Qin Yizhi was elected first secretary of the Secretariat of the 17th Communist Youth League of China Central Committee during its five-yearly congress, which closed in Beijing on Thursday.

Qin, born in December 1965, had served as deputy chairman of the Tibet autonomous region since November 2011.

He holds a master's degree and started working in 1988. He joined the Communist Party of China in January 1985.

The youth league called on the country's young people on Thursday to work hard to realize the "Chinese dream" of national rejuvenation.

The "Chinese dream" is a dream of the nation and every Chinese person, it said.

The youth league, founded in 1922, has about 89 million members and is a mass youth organization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

According to a statement released after a plenary session of the league's 17th national congress on Wednesday, 165 central committee members and 110 alternate members were chosen based on votes from 1,506 delegates.

The members included 75 women, or 27.3 percent of the total, and 24 from ethnic groups, or 8.7 percent. A total of 268 members, or 97.5 percent of the total, are college graduates.

"Most of the members have a rich educational background and grassroots work experience in various fields, which will help promote work related to young people in the future," said Li Pingyi, secretary of the youth league committee of the Foreign Ministry.

Zhu Lijia, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said young people are the future of the country.

"Their value concepts and levels of skill and knowledge will play important roles during the country's process of realizing the ‘Chinese dream'," he said.

The youth league's work needs to diversify to keep pace with the times and the different demands of young people, he said.

"For instance, the organization should give more support and guidance to young people who plan to set up their own business," he said.