33

of the University Hostels, a member of the teaching statt-but there is associated with him an electe Committee of students to which large, if ill-defined, powers of internal management are left. The Hostels, in conjunction with the Students' Union, are the basis of the social and athletic life of the University, while residence in a common compound permits a reasonable measure of social intercourse with members of the staff. The favourable results of the system can be appreciated by anyone who has been privileged to attend at lostel entertainments. or at the annual Hostel dinners, while another side of its utility was illustrated during a recent strike of the houseboys of the Colony, when the students organized to their entire satisfaction and to that of the authorities, their cooking and their cleaning and the transport of food from a central store.

But perhaps the most valuable result of the system is that, at a time when China is apparently divided by sectional differences, students share a common life with others drawn from every part of China and from Chinese communities abroad, in which sectional differences find no place. The rule against participation in political demonstrations is absolute, but the Hostel is the natural place for the discussion of Chinese problems. The general tone amongst students whether of Chinese or of British nationality is a definitely Chinese one, and it is probably right that it should be so, but there is little or no evidence of fanaticism. It will be sufficient to contrast this picture with the conditions obtaining in some parts of India and the Far East to make one

712

Share This Page