About the rules of the Chinese dormitory, the right students and the right to personal space. Compare with the Russian version?
During my student years, I also lived in a dormitory. It wasn't easy for me, especially the first two years. No, I wasn’t afraid of the shared toilet, the shower in the basement, the stern commandant, the nightly revelry of the neighbors - the Spartan conditions are not a problem. It was hard psychologically. I had no personal space, my life was always “in the public eye,” but at the same time it was incredibly lonely. A kind of loneliness in a crowd...
I think living in a hostel toughened me up. But everything is learned by comparison. The other day I was invited by Chinese students to visit their dormitory. And only then did I realize that my “student life” was a resort.
I don’t undertake to be responsible for all of China, but I can tell you about the universities I have visited. Moreover, I note that the institute where I now work is commercial and has a very high status. There is a gorgeous campus, infrastructure, and classrooms are superbly equipped. 
It is believed that our institute is a “pro-Western” version of an educational institution. But the rules of residence for students here are strict in Chinese.
To begin with, we note that absolutely ALL Chinese students at our institute are required to live in a dormitory. There are no “home” students.
8 campus buildings are dedicated to dormitories. 
There is a strict division of buildings: into “husbands” and “wives”. It is strictly forbidden to visit the opposite sex; this is tirelessly monitored by an incorruptible auntie-watchman. If the students have, then they can be expressed outside the institute. 
In principle, there is no kitchen in the dormitory - perhaps in order to comply with the rules of the SES or fire regulations. Students buy food in the canteen (cheap, there is plenty to choose from, there are 4 canteens on site, open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Although students sometimes really miss “homemade” food prepared with their own hands. It is prohibited to have a microwave or electric kettle in the room. A hefty fine is provided for violation. Therefore, no one even tries to go against the rules. 
There is no shower in the dormitory. At all. The so-called bathhouse is located “across the road”. A minute of “washing” costs 8 feng (1 yuan - 100 feng). You can stand under the shower as much as you like, but you have to pay for the pleasure. Students do not dry their hair, and therefore return to their dorms in the cold with wet heads. Sometimes in slates (apparently, especially seasoned students). 
There is no hot water in the hostel; it is collected in thermoses in the same building where the bathhouse is and carried to the hostel. The hostel has semi-automatic washing machines.
The heating is weak. Therefore, it is so cold on the first floors that students “live” in outerwear (boots, down jacket, etc.). Heaters are prohibited. They save themselves with heating pads. First-year students live on the first floor - this is how students are trained. All the heat (apparently according to the laws of physics) goes to the top floor. Guess who lives there? That's right, graduate students. This is what hazing is like. 😉
There are bars on the windows of the first floors. my husband truly believes this is to prevent “illegal guests.” The students themselves told me that the bars are protection from thieves. Students store their bicycles either in special parking lots near the dormitory or in the halls. 
Our institute is for wealthy students, so there are only 4 people living in a room (at the university where I worked there were previously 8 people). The room consists of 4 bunk beds: the first floor is a “work area”, the second floor is a bed. Other furniture in the room includes 4 small cabinets, each locked with a real lock (as students note, this is how they protect valuable equipment from kleptomaniacs), 4 chairs. That's all, actually. But each student buys an individual folding little table for himself; it is convenient to write on it, half sitting, half lying on the bed. All rooms have the same blue curtains. 
The room must be clean and tidy. This is monitored daily by the commandant and student activists of the hostel. There is a rolling burgundy scarlet velvet pennant that is hung on the door of the cleanest room on the floor. Special requirements include a neatly folded (in a special way) blanket. In the first year, students spend a whole month learning how to fold it perfectly (oddly enough, this is as part of military training).
Students dry their clothes on a small balcony; in the warmer months, the balcony is used as a common wardrobe.
And now a little about personal space. Each entrance door has a glazed window (approximately 30x40 cm). Therefore, from the corridor you can easily see what the students are doing in the room. It is strictly prohibited to cover this window with anything. Otherwise, the fine is a room without electricity for three days. However, in honor of my visit, the commandant allowed the girls to temporarily seal this window. Each student, trying to “master the territory”, decorates the room and their “work area” with stickers, balloons, photographs - it looks very cozy. 
The official “lights out” in the hostel is at 10 p.m. At this time, the general lights are turned off, but until 11 p.m. you are still allowed to sit by the light of a table lamp. After 23:00 no light. Only a cell phone or a flashlight under the blanket.
But foreign students live in completely different conditions and with different orders! 
Well, well, I guess I’ll finish here and leave you alone with the memories of your student dorm years.
