Campuses see increase in student cars

As people become more affluent in China, more college students are driving cars, prompting many schools to restrict who can bring a car on the grounds in a bid to control traffic conditions.

At Luxun Academy of Fine Arts (LAFA) in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, the number of cars on campus has doubled in the last two years, according to custodian Tong Youli, the Chinese Business Morning News reported Tuesday.

"Car owners are both teachers and students. There is no space for parking now," Tong told the newspaper.

Growing trend

According to LAFA's vehicle management office, about 5 percent of the school's 3,000 students drive cars. At Northeastern University in Shenyang, 1,000 out of 20,000 students own cars.

Among 34 universities in Shenyang, several schools including LAFA, Northeastern University and Liaoning University have regulations to limit cars entering and have issued passes for teachers and students who use cars. 

At Peking University (PKU), car passes are only issued to PKU staff, and students are given no parking spaces on campus, Qiu Zeqi, a PKU sociology professor, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"Since campus is not a place for car parking, student cars would bring challenges to campus traffic management," Qiu said. "It's also unnecessary for Chinese college students to own cars. Most Chinese universities provide dorms on campus for students."

The professor also pointed out that many students have no income of their own, so their parents buy their cars, which does not foster independence.

"Some students with cars like to show off their wealth, which makes their peers feel uncomfortable," he added.

To have and have not

Most of the cars at LAFA are mid-range and budget cars while some are luxurious brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti. Some LAFA students riding in a BMW told the newspaper that driving is simply more convenient.

According to the Chinese Business Morning News, Shenyang Normal University student Xu Jiaying's parents bought her a Chinese-brand car. Though she is a well-mannered person, many students have a relatively shallow relationship with her because many of them think they have nothing in common with her, the newspaper said.

"Students shouldn't own cars if they make life on campus more difficult for everyone else," Fan Shuyu, a first-year graduate student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told the Global Times. "Owning a car doesn't mean you're more important."

Some student car owners prefer to keep a low profile.

Shen Tong (pseudonym), 28, is a PhD student at Tsinghua University who bought a Ford with the financial support of his parents in March, three months before his graduation.

"The car is for the convenience of my future work in the capital," Shen told the Global Times, adding that he prefers to use an old bicycle on campus for now and does not share that he has a car.

"I don't want people to think I am trying to feel different from others," he said.