Campus Community

Chinese universities are communities in a different sense from their American counterparts. Most faculty and staff live on campus where they obtain housing at bargain rates. We ourselves are living in a modern faculty apartment, complete with washing machine, air conditioner, and big screen TV. There are cooking facilities, too, but everyone eats in the dining halls, at least some of the time. Often, the parents of faculty members live with their children and
take care of the grand kids.

In one section of campus, the trees are hung with blue, red and green lights-- don't ask me why. In the evenings, people come out and visit while the children play tag.

It's picturesque, but I wouldn't like living this way long term-- it would get claustrophobic to have all your colleagues as neighbors. This would be comparable to what our family experienced when Joe was in active ministry and the parsonage we lived in was right next to church. The Chinese expect far less privacy than we, though, and they take such arrangements for granted.






























Above 1st: Mother, grandmother and grandchild on an evening walk
Above 2nd: An evening game of tag.
Below: Sweethearts sharing breakfast