Statistics announced in July revealed that the Communist Party of China has 70.8 million members, of whom 23% are under the age of 35.

Writing in this week's Oriental Outlook op-ed section, Guangdong resident Zheng Danzhou describes one problem that these young party members face:

When I joined the party, received my master's degree, and graduated, it really was a happy time. A few months after graduation, I finally found work as a news editor at a web portal. I had no residence permit; I put my personnel file on the HR market, but my work was still fairly satisfactory. Not long after, a critical problem surfaced - I had no way to take part in organizational life and no way to pay party dues, because the company had no party organization at the time and the school was very far away.

Actually, students like myself who have no way to resolve their residence issues after graduation are not rare. Many work at private enterprises, are freelance professionals, or have gone on to study for the PhD entrance exam and lack a job. Connecting with a party organization is inconvenient for everyone; it's unclear where to go if you wish to pay party dues.

This era is advancing, and the party's organization should keep pace with the times. I've heard that a branch in Zhejiang has set up its own QQ group so that everyone can take part in party life through, to communicate what they've learned through study and find mutual supervision and encouragement. So I hope that there can be a similar broadening of ideas in regard to the matter of dues payment, like for example setting up a bank account into which party members can pay their party dues at the appointed time. This would also be beneficial to the financial management of the party organization. Of course, mobile phones could also be used to remind party members to render payment, since China currently has 300 million mobile phone accounts.