The survey of the top ten popular catchwords in 2001, carried out among more than 2,000 Chinese Internet subscribers aged 35 and below, shows that 68.4 percent of the respondents mentioned the September 11 terrorist attack in the United States, 62.3 percent referred to Osama bin Laden and 38.6 percent touched upon the fight against terrorism.

This indicates that today's Chinese youth regard a peaceful international environment as the outside factor which most affects China's development, said Shen Jie, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Shen said, in the process of globalization, the relations between all countries have become closer and people around the world are facing more and more "globalized" problems such as

damage to the environment, shortage of resources, population growth, the spread of Aids, the smuggling of drugs, computer hackers and rampant terrorist activities.

According to the survey, four of the ten catchwords relate to the China's major successes in 2001 like Beijing winning to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

This shows that Chinese youth are seriously concerned about the development of their motherland and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, said Shen, adding that this will also intensify their expectations for the development of future society.

The remaining three words revolve around the Internet. Statistics show that 79.8 percent of the China's Internet surfers are people aged 35 or younger.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2002)