'Wake-up associations' hatch early birds at universities

China's university students are rising early thanks to the "wake-up associations" popping up on campuses around the country.

In less than one month since its debut, an association at Central South University in central China's Hunan province has drawn almost 600 members, said Hu Jianyong, organizer of the society, in an interview on Tuesday.

"Many students are late for classes due to oversleeping, and a wake-up call from the opposite sex is quite effective in getting them up," Hu said.

The association has attracted members by promoting its activities through multiple media, including messaging platforms such as QQ and WeChat, e-mails, websites, and Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

Applicants, categorized as "early birds" and "lazy birds," are required to provide information such as gender, phone number and the time they wish to wake up. A member of the opposite sex will call the slugabed every morning at a fixed time.

Anyone who fails to answer the calls will be eliminated from the association, Hu said.

In order to maintain the mystery, the organizer said that the identities of the callers are kept secret.

"Many members have said that it is an interesting way of waking up early," Hu added.

The third-year student said that his friend Zheng Xiaoyan, another organizer, inspired the idea.

"She always calls to wake me up, which has made me and my roommates early birds in good spirits," he said.

Striking a chord with many students, similar societies have sprung up at a host of universities and colleges across the country, including schools in Fujian, Henan, Hebei and Shanghai.

According to Zheng, the associations are even asking university departments to offer free or discounted breakfast to boost the morale of students. They are also considering including popular teachers on the calling teams, Zheng said.

Sun Hua, professor with the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, said that the societies are worth promoting in that they allow members of the opposite sex to supervise and motivate each other, and the calls will be met with less resistance.

"This is actually an encouraging trend, because it awakens a sense of discipline in a quite acceptable way," Sun said.

But Sun also voiced concern, pointing out that the morning calls could induce one-sided love, generating awkwardness among the members and marring the society's intentions.

"In such cases, the organizations should step in to avoid embarrassing situations," Sun said.