Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2059620/chinese-university-students-queue-hours-library-study-space
China

Chinese university students queue for hours for library study space

Students preparing for postgraduate study admission exam must first find somewhere to prepare for the test

The long queue at the Hangzhou Dianzi University began to form at 6am on Thursday. Photo: Handout

As universities across the country begin to resume normal operations following the New Year holiday, it’s not unusual to see long queues of students outside campus libraries waiting for a place study. But photos of hundreds of students lining up to obtain tickets for seats at the Hangzhou Dianzi University in the capital of Zhejiang province gone viral online.

The Hangzhou Daily Press reported that more than over 1,000 students preparing for their postgraduate admission test exam waited in front of the library since 6am on Thursday for the 528 seats that were available in a dedicated study room.

The study room is particularly popular with students, the Daily reported, because it does not usually close for maintenance, allowing students to leave their possessions at their seats overnight.

Students posted on social media that they were forced to study in the library given the limited space in their dorms and the large number of textbooks that were required for test preparation.

Students queue for library study places. Photo: Handout
Students queue for library study places. Photo: Handout

A student named Li, who is majoring in management studies, said he came to the library with a dozen friends but only three obtained tickets.

“The librarians handed out more than 500 tickets. With this ticket, I will have a seat at the library,” Liu said. “But half the students, who queued for four or five hours, still couldn’t get one.”

Other social media users complained that those who did secure a seat often treated their space as a temporary shelter, preventing others from studying.

A director of the library said the school planned to introduce a digital system to free up and allocate study space.

“Students will have to swipe their cards to enter the study room,” Chen said. “If no one is present at the seat, the system would automatically mark them as available to others.”

Photographs of students queueing for library seats at the Nanjing University of Finance and Economics and the Xian University of Finance and Economics gained a lot of online attention in the past few days.