BEIJING - Young Chinese join the Communist Party of China (CPC) not for a quick path to wealth or power, but to realize the value of life, grassroots Party workers and members said.

The International Communication Office of the CPC Central Committee holds a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday to introduce eight outstanding grassroots Party members and their accomplishments. [Zou Hong / China Daily]

Li Xiaodong, 46, board chairman of Panjin Guanghe Aquaculture Co Ltd in Liaoning province, is also secretary of the Party organization at the private company, which gives technical advice to farmers who raise crabs in paddy fields.

Li said the company's young employees join or want to join the Party not for purposes such as getting rich or gaining access to power, "because in this private company, a Party membership does not bring any of those".

Still, more than half of the company's 68 Party members are in their 30s or 20s, and some 100 other young people want to join the Party, he said.

"Not all young people came with such aims on their first day to work, as they have access to all kinds of information and developed their own thoughts," he said.

"But after working here for a while, under the influence of the company culture to help farmers become affluent, our young people - many are college graduates - wanted to work harder for recognition and realize their individual values," he said.

Their aim coincides with the Party's tenet of serving the people, and they take the Party's enterprises as their belief, he said.

The CPC had 80.27 million members by the end of last year, and 19.51 million of them are younger than 35, accounting for 24.3 percent of the total.

There are voices claiming that young Chinese nowadays struggle to join the CPC not for socialist ideology, but for connections that could help them get rich.

Dou Tiecheng, 55, who joined Li and six other grassroots Party members and Party workers at a news conference held by the International Communication Office of the CPC Central Committee ahead of the CPC's 90th anniversary, agreed with Li that young Party members he knew have pure aims.

Dou, a senior electrical technician at China Railway First Group Co Ltd, heads a squad of more than 40 workers with an average age of 35 who install power substations for rail lines and subways. Nearly half of his team members are Party members.

"Party members in my team are those who stand out in their work. To them, making a rail line's power supply work fine so that trains can run smoothly and better serve the people is the best reward they expect," he said.

In addition, young Party members are playing a bigger role in rural areas to lead farmers to shake off poverty and lead a better life.

Li said more and more village Party secretaries are young people, instead of senior villagers.

"They are well educated, many with college degrees, and flexible. They have done a lot of things to help farmers earn more. It has won farmers' respect and cemented the Party's role in farmers' minds," he said.