BEIJING - China had about 87.46 million Communist Youth League (CYL) members at the end of 2015, slightly down from 88.2 million a year earlier, according to figures released by the CYL Central Committee on Tuesday, the eve of Chinese Youth Day.

The country has more than 3.87 million CYL organizations, the figures showed.

The CYL announced Youth Day commendations for 27 young people, including workers, scholars, teachers, business people, volunteers and military officers, as well as five youth groups.

Chinese Youth Day was established in December 1949 to commemorate the beginning of the May 4 Movement in 1919, a student protest that grew out of dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles. It is seen in China as a patriotic movement against imperialism and feudalism.

The CYL is a youth organization under the Communist Party of China.