Young people lack volunteer spirit after Expo

The volunteer spirit seen among youth during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai has not continued beyond the six-month show some two years ago, suggests a survey released Monday.

In the lead up to and during the city's international affair, nearly 100 percent of Putuo district's 5,600 registered young volunteers offered their free services, but that figure has since plunged to some 14 percent, said the district's Communist Youth League, which surveyed 400 volunteers between the ages of 14 and 35.

Seventy percent of respondents said that they have not continued with volunteer work because there is a lack of programs that truly cater the poor or needy. Others said that there is no proper guidance for them to follow when it comes to volunteer work, while another 21 percent of those surveyed said that they only joined the city's 2 million Expo volunteers because they were "forced."

At the root of the problem is an unwillingness from the public to integrate the spirit of volunteerism into their daily lives, said Wu Jiayi, a press officer for Putuo's Communist Youth League.

"The Expo was successful in encouraging people to volunteer to make the show the best that it could be," she told the Global Times Monday. "But now, we need the public to adopt that volunteer spirit into their daily lives, not just for one-off events."

Better training and improved protection of rights for volunteers could also attract more young people to get involved in their communities and make a difference to those who are most in need, particularly seniors, people with a disability, and children of migrant workers, added Wu.

But such incentives may not bite for today's generation of young people, many of whom prefer to "have fun" when they have the option.　

"Volunteer work is boring," a 26-year-old woman, surnamed Gu, told the Global Times Monday. "I would rather spend my free time doing more interesting things, like dating."