Eleven-year-old Zhang Jiahe (left) and Sun Luyuan, student reporters with Chinese Teenagers News, attend the press conference (WEI YAO)

"Housing prices are so high that our parents spend all their money buying apartments. They owe the banks so much they can't buy us toys," said 11-year-old Zhang Jiahe to Jiang Weixin, the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development at a conference at the press center of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on November 12.

Zhang Jiahe almost missed his opportunity to ask his question until the very end of the joint news conference for issues related to people's livelihood, when he approached the four ministers and asked to interview Jiang. The minister of housing told the young reporter that society keeps moving forward and the issue will be solved.

Studying at Beijing Huiwen Primary School in Dongcheng District, Zhang Jiahe is a reporter from Chinese Teenagers News. He is one of three student reporters among some 2,300 journalists covering the event.

Sun Luyuan, 11, another student reporter from Chinese Teenagers News, was still excited about her encounter with Olympic swimming champion, 21-year-old Jiao Liuyang, the youngest delegate of the 18th CPC National Congress. Sun particularly cares about food safety.

Zhang Zun (ZAN JIFANG)

Zhang Zun, 17, is a senior middle school student from Beijing Liuyi Middle School in Haidian District and covered the event for China High School Students Newspaper.

"I think this event is very important. It will decide China's future," Zhang told Beijing Review. "Our country cares about teenagers so much that we can have access to such an important conference."

Zhang Zun focuses on Hu Jintao's report, especially the reform of the cultural sector, which he thought was relevant to middle school students. He was also motivated by the hope for his generation mentioned in the report. "I will try to attract young readers with interesting reports and help them understand the 18th CPC National Congress objectively," he said.

Zhang Zun hopes to become a journalist. "Journalism is a great profession. They report the facts with first-hand material," he said.