P.S. In this note I tried not to give assessments, only facts...
About the Chinese and their mentality
We continue to walk around campuses, trying to find a typical student at our university. We found out that the guys from Physics and Technology. At the “Bride Institute” we met a noble girl who... And today we have an acquaintance with atypical residents.
When I was about to leave the dormitory of the Pedagogical University, I noticed two girls at the watch, sharing news in broken Russian with the watchman Natalya. I admit, at first I thought that these were not students, but local staff. But from the content of the conversation and from the smiles that never left their faces, it became clear: the girls live here, and right now they are practicing Russian.
The girls came from China for four months to improve their Russian language and establish friendly international relations. In their native Changchun, students studied the history of Russia for several years, read Pushkin and studied the Russian-Chinese phrasebook.
Yulia and Nina answer all questions at the same time and laugh after answering. They speak Russian with pleasure, although with some difficulties. They do not always manage to select cases correctly. The girls are simply overflowing with kindness and a thirst for communication. While we get to their room, we meet several more Chinese.
- Do you like living in a hostel?
- Yes. Is this seat taken.
- What is freedom?
- In China, all students are required to live in a dormitory, even local ones. You are not allowed to cook for yourself on campus. No kitchens. All students eat in the canteens. And the workers are cleaning up. Here we can do everything ourselves.
- What else is different about your hostel?
- No hot water. It (like electricity) is on schedule. The lights go out completely at half past ten in the evening. After this time, everyone must go to bed, making noise and disturbing others is prohibited. You can't be late for anything.
In the USPU dormitory, Chinese women live in a room with two Russian girls. In their homeland, four people in a room is a luxury. Mostly six to eight people live together. There are no closets in the rooms, and all things hang on crossbars. Cockroaches are another feature of Chinese hostels. There are three-centimeter monsters running around there.
- Is it better here than in China?
- We are like a family here. There is no such thing in China. We live there like in the army. Very strict rules. Very formal.
- How much should you pay for a hostel in China?
- 5,000 rubles per month.
When we entered the room, we met Nina and Yulia’s neighbor. Natasha is a first-year student at the Faculty of Philology. She spoke in more detail about the life of girls in Yekaterinburg.
They are very used to discipline in China. At first we got up at six in the morning and walked in the dark. That is, they were embarrassed to even turn on the light when someone was sleeping. We haven't heard any complaints from them. Never touch someone else's property. One day I went home to Baikalovo for the weekend and accidentally forgot to put the milk in the refrigerator. They didn’t touch it, and it turned sour on the table.
- What do the girls do in Yekaterinburg?
- They go on excursions, to workshops in the Russian language, in regional studies. They learn the everyday language. Otherwise, they arrived knowing some classical works, and, naturally, cannot talk about everyday issues. They are also taught the language for guides in order to take Russian-speaking tourists on excursions.
- Girls, do you want to go home?
Yulia and Nina look at each other in confusion.
- Do you want to go to China? Back to China?-Natasha skillfully paraphrases the question to make it easier for the girls to understand me. The girls look at each other and answer:
- No.
- Why?
- Friends are here. There is a lot of activity here. The rooms are beautiful.
Natasha adds:
- They say that our situation is better. Yulia wants to move to Russia after studying and work as a translator. Nina still has doubts.
Students are immersed in culture through excursions to museums and theaters. The Chinese go to cinemas mainly to watch comedies, so that the meaning of what is happening is clear. Guys also enter the youth community through social networks. Upon arrival, everyone created VKontakte accounts. There they post selfies in the most popular places in Yekaterinburg.
As I found out later, just before the New Year, the students left for their homeland. Despite the test week, on the last day they were given festive gatherings. Within one semester, they made friends with whom they still keep in touch. In China, they freely access their pages and publish New Year cards on their walls.
After Nina and Yulia leave, new Chinese students will move in with Natasha. She is even glad that she will have to live with foreigners again. He knows how to help newcomers at first and how to find a common Russian-Chinese language.
Text and photo: OlgaTatarnikova
Many students who come to Hainan to study Chinese have an important question: where is it better to live, in a rented apartment or in a dormitory? Because we had the opportunity to live both there and there, we decided to publish a big post about dormitory for foreign students at Hainan University(Haikou, Hainan Island, China). We decided a long time ago, but it was only now that we were able to complete and finalize the information (see article 🙂). So here it is, the long-awaited post.
The dormitory for foreign students is immediately visible - a beautiful and majestic building with arches, a noble brick color, with international citizens wandering around it (during study periods, of course).
