For one thing it's safe to say won't see any political or religious clubs, for obvious reasons. And if you tried to set one up, i'm sure you'd be promptly shut down. (and maybe taken away for questioning).There are also no 'socializing, or clubbing/drinking' type clubs either. Some students do drink, but they usually do it just among friends in a restaurant private room or in their own dorms. Most don't drink at all though since many of them are not interested or can't afford it.
They do have sporting clubs, though obviously the sports they play are a bit different - the badminton and pingpong clubs seems to be the most popular, but also on offer is self defence, rollerblading and dancing (latin and hip hop).
Just like the west they also have the anime appreciation society, however these clubs go one step further and actually combine it with cosplay activities. For those of you who don't know, cosplay is when a bunch of full grown adults dress up as Japanese anime cartoon or video game characters. Actually i think some of these clubs are pure cosplay clubs, which leaves me to wonder what they do when they get together. Do they dress up and take pictures of each other, or walk around campus and town like some sort of posse/gang? Strange.
There are also some real dubvious clubs here that you would never see in the west. Like the 'make-up' club, that teaches you how to apply make up, and the 'model' club for anyone who thinks they can strutt it like a tiger. This one and the 'work-out' club for boys (see picture) seems a bit wanky to me.
and of course it wouldn't be asia without a karaoke (ktv) club. On open day you could step up to the mic and showcase your talents, but i'm unsure what sort of activities they hold. perhaps competitions, discounted room hires in the surrounding ktvs?
The rest of the clubs are also quite odd - the magic club, the 'mystery' club, if you're a fan of mystery novels and shows, the korean cultrue appreciation society (more for those girls who can't get enough of korean dramas), and the arts and crafts club, something i'd expect to see at a clubs day for a primary school. well each to their own i suppose.
Some clubs are much more popular than others. There was an environmental protection club stall, but sadly they didn't seem too popular. The english club apparently takes in the most number of members each year out of all the clubs. Appart from organizing weekly English corner (language exchange) sessions, i'm not even sure what other activities they organize.
Despite recruiting about 500+ members the joining fee is not cheap, at 20rmb per person. This is for the duration of their undergrad studies though.
The thing is, from the type of activites i've seen them hold i can't really see where all the money is being spent or where the expenses are being incurred. I also recall that many of my students had told me they had joined clubs in first year, but that most turned out to be disappointed with the activities organized by most of them.
Even more disturbing is the fact that every time i go out to a local restaurant outside of campus, there always seems to be some club holding a committee dinner in one of the private function rooms, complete with alcohol. and I know it's a commitee dinner because several times some of my students have been part of those little parties and have told me what they're doing there.
Seeing that transparency is not the greatest in China, it wouldn't surprise me if several of these 'committee dinners' are classified as 'sundry expens
es' when it comes to deliving the yearly budget (if in fact budget reports are done at all!).I thought it was funny that corruption is happening at even the very grass roots levels of chinese society. The poor freshmen students who bring in the new money each year don't realize where all their membership fees go. But after they reach second year I'm sure most of them are clamouring to join the committees to 'reclaim' some of that money and to get a piece of the action. TIC.
great insight
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