The lights suddenly went out, and the audience fell silent. The drummer raised her sticks, held them aloft for a split second, then brought them crashing down.
"Hey, you in West Zone Dorm 19! What are you still doing after lights out?" "Girls in Sanli Dorm! If you don't sweep up all that hair, I'll think I've wandered into the Spider Cave!"
More than 2,000 glow sticks swayed across the arena. Onstage stood five dormitory matrons — familiar faces students had seen almost every day for years. But this was a side of them no one had seen before.
At a recent graduation concert at Hubei Engineering University in Xiaogan, Hubei province, a rock band made up of five dormitory matrons brought the house down.
The lineup featured lead singer Li Wei, bassist Zheng Jun, keyboardist Zeng Qingli, drummer Liu Shuangqing, and guitarist Zeng Huizhen. Usually seen hurrying through dormitories in work uniforms, the five women took the stage in punk-inspired outfits.
Zheng had her hair braided into tiny plaits for the first time in her life. Zeng Huizhen, who usually oversees the men's dormitories and is known for her stern demeanor, wrapped a sun-protection face covering around her head to complete her edgy look.
Averaging 50 years old, the women performed an original song, Go Shine, written for the occasion, as a heartfelt farewell to the graduating class.
The contrast between their everyday jobs and rock-star personas, combined with humorous and touching lyrics peppered with local dialect, drew wave after wave of cheers. Videos of the performance quickly went viral online.
Singer Li, 46, is the youngest in the band. She got a wild perm especially for this performance.
"My palms were sweating from nerves before going on stage. I never get flustered when chatting with hundreds of students during dorm inspections, yet standing under the bright lights of the huge gymnasium stage made my legs go weak. We kept encouraging each other right before our performance," she says.
"But the moment we stepped onto the stage and heard the students cheering, with glow sticks lighting up the crowd, all my nerves disappeared. All I could see were the kids, smiling and full of excitement."
Li has worked as a dormitory matron for four years. Her days are spent keeping dormitory records, making nightly rounds, mending torn clothes, and lining up electric scooters outside the buildings. Thanks to her outgoing personality, students affectionately call her Sister Wei.
Her favorite lyrics read: "If you're wronged and have nowhere to turn, just buy a ticket and come back. … A window in the dormitory building will always stay open for you."
"I want them to know they don't have to carry every burden alone," she adds.