In front of the hostel there is parking for cars, mopeds and bicycles. However, at night, all students, as a rule, bring their “horses” into the courtyard of the hostel - unfortunately, thefts happen here too. Not as often as outside the University (if you leave a bicycle at a cafe or store, the probability of it being lost is about 90%), but it also happens. Especially often, brand new, shiny and super powerful (and expensive, heh) electric scooters (bikes), purchased by joyful foreigners immediately upon arrival, go missing.
The dormitory for foreign students at Hainan University is made in the form of a closed square, inside of which there is a large and peaceful courtyard. Sometimes they practice Tai Chi here, and sometimes they just dry clothes.
The courtyard of the dormitory at Hainan University
But first things first. We go inside the hostel and immediately see a large spacious hall. The hostel commandant’s office is also located here + 24-hour security (two in one).
In the lobby there are conveniently located a drink machine, a machine for paying for a mobile phone, and even a small restaurant (prices are a little high, but if you don’t want to go outside the hostel, it’s fine). The food is relatively tasty - the food is European, there used to be Italian cuisine, now it's French. By the way, the restaurant provides free Wi-Fi (for customers).
Mail for residents is also delivered here, to the hall of the dormitory for foreign students. It is brought almost every day and left on the table, each person comes up and looks for his letter.
There is also a communal mini laundry room downstairs. Or rather, several washing machines. Laundry tokens can be purchased from the commandant for a few yuan. The machines wash well and quickly enough.
There is no shared kitchen, but each room has an equipped place for preparing food (on the balconies).
Here, on the first floor of the dormitory at Hainan University, there is an office for foreign students, as well as other offices for solving various types of issues related to foreigners. For example, you can immediately buy books for learning the Chinese language (a very large selection), pay for tuition and even attend classes (often, the initial group of studying the Chinese language is transferred to study in a classroom located nearby. Convenient - you wake up, go down to the first floor, study - and back).
Offices for work with foreign students at Hainan University
So, we finished walking around the first floor, and go upstairs to look inside the dormitory room at Hainan University.
The dormitory corridors are partially open, it looks like this:
Here I would really like to express our gratitude to the wonderful girl Karina, who sincerely understood our desire to write an article about the hostel, and happily let us into her personal room to take a couple of pictures. By the way, Karina is not only a beauty and a sunny, positive girl, but also very smart - after a year (!!!) of studying Chinese, she successfully passed HSK Level 5 with a very high score (and entered the specialty). We sincerely congratulate her!
Let's go inside. The dormitory rooms at Hainan University are small, but very cozy and comfortable:
Dorm room at Hainan University
As you can see, the room has a comfortable bed, a corner for a computer (table + shelving), there are also chairs, a wardrobe, and a small bedside table.
We go to the balcony. The balcony is quite wide and comfortable, with a specially equipped corner for cooking. It is convenient to have tea on the balcony, read books, and dry laundry - fortunately, the width of the balcony allows you to move freely around it.
We return to the room. In order to make the layout of the room more clear, we publish another photo. And let us explain - you open the door, go into the corridor. To the right is the entrance to the bathroom, straight ahead is the room itself, and a huge window with a balcony.
Let's look into the bathroom - it is spacious, with excellent plumbing and equipped with ventilation.
Bathroom
This is what a hostel is like. We also lived in a similar room for six months.
Now let’s summarize and publish a brief summary:
Why did we like living in the foreign student dormitory at Hainan University?
1.Affordable price and cheap utilities:
The cost of a dormitory room at Hainan University is 3,200 yuan per academic semester (5 months), deposit 400 yuan (refundable upon departure). When calculated for each month, it comes out to about 640 yuan, which is generally a very, very tempting price. A huge plus is cheap utility bills. On average, we paid about 100 yuan per month, sometimes even less.
2.Convenient location
For anyone who plans to actively participate in university life, living in a dormitory is an excellent option - 5 minutes from shops, fruit stands, canteens, stadiums, etc. Life on campus has its undeniable advantages - you are always in the thick of things.
3.An ideal environment for learning Chinese
When you are surrounded not only by Chinese friends (native speakers), but also by other foreigners who also share your desire to learn Chinese, a special atmosphere is created that is very inspiring and motivating for new successes in learning 汉语.
4.A lot of additional financial “bonuses”
Inside the Hainan University campus there are budget (student) tariffs for mobile communications (2 times cheaper than outside), Internet tariffs (he’s writing about this now), reduced prices for office supplies, food, fruit, and everything in general. And on weekends or in the evenings, large fairs of a variety of things are held on the main streets of the campus. The cost is about 15-20% lower than the store price.
