Leader answers letter from 34 born in 1990s who battled outbreak in Hubei

President Xi Jinping praised China's generation born in the 1990s for their dedication in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak, saying that they demonstrated by actions that the Chinese youth of the new era can be entrusted with great missions.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark in a letter replying on Sunday to 34 Party members of that age group from Peking University's medical team who were sent to Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak in China.

In the letter, Xi extended sincere greetings to them and all young people fighting on the front line of epidemic control.

They and many other front-line workers have spearheaded efforts despite difficulties and threats to their lives, he said.

Xi said that a nation will be full of hope and a country will have a great tomorrow when younger generations have ideals, ability and a strong sense of responsibility. He urged young people to grow while serving the people, temper themselves through arduous work, increase their abilities in practice and continue to fight at their posts saving people's lives.

Xi also encouraged the 34 young Party members who wrote the letter to motivate the country's young people to shoulder greater responsibilities and make their contributions in places where the Party and the people need them most.

Among the over 42,000 medical workers who went to assist in epidemic control in Hubei, more than 12,000 were born in the 1990s, some in the latter part of the decade.

The 1990s generation, raised in an affluent and rising China, is often stereotyped as childish and naive.

Wang Ben, secretary of the fourth temporary Party branch of a medical team sent to Wuhan by Peking University, was one of the lead writers of the letter sent to Xi on Wednesday, a day after Xi's trip to Wuhan.

"It was unexpected that we would receive a letter in reply, and within such a short period," the 26-year-old said.

Wang said the original purpose of their letter was to tell Xi as well as the whole nation that China's 1990s generation has grown up and is no longer a generation that needs protection or extra care.

"Now we're capable of shouldering social responsibilities and making contributions to the country with our own efforts," he said, vowing to win the final battle against the coronavirus in Wuhan.

Liu Xi, an intensive care unit doctor at the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Changsha, Hunan province, has been working since Feb 8 with 50 nurses of the 1990s generation at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, treating 50 COVID-19 patients in critical condition.

The 31-year-old doctor said she has witnessed how people of that generation have put themselves forward when they have been needed during the epidemic.

"Nurses are a group of people who have the closest and most frequent contact with patients. They work with the greatest intensity and are at highest risk," Liu said.

She said members of the generation have come up with ideas, such as a lucky draw on International Women's Day, to help comfort patients who were depressed.

Shu Hao, 25, an ICU nurse working at Wuhan No 1 Hospital, never realized how much he loves his country and could contribute to it until the outbreak. He said he realized that he was not an unaccomplished person, as he had imagined, because he has the ability to do something when needed.

Zou Shuo contributed to this story.