By Afp
Published: 08:51 BST, 12 April 2019 | Updated: 08:52 BST, 12 April 2019
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China is planning to send millions of youth 'volunteers' back to the villages, raising fears of a return to the methods of Chairman Mao's brutal Cultural Revolution of 50 years ago.
The Communist Youth League (CYL) has promised to despatch more than 10 million students to 'rural zones' by 2022 in order to 'increase their skills, spread civilisation and promote science and technology,' according to a Communist Party document.
The aim is to bring to the rural areas the talents of those who would otherwise be attracted to life in the big cities, according to a CYL document quoted in the official Global Times daily Thursday.
Students of the China Young Pioneers, an organisation run by the Communist Youth League, salute during a ceremony held for International Children's Day at Qiyi Primary School on May 31, 2009 in Beijing. The CYL has promised to despatch more than 10 million students