5.A lot of additional cultural “bonuses”
There are a huge number of interest groups, sports sections and electives on the territory of Hainan University. For a nominal fee (membership fee), you can easily join those learning kung fu or Chinese calligraphy, dancing salsa in the clearing, or learning the intricacies of making traditional Chinese noodles. Everything is to your taste. This is a huge bonus for anyone who wants not only to quickly learn the language (how could it be otherwise when everything around them is in Chinese), but also to deepen their knowledge of the Celestial Empire.
Why didn't we really like living in the dormitory for foreign students at Hainan University?
1. Noisy
Many foreign students have a great love for parties and get-togethers. Therefore, waking up at 3 am from the screams and laughter of another noisy company... Well, sometimes it’s not very pleasant. Of course, you quickly get used to this, but you need to keep it in mind.
2. It's cold
When the sunny days end and the harsh Hainan winter sets in, all the disadvantages of a full-wall window and balcony become immediately visible. It's getting really cold. The problem, of course, is solved quickly - a heater is bought, and the cracks in the windows and balcony (quite large) are plugged. But still, the through wind blows very strongly, so you can’t do without warm socks and slippers.
3. Humid
This point is a logical continuation of point number 2. Hainan winter and autumn are full of rain, and high humidity attacks rooms with particular force. Mold grows quickly, condensation forms on the walls, etc. Therefore, we recommend constantly warming up the room and always using moisture collectors.
That's all, basically. I also wanted to write about the fact that the room was a bit cramped, but then I remembered that it was not so. We lived together and didn’t feel particularly crowded. There is not a lot of space, of course, but it is enough.
In general, a hostel at is an excellent choice for you if you are looking for a budget accommodation option, are not afraid of difficulties and want to always be in the center of events.
Many people think that a Chinese hostel is some incredibly dirty, cramped and smelly place, where it is almost impossible for a normal person to live. If you think that I will now refute these words, then no, it is so. But this is a brief description of a Chinese hostel for the Chinese, and for foreigners everything is much better.
When I was still in Russia and they told me that I would live in a block with five more girls, I was not happy, I couldn’t imagine anything. But as soon as I entered my block, all the nightmares that I could only imagine disappeared in an instant.
Our block consists of three rooms, each of which is designed for two people, all rooms are connected by a corridor or “mini-living room”, there are also two sinks and two bathrooms. node. The “mini-living room” has a large table, a bench and a TV (we never even turned it on). The rooms have the usual set: two beds, two tables with shelves, chairs and two wardrobes, and each room also has a balcony covering an entire wall, which can be considered both a plus and a minus, since it is very cold in winter. The rooms are not small, you can easily do exercises without suffering from lack of space.
The most pleasant surprise (for us) was the news that two girls from our block refused grants and will not live with us, that is, there are four of us living in a block for six of us :)
The hostel also has rooms for 2 and 4 people.
In the very first week, my neighbor and I decided that our room should be cozy so that we could call it “our home” and be happy to come there. So the first thing we did was go to IKEA. Of course, there we managed to buy everything we needed, lie on luxurious beds, and eat delicious European meatballs :)
When we arrived, we laid a carpet on the floor, made the beds with blankets, lit the tables with lamps, we even bought two small cacti, but due to our inability to care for them (or simply stupidity), they did not live with us for long, we decorated the walls with drawings and photographs of our relatives, so as not to get bored, as well as motivational phrases.
The dorm has one laundry room with seven washing machines for the entire dorm. There are not always free machines, but in principle, if you wait 10 minutes, some might become free and you can pay your 3 yuan for washing. But it also happens that all the machines are empty and you can even wash them in a newer machine (which is paid for with a Wichat wallet, I talked about it in a previous post). There are also boilers with hot water, which costs pennies. 
We pay for electricity and water in the hostel ourselves. Interestingly, the fee for sockets, lights and air conditioning + hot water boiler is separate. We pay for everything using a student card, onto which we first deposit money from a bank card. You don't need any cash and it's very convenient. By the way, we use these cards to pay throughout the campus in shops, canteens, and cafes.
Visiting hours in the dormitory are limited, as are the times when you can enter and leave it. Our hostel closes at 23:00 and opens at 6:00. Not without checking the rooms. Basically they check for the presence of everyone in their rooms and the presence of equipment (yes, any equipment is prohibited, even a hairdryer, even a kettle).
Not all photos belong to me.
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