Alex and I went up a hill just outside campus to get a good view. In the first picture, the big building is the library, to the left are the Chinese dormitories, the building next to the library on the left is the Overseas Education College where we have our lessons. The second picture is a more zoomed in look at the library and teaching buildings, again the one to the left of the library is ours. On the far left of the photo, with the flat roof, is the swimming pool building.
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| Xiang'an Campus |
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| Pool, teaching buildings and library |
Everything on campus is new and huge with parts still to be built in the future. Things to be completed/started include the library/main university building, whose outside is more or less complete but needs to be finished off inside, a golf course, a student union, a gym within the stadium, more basketball courts and another sports ground. So far there are several teaching buildings, student dormitories, two canteens, a health centre, two swimming pools (in one building), a sports stadium, basketball and tennis courts, football pitches, a supermarket and various shops. Due to the campus' size it is almost necessary to own a bike to get around. These can be bought on campus as there is a guy who sells them near the main canteen and maintains them either for free or for very cheap. Here's a picture of my bike:
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| My bike! |
Overseas Education College
Building 2 is the Overseas Education College 海外教育学院 where most Chinese classes take place. The teaching buildings are pretty much the same consisting of sections A, B and C and 5 floors high. There is a lift from floor 1 (ground floor) and a car/bicycle park in the basement. The corridors are all open with courtyards in the middle of each section meaning that it's nice in summer but can be quite cold in the winter!
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| Overseas Education College |
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| View of one of the lakes, Chinese dorms in the distance, student union under construction and a teaching building on the left taken from the 4th floor of the OEC |
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| The open corridors and a courtyard inside building 2 |
International Dormitories
All international students are entitled to a dorm on campus. The buildings are split up into staircases of six floors with a flat on each side per floor. Boys and girls live in separate buildings so therefore there are no mixed flats. People from different countries are put together in a flat though so, for example, in my flat there is a mix of American, Russian, Thai, German and English (me!). Each building has space to store bikes on the first floor and a laundry room containing 4 washing machines.
A flat contains four bedrooms (2 people max. per room), a bathroom consisting of two cubicles containing a toilet (not a squat one) and a shower each and a wash basin and a living area with a wooden coffee table and wooden sofa. Each room has two beds, two desks, two chairs, a wardrobe (roommates have half each), two safes and a balcony where there is a sink, a mirror and a rail where you can hang clothes to dry. As mentioned in a previous post, it is possible to get internet/WiFi in rooms but it's quite a complicated process! Cleaning needs to be organised as a flat so some people choose to pay cleaners for the bathroom and communal area while others, like my flat, have a cleaning rota to ensure that the cleaning is spread evenly amongst flatmates.
Scholarship students live in dorms for free with a 1,000元 deposit but non-scholarship students pay 2,000元/semester or 4,000元/year, also with the 1,000元 deposit, which is still really cheap. Some students do still choose to live off campus but due to the campus' location, it's more convenient to live on campus, at least during the week.
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| Our dorms |
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| The building on the left of the photo is my building. The one on the right is for boys. There is a gate with a security guard at the entrance to dorms checking that people swipe their student card to get in. |
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| Inside the gate |
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| Courtyard inside dormitory buidlings |
Canteens
There are two student canteens on campus and I regularly go to both of them. One of them is near our dormitories so is useful for breakfast and if you don't fancy going too far away from your room for lunch/dinner. This canteen only has one floor that serves food and restricted opening hours. It is open all morning until 1pm serving breakfast until about 11 then lunch. It then opens again at 4:30pm until 8:30pm. At breakfast there is congee, vegetables, various dumplings, vegetables and some meat. You can have fried chicken for breakfast if you want to! Lunch is when there is the biggest selection as they serve boiled and fried rice which you get first before choosing whichever meat/vegetables you want with it. There are also dumplings, cups of fruit and occasionally cake. The other main option is to go for noodle soup. For this you choose the noodles you want and the meat and vegetables you want with it before they make it for you while you wait. At dinner time there is the option of boiled rice (not fried) with meat/veg of choice up until 7pm and the noodle soup from opening until close. There is also a small shop open when the canteen is open selling drinks and snacks. This canteen also has a room with ATMs at the back including one where you can pay money into your Bank of China account which is very useful.
