LIFE> Odds and Ends
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LIFE> Odds and Ends
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Father for a life time
By Lin Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-08 11:53
As soon as the three-day National College Entrance Exams ended last month, Bao Luge, a high school graduate in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, reserved two tables at a 5-star hotel, to express thanks to his teachers. But only days later, he canceled the booking, after a speech by the headmaster to the graduates, where he expressed his disapproval of fancy graduation feasts, especially those to thank teachers. "The headmaster said most of us are still financially dependent on our parents. Teachers do not appreciate the use of our parents' hard-earned money. He said it was never too late to repay our teachers and we could wait till the day we become truly independent," Bao says. As more students learn of their exam scores and receive their college acceptance letters, the celebrations to mark years of friendship, study and of the start of a new life, have gone into high gear. This is also the time students follow the tradition of paying their respects to their teachers. But instead of making calls or sending cards, as their parents once did, today's youngsters prefer to express their gratitude more jubilantly. "We dined in a restaurant and sang in a karaoke bar with our teachers. Our physics teacher said it was the first time students had invited him," says Zhong Fangrui, a high school graduate in Dayi, Sichuan province. "We spent more time with our teachers than with our parents over the past year, but we were never so close and relaxed with them. We discussed like old friends about what majors to take and how to adapt to campus life," he says. Each of Zhong's classmates paid 50 yuan ($7) for the day. While not much, he says it was enough to ensure a joyous graduation memory. However, some people have expressed concern over how well-off families are splurging to express gratitude to their children's teachers.
In some areas in Guangdong province, families of exam-takers hold the so-called "da xue cha" (university tea), a feast to treat not only teachers and schoolmates, but also relatives, friends and neighbors, with homemade dishes, or at restaurants and hotels. When Luo Zhentian, now a freshman at Shantou University in Guangdong, graduated last summer, his parents spent 2,000 yuan ($293) on such a banquet, which drew nearly 50 people. But Luo's high school teachers were not present that day, because his parents had arranged for them to go on a two-day rafting trip in his hometown in Qingyuan, Guangdong. Luo says some families would invite the teachers to their farms to taste freshly picked oranges, even before the last term of high school began in January. |
