Student quilts need airing so university staff have it covered
Dorm management staff hang quilts on rails at the Songjiang campus of East China University of Political Science and Law.
Students attending the two campuses of East China University of Political Science and Law are having their quilts aired by remote service.
With many students still in their hometowns because of the coronavirus, the university’s dorm management staff are airing their quilts for them.
Staff had already been sending items to students from the university according to their requests.
Some students then asked if their quilts could be aired in the current sunshine before the plum rain season. Many of the quilts have been in their rooms over winter, which could lead to mildew.
More than 4,000 applications for the service – about 770 from students whose dorms are in Changning District and more than 3,300 in Songjiang District – have been submitted in total since the notice was released on April 17. Priority is being given to graduating students.
At the Changning campus, the dorm management staff have prepared frames and make use of sports facilities and lines to hang the quilts.
A dorm staffer places student quilts on frames.
A dorm staffer places student quilts on lines.
At the Songjiang campus, cleaners and other property management staff also helped out.
Every day more than 30 staffers wipe the rails, remove quilts from dorms, hang them on rails and bring them back to the dorms. To make sure the quilts are returned to the right beds, they write the room number and bed number on a note and clamp it to the material.
The room and bed numbers on the quilt
“We have a brief meeting around 7:20am every morning to arrange tasks," said Lu Weiming, chief of dorm Building 15 at the Songjiang campus. "We go to the rooms of students who have submitted applications with notes and clamps prepared the day before. We then bring the quilts down to hang in the sun and turn them over at noon."
After 4pm, they begin taking the quilts back to dorm rooms and fold them up before putting them back on the right beds.
Lu said his team has aired about 200 quilts each day since Friday and all the applications will be served by Sunday. Forecasters said it will rain on Monday.
Song Fangzhen, a student of the law school, said: “I was worried my quilt might go moldy as it rains a lot in the spring in Shanghai. So when my teacher released the notice for application for a quilt basking service, I submitted mine immediately. I’m really grateful to the university and those who have helped us.”
Many other universities in Shanghai and around China are also offering the same service to students.
East China Normal University in Shanghai said on Thursday that they are collecting students’ applications and will air the quilts. Other services including ventilating the dorm rooms and looking after pot plants are also available.
Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology in Shaanxi Province and Zhejiang A&F University in Zhejiang Province are also providing similar services for students, according to reports by other media.
Quilts of many colors hang from balconies.
Scaffolding has been used to create hanging lines.
