Part 1: Bunk beds, forbidden items, Dorm Aunts, and weekly checks
Last week, one of my Canadian friends showed great interest in a Chinese university’s dorm life. I told her about my dorm life at Nanjing Normal University, which amazed her. That’s why I want to share with you something about Chinese dorm life.
In China, I share a 100-square-foot dorm room with three other girls in a huge dorm building. There is not enough room to put four beds and four desks all on the floor, so we use bunk beds. The only space you have is your bed and a single desk.
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Fortunately, my dorm has an air conditioner and an attached bathroom, which most dorms in China aren’t equipped with.
With no air conditioner, summers mean real suffering, and no attached bathroom means you have to walk out of the building and go to another building to take a bath. One of my friends at Soochow University always complains to me about that. I think that’s the reason why the rent is always cheap on Chinese campuses.
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You also have to buy hot water in a thermos from dorm managers; however, every room actually has a water heater in it and is used secretly. Dorm managers are all middle-aged females, who we call “Dorm Aunts.”
They can also enter your dorm whenever they like, usually without even knocking.
We call it “weekly check.” The forbidden items will be immediately taken away if they are found during a random weekly check.
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This is a brief introduction about my life in a college dorm in China. There are so many things to write about, because of the big differences that exist between dorm life in these two countries. I will return to this topic again to let you know more about my Chinese dorm life, including the tricks we use to face weekly check.
Photo by Jane Wu