The capital already has 50,000 volunteer teams, with the total number of volunteers exceeding two million, according to the Beijing Volunteers Association (BVA).

Wang Lihua, Deputy Secretary-General of BVA, said that these volunteer teams include young volunteers, volunteers serving the community, volunteers for science popularization, volunteers helping the disabled, senior citizen volunteers, Red Cross volunteers, volunteers for narcotics control, volunteers for emergency rescue, care service teams and women volunteer service teams. The volunteer teams have provided an accumulated service time exceeding 500 million hours. China began promoting the development of volunteers and young volunteer teams in the late 1980s.

By People's Daily Online