Shabby container classrooms shock netizens

Netizens were astonished to learn that students of a Hunan College were taking classes inside old shipping containers.

The situation came to light when video of the "classrooms", filmed yesterday at Hunan College of Foreign Studies in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, went viral.

A student from the college said he was "totally shocked" the first time he stepped into a container for class.

“There was only one classroom building in the college,” he said. “Students go to the containers to have class every day — one container can hold one class of students."

The student said that the classes had no air conditioning or proper insulation and so were cold in winter and hot in summer.

The annual tuition fee was at least 10,000 yuan (US$1,507), considered quite a high price, especially for a school with no proper classrooms.

Authorities from the college confirmed that dozens of such classrooms had been put in use over the past five years.

A teacher, surnamed Ding, said that the college will move to a new campus during next year's summer vacation.