Continuously enhance political experience. The Party’s greatest political advantage lies in its close ties with the masses; the greatest danger facing the Party after assuming power is becoming detached from the masses. The mass perspective is the fundamental viewpoint of Marxist political parties. To do well in the Party’s youth work in the new era and to enhance our capacity to engage with young people, we must first take a political approach, firmly establish the mass perspective, consciously implement the mass line, and always put everything for the people and rely entirely on the people. Youth work is a foundational, holistic, and strategic task for the Party’s governance and administration. Doing well in the Party’s youth work is an important pathway for cultivating socialist builders and successors who are capable of shouldering the great mission of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; it is an inevitable requirement for practicing the Party’s mass line and consolidating and expanding the Party’s youth-based mass base; and it is a vital tool for organizing and mobilizing the broad youth to step forward boldly and take responsibility for China’s modernization. Adhering to the Party’s mass line in youth work means not only playing well the role of a bridge—faithfully conveying the voices and sentiments of young people to the Party and fully passing on the Party’s warmth to them, thus fulfilling a social function of communication and connection—but also playing well the role of a bond: closely linking the hearts of young people to the Party, focusing on winning the hearts and minds of young people for the Party, and wholeheartedly serving as trusted friends to young people and guides for the youth masses.

Continuously strengthen practical training and experience. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “Whether in the past, present, or future, we must always uphold the principle of putting everything for the masses and relying entirely on the masses—coming from the masses and going back to the masses.” To do well in the Party’s youth mass work in the new era and enhance our capacity to engage with young people, we must firmly root ourselves in the land of our motherland, closely align with China’s actual conditions at all times, delve deeply into the lives of young people, genuinely understand their joys and sorrows, comprehensively and promptly gather their voices, and scientifically and rationally analyze their demands. At the same time, we must respect the young people’s status as the main actors, learn from them, and treat them as our teachers. Today, young cadres generally have high educational levels, broad perspectives, and extensive knowledge—these are precisely the advantages that enable them to carry out the Party’s youth mass work effectively. It is important to note, however, that young cadres must not let these advantages lead them to adopt an attitude of superiority or condescension in their work; otherwise, they may easily fall prey to formalism and bureaucratic practices, gradually distancing themselves from the young masses. The ability to engage with young people is a highly practical skill. To enhance this capability, we must sincerely and wholeheartedly reach out to young people, truly understanding, respecting, and trusting them. In particular, we must pay close attention to engaging face-to-face and heart-to-heart with young workers, farmers, ordinary youth, and young people active in emerging fields—transforming young people from mere objects of our work into active participants, thereby continuously strengthening the force behind our youth mass work.

Continuously strengthen professional training. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must deeply study and accurately grasp the characteristics and rules of mass work under the new circumstances, improve our methods of mass work, and raise the level of our mass work.” To do well in the Party’s youth mass work in the new era and enhance our capacity to engage with young people, we must master the fundamental methods of mass work and social work, innovate service delivery platforms in keeping with the times, and comprehensively employ approaches such as interviews and surveys, individual case services, rule-of-law safeguards, policy solutions, and social advocacy. We must always move forward in step with the times and walk hand-in-hand with young people. We need to carry out in-depth investigations and research, making good use of the five-character formula—“deep, practical, meticulous, accurate, and effective”—and be adept at seeing through appearances to get to the essence of issues. We must accurately identify the real needs and diverse aspirations of young people, starting from the objective laws governing changes in the times and youth development, and truly ground our work of guiding, organizing, and serving young people in thorough research and precise understanding of these underlying patterns. At present, digital technologies—represented by big data and artificial intelligence—are thriving and being widely applied. We must continuously enhance our digital literacy, acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to adapt to work in a digitalized environment, and leverage the remarkable advantages of digital technologies in terms of immediacy, precision, and interactivity, thereby providing effective support for the Party’s youth mass work in expanding its scope, broadening its reach, improving service efficiency, and enhancing its appeal and influence.

Continuously strengthen the cultivation of work style. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “If cadres keep the people in mind and work diligently and earnestly, the people will admire, support, and follow them; but if cadres fail to focus on practical matters and become arrogant and dissolute, the people will detest, oppose, and distance themselves from them.” To do well in the Party’s youth work in the new era and enhance our capacity to engage with young people, we must resolve to be faithful inheritors of the Party’s glorious traditions and fine work styles, consciously cultivate a work ethic characterized by responsibility and pragmatism, dare to take on tough challenges, conscientiously shoulder our responsibilities, avoid empty rhetoric, and focus on practical results. We must always maintain a sense of awe, exercise self-restraint in our words, and act with moderation, thereby establishing, safeguarding, and showcasing the integrity and purity that young cadres of the new era should embody. We need to regularly and deeply engage with areas where young people congregate, especially daring to go to harsh environments and frontline grassroots communities to shoulder hardships, tackle difficulties, assume heavy responsibilities, and face risks. The more challenging the environment and the tougher the post, the greater the difficulties and the more complex the contradictions—precisely these settings provide the best opportunities for tempering our will and enhancing our capabilities. Only through experiencing several “storms and waves” and taking on several “hot potatoes” can we continuously hone our genuine ability to handle complex contradictions, develop real expertise in working with young people, and truly rise to meet challenges head-on without shirking or evading responsibility. When confronted with risks, we must proactively respond rather than shrink back or turn away.