BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a message to Project Hope as the public welfare program marks its 30th anniversary this year.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed efforts to continue developing the program tasked with improving basic education infrastructure and helping dropout children return to school in poor areas.

Over the past 30 years, Project Hope has helped millions of young people from poor families realize their dream of going to school and grow into pillars of society on all fronts, Xi said, speaking highly of the program's important role in assisting poverty relief, boosting education, helping youth growth and forming social ethos.

Stressing that the nation and the people's future hinges on the youth's healthy growth, Xi required the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) organizations to better promote the program and offer more assistance to the young generation in the new era.

The whole Party and society should continue to pay attention to and support Project Hope so that the young people can fully feel the care of the Party and the warmth of the big socialist family, and be well-prepared to join the socialist cause, Xi noted.

Project Hope was launched in 1989 by the CCYL Central Committee and China Youth Development Foundation. As of September 2019, it had received over 15.2 billion yuan ($2.16 billion) in donations, aided nearly 6 million students in financial difficulty, and built 20,195 primary schools.