Young people from Hong Kong and Macao work at a business incubation center in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, on April 17, 2021. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

Young people from Hong Kong and Macao said on Friday that the speech made by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, at the centenary celebration of CPC has spurred them on to carry on capitalizing on the strengths of the two special administrative regions to serve the country's needs.

Their remarks followed Xi's appeal to the nation's young people to "make it their mission to contribute to national rejuvenation", like generation after generation of young Chinese over the past 100 years who devoted their youth to the cause of the CPC and the people and remained in "the vanguard of the drive to rejuvenate the nation".

Inspired by Xi's roundup of the CPC's achievements in improving people's livelihoods, Kwok Waikeung, a legislator and chairman of the Hong Kong Youth Power Association, called on patriots in Hong Kong to shoulder responsibility and unite and carry forward the spirit of striving for the well-being of the people.

Kwok said the SAR should quickly take care of its thorny issues and contribute to the nation's overall development.

Nixie Lam Lam, a former district councilor and member of the United Nations Association of China, was in Beijing with a delegation of over 70 people from Hong Kong to attend the centenary celebration. She said she was impressed by the achievements made through concerted efforts by generations of Chinese people over the past 100 years.

Expressing her pride of being at the event, she said she looked forward to what the nation could achieve in the next 100 years with the efforts of the Chinese people, including those in Hong Kong.

Chim Shing, vice-president of the Hong Kong United Youth Association, said that Xi's speech served not only as an important guideline for Hong Kong's young people but also gave a direction for the city's education, arts and media sectors, which have a great impact on the city's youth.

He envisaged that young people in Hong Kong could come into contact with more artistic and cultural content with correct values such as law-abiding awareness and lofty ideals, in a bid to help them foster a sense of pride and confidence as Chinese people, as Xi expected.

On the other side of the Pearl River estuary, President of the Macao Youth Volunteers Association Pui Seng-in, said Xi's call for "learning from history" encouraged him to stay true to his initial aspiration of serving the people. Pui said he will join hands with more Macao young volunteers to contribute to the development of the "one country, two systems" cause and building a great modern socialist country under the leadership of the CPC.

Vong Keng-hei, a Macao member of the All China Youth Federation, said he felt incomparably proud as Xi announced that China has realized the first centenary goal of "building a moderately prosperous society in all respects". He said that the achievements of the CPC over the past 100 years show that the Party has always been people-centered.