What chinese college students do in their free time

I've asked students in all of my classes what they do for fun in their spare time. The most common responses have been 'sleeping' and 'I have no free time'. But through weeks of careful investigation into the matter, I have found that students here do more than just study and sleep. Below is my list of the most popular activities among students at Siyuan University.

6 ROLLERBLADING/SKATEBOARDING

There may not be many students who can rollerblade or skateboard, but those who can usually draw large crowds of onlookers. There is only one small area of campus where these activities take place. It appears there are more bladers and than boarders because they often have exclusive use of the skating grounds. The bladers seem pretty talented, but I dont remember the last time I saw inline skating in the US, so who am I to judge. I've seen some of the boarders land jumps and olies, so they've probably been at it a while but are no Shawn White.

5 SURVEYING

Ok, well this one doesnt quite count because I doubt students are doing it in their free time. Unless there is a surveying club that I dont know about. But seriously almost everywhere I go on campus I see students surveying. I guess with all the construction going on in China (four in five cranes in the world are in China) that surveyors are in high demand.

4 PING PONG

Chinese students love table tennis. Although the school has supplied more outdoor tables than meet demand. There are several courts like the one pictured above around campus, but they usually have just a few games being played. The courts are not very well maintained as you can see from the grass coming through the concrete.

3 BASKETBALL

Basketball is by far the most popular sport here at Siyuan. Most guys here idolize Kobe and Lebron. At first I thought the number of courts on campus were overkill, but on weekends they do seem to fill up. I'm not sure what was going on in the shot above, but I think it was a tournament.

2 SHOPPING

This is number two because it is what most girls do with all of their free time. Because Siyuan is a private school, many of the students are rich and have money to spend after class and on weekends. Boys dont like shopping as much as girls do, but any guy with a girlfriend will be roped in to shopping with her. These guys are easy to spot because they are left carrying their girlfriend's purse.

1 COMPUTER GAMES

Without a doubt the number one activity among college students, even girls. When I pried at my students to find out why they had 'no free time', most confessed that they dedicate most of their waking hours playing video games. There are dozens of internet bars on and off campus that are literal caves packed with hundreds of computer monitors to meet the insatiable demand of the student body. I recently discovered that there is a special rate--8RMB--for an all night session from 11pm to 8am. And many students do just that. It is no wonder why so many come to class exhausted or dont come at all.