The government has so far funded three local non-governmental organisations. The NGOs have received 60,000 yuan for each of 37 social workers hired for the programme. The workers were each given 160 hours of training before being placed for one year in one of 11 government-run charities assisting the elderly and the needy, including social welfare institutions and rescue and assistance centres.

Ms Yu, who graduated from South China Agricultural University this year, is one of the 37 social workers hired. Since completing her training, she has been working for an organisation that provides aid to veterans and their families. The scheme will be extended to other mainland cities if it proves successful in Shenzhen. The mainland will also introduce a professional qualification system for social workers by the end of this year, according to Shenzhen University sociology department director Yi Songguo .

Despite its huge population and rapidly changing society, the mainland still regards social work as a new concept. Most social services at the moment are provided by civil servants or unqualified social workers. The operating structure is often rigid and inefficient.

'Some cities started to hire social workers as early as 2002, but in most cases they were directly employed by the government,' Professor Yi said. 'When social workers are civil servants, the efficiency and quality of their services are quite poor. The Shenzhen government is breaking new ground by contracting out the provision of social work services, rather than hiring the workers directly.'

Under the new scheme, NGOs have to compete with one another to win government grants. The competition will force them to raise their game, hiring true professionals and invest in their development.

The idea, Professor Yi admitted, was directly copied from Hong Kong.

'Shenzhen is one of the most developed regions in China,' he said. 'With its quick economic development, the city is also facing many new social problems, which are common in developed countries but rare in developing areas in the hinterland of China.

'Our neighbour, Hong Kong, has already gone through similar social problems for years. Hong Kong is a very good teacher for Shenzhen in this area.'

Professor Yi is confident that the Shenzhen project will be a success and that the profession will grow rapidly, both in terms of numbers and social status.

'More than 200 colleges have started training social workers in the past few years,' he said. 'But most graduates and teachers still need their peers from Hong Kong to help them become professionals. We hire senior social workers from Hong Kong to train our people.'

The Shenzhen project's 37 graduate trainees will become licensed social workers when they take the mainland's first national qualification test for the profession before the end of the year.

City authorities say that by 2010, the number of licensed social workers in Shenzhen will have grown to at least 5,000, and many more families will be able to enjoy services provided by them and paid for by the city government.

Professor Yu said the pilot scheme was launched to help achieve the central government's goal of creating a harmonious society.

He said the nation's top leaders had recently recognised the need to establish a corps of professional social workers to deal with the inevitable ills of a society undergoing rapid economic and cultural change.

'Last year, President Hu Jintao gave an important instruction to officials to help develop a professional social work sector and to build a public service-oriented government,' he said.

'The top leaders have identified an urgent need for a large number of professionally trained social workers to deal with social problems brought about by such factors as unemployment, the ageing of the population and rising crime levels. This trial in Shenzhen is a response to the top leaders' concerns.'

Ms Yu is excited by the prospect of a long career in social work, but not all her fellow university students felt the same.

'Many of my classmates do not plan to work in the field they have studied for four years,' she said. 'Social work is a new career that is not well known to mainland people, so social workers do not yet get the respect they deserve.

'As a social worker, you should be compassionate, patient and have a lot of energy. Indeed, the job isn't an easy one.'

No matter how enthusiastic Ms Yu and her Shenzhen colleagues are about the future of their profession, Professor Yi says its development still relies heavily on the vagaries of government. While the government had decided to invest in the one-year Shenzhen project, income and spending were never sure things.

'The NGOs will have to cut down on their social workers if the government reduces its expenditure next year,' Professor Yi said. 'We have to recognise it's hard to make social work in the cities independent of government in China. But the good thing is, the authorities at least have begun to recognise the profession as important and to develop it.'

Pilot plan

The Shenzhen government has unveiled a pilot scheme to improve the professionalism of its social services

The number of NGOs so far funded by the scheme: 3

The number of social workers hired for the scheme: 37

The amount in yuan the involved NGOs have received for each of the 37 social workers: 60,000