Activities at these youth clubs include both regular and theme projects. Regular projects concentrate on training, integrating into city life, socializing and entertainment, volunteer services, artistic and cultural programs, sports, and activities for public benefit.

One notable example of the former took place in December 2013, when all 350 community youth clubs in Beijing collected spare winter clothes for people in poor and remote rural areas of China. Initiated by the CCYLBC, the clubs gathered a total of 98,488 winter clothing items. Before that, in the summer of 2013, 34 clubs hosted artistic and cultural programs for more than 1,000 adolescents in their neighborhoods, encouraging them to take an active interest in China's traditional culture.

As for theme projects, each club hosts its own in accordance with the character of its neighborhood.

For example, Huilongguan is a large residential area with over 600,000 residents, many of them young professionals. The community's youth club has built 14 function rooms including a gym, a billiards room, a board game room, and a movie room specially for this demographic. While the FIFA World Cup took place in Brazil in June and July, the club even created a World Cup room and provided food on the weekends so as to help young people make friends while watching soccer games.

In the Shangdi Science Park area, the youth club organized a regular computer class for local residents. Many retired citizens in the neighborhood have since learned how to use Internet chat tools and socialize online.

At the invitation of the Jimenxinyu Community Youth Club and the Beijing Normal University last October, Shi Fumao, a committee member of the All China Lawyers Association, held a special legal lecture for rural migrant workers living in the city. More than 60 such workers attended the lecture. "What will you do if your boss refuses to pay your salary or delays pay?" Shi had asked the crowd. "When your legal rights are violated, you need a lawful and just way to solve the problem."

Liu told Beijing Review that the legal lecture was one of the club's cooperative projects with the Beijing Normal University. "This was a very good project for our community youth club. It was practical and popular among migrant workers," she said, adding that many rural laborers have consulted the club for legal advice.

"Some of our volunteers are college students living in the neighborhood, students at universities like the Capital Institute of Physical Education, Beijing Normal University and the China University of Political Science and Law," said Liu. "This is a great help for our club in conducting better projects while still cutting costs."

According to Liu, the club has an annual budget of 20,000 yuan ($3,220). However, with the added support of the government, local community service centers, residents' committees, public cultural and sports facilities, and nearby schools and colleges, the club actually can accomplish far more than the budget allows, she said.

Every club is required to conduct at least 48 group activities every year, and each activity must include over 20 participants. In addition, each club should provide face-to-face service to and communication with at least 1,000 young people, eventually establishing a base membership of 300 or more.

Most community youth clubs, however, host far more than the required 48 activities every year and work hard to attract as many members as possible. "For example, our club organizes a hike every week to encourage an environmentally friendly lifestyle, and it sometimes has over 100 participants," said Liu.

"We are very happy to help young people to enrich their lives," Liu said. "And we also learn from these projects ourselves."

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