Luxury restaurant on college campus sparks controversy   

人大校内开高档西餐厅 2人一餐吃掉半月伙食费

不久前，人大校内一组豪华西餐厅的照片在网络上流传开来，北京青年报记者昨天在这家名为“1958”的西餐厅看到食客满座，来消费的多是人民大学的学生。按照菜价，两人吃一餐的花费在300元左右，相当于普通学生在附近食堂半个月的生活费。[查看全文]

(ECNS) – An upscale Western restaurant has opened on the campus of a top Beijing university, stirring a debate about high-end consumption at schools, the Beijing Youth Daily reports.

The Russian restaurant "1958", a branch of Beijing's famous Western restaurant "Weilan," has set up in an old Renmin University staff canteen, remodeled with fabulous decorations.

A vanilla baguette costs 98 yuan (about 15 US dollars) at 1958, and the cost of a beefsteak ranges from 80 to 150 yuan. A meal for two people will cost around 300 yuan, according to the restaurant's menu.

A student surnamed Chen said she spent around 400 yuan a month at the student canteen, and that a meal at the 1958 restaurant would cost her half a month's food budget.

Even though it's expensive, 1958 is always full of customers, according the restaurant's manager Zhang Zhi, who says they receive about 500 customers per day.

A student having dinner at the restaurant said it's okay to occasionally splurge, while a group of students said they never ordered meals there. "It's a little expensive," a student surnamed Chen said.

Students, parents, and educational experts hold differing views on whether such high-end restaurants should be allowed on school campuses. A student surnamed Zhao, a history major, said she and most of her classmates think it's fine, because they don't often patronize the restaurant anyway.

Xiong Bingqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the school provides various services to students, and there isn't a problem as long as it doesn't force students to consume.

Zhan Wansheng, a director at the China National Institute for Educational Research, said that if the high-end restaurant is open to society and not to students exclusively, it shouldn't be limited.

But one student's mother, surnamed Wang, disagreed. High-end consumption will have an unfavorable influence on our children's growth, she said.