This event, which is jointly staged by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and External Friendship Association, was first held in 1999. The purpose is to recognize young people who have worked hard to make outstanding contributions to the protection and promotion of the country’s interests in the fields of foreign relations, foreign affairs and external trade and economic affairs. It is designed to improve the mechanism for producing personnel working in external affairs and to encourage the many young people working in external affairs to work even harder and do their jobs even better. This in turn should inspire them to make even greater contributions to efforts to develop an excellent environment in the neighboring countries and the rest of the world for the sake of the country’s program to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

This year, 10 people were awarded the title of “Prominent Young External Affairs Worker of China” and 48 were named “Outstanding Young External Affairs Worker of China.” Yang Hong was named “Outstanding Young External Affairs Worker of China.”