Society

College students hang out their dirty linen

By Zheng Xin (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-02 09:55

A bed sheet hung outside a dorm building in Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics reads: "Those who praise the university will make me angry; those who despise the university, I will fight them till death." [Photo by Wang Jing / China Daily]

BEIJING - In what has become almost an annual tradition, graduates at a Beijing university have hung out bed sheets with humorous messages to celebrate their graduation.

What caught the attention of many bloggers this year, however, are images of risque slogans now adorning the walls of dorm buildings at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

"Though we are leaving, the girls on the campus are still ours," reads one.

"It's simply for the sheer fun of it," said Sun, one of the many students China Daily talked to who did not want to be identified for fear of landing themselves in trouble. "We just want to do something and get remembered before we leave the campus."

The carnival of bed sheets was initialized several years ago and hit its peak last year, which was extremely popular on some social networking websites like renren.com and kaixin.com.

"The university has always been serious in studies and research," said Zhang Ruijian, a graduate from the School of Jet Propulsion who joined the revelry and put up a bed sheet days ago. "It's time to vent the grievances and grumble after being serious for four years."

Wang Yi, a female graduate majoring in flying vehicle power engineering, was putting up a banner when the reporter from China Daily arrived.

"We're going to leave school soon and we want to leave with laughter instead of tears," said Wang.

Despite some of the sexually aggressive messages, the public seems tolerant and open about them.

"Making fun of the bygone campus life makes people less sentimental," said Yang Lina, a graduate student from Beijing Foreign Studies University. "The banners don't bear malice against anyone. They just tease."