A government advisor Wednesday called on the government to take immediate action to meet the cultural needs of youths, stressing promoting the advancement of socialist culture is of strategic importance for the healthy growth of China's young generation.

Youths constitute a giant group of consumers of cultural products and are a major driving force for sharpening the competitive edge of China's cultural industry, said Zhao Yong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body.

According to Zhao, who represents the youth circles, people under the age of 35 years account for nearly 90 percent of Chinese subscribers to Internet, rising influential cultural product carrier.

Young people are also the bulk of subscribers of short message services provided by mobile telecommunication companies, and the biggest consumer group in book, audiovisual product, newspaper, TV and film markets, Zhao said at a plenum of the ongoing CPPCC National Committee annual session.

To give full play to the role of youths in cultural development and feed youths with more cultural products, Zhao suggested that the government dispatch a certain number of youth volunteers abroad for promotion of education on the Chinese language, folk songs and dances, and selected cultural products on a yearly basis.

Government departments concerned should launch a special fund to support youths to develop such rising cultural products as Web games and flashes, while formulating policies on small loans and start-up funds to encourage and support more youths to engage in the cultural industry.

Zhao also suggested a nationwide campaign to encourage youths to read and recite selected ancient Chinese poems so that they can learn the superb fascination of Chinese culture and the rich connotation of the national spirit.

Noting the great impact of idols on youths, Zhao suggested related government departments to organize selections of influential stars from music, TV and film, entertainment and sports circles so that youths have models to learn.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2005)