The original purpose of the CYC was to provide basic military training to youths before they were conscripted into the Nationalist armed forces.

At that time the CYC was very much a quasi-governmental, quasi-political organization with close ties to the Kuomintang regime, similar in many ways to the Communist Youth League of the People's Republic of China.

Over the decades the CYC has lost much of its militaristic character, shifting its focus into providing recreational services to Taiwanese and Overseas Chinese alike (such as through the annual Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the Republic of China), although military camps remain one of the many activities it offers.

Indeed, the CYC continued to provide military education textbooks to high school students until as recently as the 1990s.

[3] In view of the dramatic changes in social forms , young people face many problems in adaptation.