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| The canteen near our dormitories |
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| Inside the canteen. You get food from the left. |
The other canteen is the main one. It is situated near the Chinese dormitories and is closer to the teaching buildings. We tend to go there for lunch as we can study on the second floor afterwards (you know you're in China when you study in the canteen!). This canteen is bigger with three floors serving food. The first floor is similar to the canteen near the dormitories, serving rice, meat, veg and noodle soup. This canteen also closes at 7pm in the evening. The second floor is divided into two sections. The largest section only serves at lunch as the rest of the time it is used for studying. The small section is the Halal restaurant which is always quite busy but also finishes early. The third floor tends to be where we go. This canteen is different from all the others as it consists of small private businesses with menus above each stall. The shop owners do their best to try to tempt you to buy from them as they are all in competition. The food on this floor is made while you wait so is fresh. You can get noodles (fried or in a soup and lots of different types), dumplings (包子，饺子，蒸饺,...), vegetables and meat dishes. There is also a place called HKC (a bit like KFC) and an Indian place.
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| The main canteen with lots of bikes outside |
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| First floor |
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| Second floor |
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| Halal restaurant |
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| Third floor |
I was happy to find out that there were two 50m swimming pools free for students to use on campus. In order to be allowed to use the pool, students have to do a health check which means a visit to the health practice on campus or to the university hospital on the island so that they can check the soles of your feet and eyes. You are then given a card with your photo, name and faculty on it which allows you to go swimming. When you enter the pool building you hand over this pass in exchange for a locker key, after your swim your pass is returned to you once you've handed the locker key back. It is compulsory to wear swim hats when swimming in the pool and goggles are also advisable. Although there are two 50m pools, there is only one in use at the moment. It doesn't tend to get too busy though so you can get a good swim done. Unfortunately I've injured my knee so haven't been able to swim as much as I'd hoped. The pool is not heated even though it is inside meaning that in colder weather it can be very cold! The pool is open until 10pm every day. I've heard that there are also ping pong tables on the second floor although I've never been up there.
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| The swimming pool building |
Other sports facilities
I can't tell you too much about the other facilities as I don't use them but here are some photos:
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| The stadium |
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| Football pitches and exercise park |
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| Basketball courts and tennis courts as seen from the coffee shop |
There is a supermarket on campus near the main canteen selling the main essentials - drinks, snacks, fruit, bedding and towels (these are not included with dorms), toiletries, cleaning supplies, stationery etc.
Other shops near the canteen include a pharmacy, optician, printing/photocopying/photographs, barbers, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and a coffee shop (which is another one of our study spots!).
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| Shops/services at main canteen |
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| Supermarket (超市) |
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| Outside terrace of the coffee shop |
As already mentioned, the main building is still not complete inside but is impressive all the same. The library is 10 storeys tall, towering over the other buildings on campus. In front of the building is a statue of the university's founder, Tan Kah Kee. He was a overseas Chinese who made a lot of money in Singapore and used it to found lots of schools and universities, in Jimei (mainland Xiamen) in particular. I'm sure there will be a post about my visits there at some point!
The characters on the pillars in front of the building make up the university motto.
The e-card system
Xiamen University has a system where every student is issued a card connected to their Chinese bank account. You load money onto this card and use it to pay for most things on campus including food in the canteen, shopping in the supermarket, hot water for showers and getting in and out of dorms. This card makes life a bit simpler and can also be used on the other university campuses.
More photos
A selection of some of the other more general photos I've taken of campus
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| View from the coffee shop |
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| Teaching buildings |
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| Teaching buildings |
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| Roundabout (not sure why it's needed?) |
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| Outside the West Gate |
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| Outside the canteen, Chinese student dorms and truck taking away a stage. There are quite often events on outside the canteen with singing and dancing |
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| The lake and teaching buildings |
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| Sunny Xiang'an |
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| Pathway from the OEC |
I am now in Dubai for Christmas followed by Hong Kong for new year so the next few posts won't be about Xiamen!
