Here is the latest outrage I have heard about in Wuhan. It is the experience of a friend of a friend and the source is reliable. On one campus, not the one I have been teaching at, the dormitories provided for Master’s Degree students have many windows missing or broken. In summer this made it impossible for the students to get comfortable at night. Now it has been snowing for several days and some students are getting frostbitten while they sleep. Colds and flus are rampant in those dormitories. What do you think the reason is, for this outrage? Complaints by the students have met with the reply, ‘The students broke the windows and if we replace them they will break them again’. How is that for an attitude of bloody minded neglect! And the windows are only part of the story. Another example of the callous disregard of the students’ welfare shown by this administration is the fact that my friend’s friend brought a pack of milk cartons home one night and by morning they had all been ruined by mice. These students pay 600 RMB a year for this place. There are several hundred in a four or five storey building. It is a substantial income for the administration (in the reality of Chinese finance) which in it’s cold-heartedness and greed would rather impose serious risk on students’ health and safety than spend it on their well-being. Or maybe the money goes to keep the magnificent frontage of the institution from revealing the festering corruption within. How do they get away with it! This tells of the desperation of Chinese students to gain a Masters’ qualification, thought to be a ticket to high paid jobs (NOT!) and of the scant regard Chinese authorities at any level pay to the welfare of their people. If there is an official who’s job it is to prevent such problems and protect the welfare of these vulnerable tenants he/she has either been bought off or hasn’t come round to look.
Hey! Don’t get angry at me for criticising China and causing it to lose face. Do your job and your country can be a little prouder. Get out there and look for the students residences with the broken windows. No, don’t ask them to show you those ones. You and I both know that you have to find them yourself and the ones they showed you are only showpieces. Stop lying and fix it. How can these students expect to study well and help bring your country a good reputation in the world if you allow them to be treated this way. Just lock up the ones who are guilty of this neglect and do your job properly.