Young Chinese to play a bigger role in UN

As China begins to hold a larger role on the global stage, more and more young Chinese are joining international organizations to make their contribution to the world.

Yang Jieyi, 21, gave a presentation at a conference to promote a United Nations (UN) outreach program in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality last week.

She is about to start a six-month internship at a UN committee to promote cultural exchanges among countries along the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

The program Yang is joining was initiated by the UN Secretariat and sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It aims to promote UN human resources policies and increase the understanding of the UN among young Chinese.

"By holding such promotional events, we want to attract more Chinese youth to join various UN projects," said Eva Jansen with the UN Outreach Program on Human Resources.

According to Jansen, the UN has more than 40,000 staff from its member states, but Chinese only make up a small number, which does not reflect the country's contribution to the UN.

The situation is changing as more Chinese youth are actively participating in various UN programs. On the popular Chinese question and answer website zhihu.com, over 6,000 people have followed and 430,000 have read the answers to the question "What is it like to work or intern at the UN or other international organizations?"

The Chongqing event attracted more than 400 young Chinese, some even came from neighboring provinces.

Liu Yudi, 21, was one of them. Liu studied at Sichuan International Studies University, and the UN has given her a clear direction for her future.

"I didn't know the UN organized recruitment events in China," Liu said. "My major is social work, the UN perfectly suits my skills."

Jansen said the UN intends to hire more people from countries with fewer UN employees, and she hopes more Chinese will join the organization in the future.