China Youth Corps
| China Youth Corps | |
|---|---|
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| Founded | October 31, 1952 |
| Headquarters |
Number 219, Songjiang Street, Zhongshan District, Taipei,  Republic of China |
| Website | |
| http://www.cyc.org.tw/ | |
The China Youth Corps (中國青年救國團 China Youth National Salvation Corps; until 2000: 中國青年反共救國團 China Youth Anti-Communist National Salvation Corps), often known simply as CYC (救國團), is a youth organization in the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The CYC was established in 1952, on the recommendation of the then president Chiang Kai-shek; its first chairperson was his son Chiang Ching-Kuo. The original purpose of the CYC was to provide basic military training to youths before they were conscripted into the Nationalist armed forces. At that time the CYC was very much a quasi-governmental, quasi-political organization with close ties to the Kuomintang regime, similar in many ways to the Communist Youth League of the People's Republic of China.
Over the decades the CYC has lost much of its militaristic character, shifting its focus into providing recreational services to Taiwanese and Overseas Chinese alike (such as through the annual Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the Republic of China), although military camps remain one of the many activities it offers. Indeed, the CYC continued to provide military education textbooks to high school students until as recently as the 1990s.
On August 28, 1989 the CYC became a non-governmental organization, thereby officially severing its ties with the Kuomintang regime; nonetheless many Taiwanese today still regard the CYC's senior management as being supportive towards the Pan-Blue Coalition. On October 25, 2000, the CYC officially dropped "Anti-Communist" from its official name.
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