BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Li Xingren, a third-year student at Shanghai International Studies University, feels he is missing out on an important part of the college experience.

    A gradual shift of students from the university's old campus in northern Hongkou District to a new, larger facility in southwest Shanghai has quashed many of the school's long-running traditions, he said.

    "I was told that our seniors have many campus-renowned activities - such as an annual drama festival and student-sponsored journals," Li said.

    But many of those traditions have all but disappeared because younger students have been separated from their older peers.

    Like several other universities in the city, SISU began moving to a suburban campus in 2001 because its old grounds were too small. That year, Li and his fellow incoming freshmen were the first students to be housed at the new campus in Songjiang District.

    Traditions that are normally passed on by senior students rarely make their way to the new campus, and those that do lose their importance, Li said.

    The shift has also reduced the role of many traditions at the old campus, according to Nancy Zhao, a graduate student at SISU.

    When she was an undergraduate, Single's Day was a big event. The day, which falls on November 11, was once celebrated by students without a girl or boyfriend by screaming, beating basins and singing love songs loudly and madly throughout the dorm, Zhao recalled.

    But Single's Day this year was a very quiet affair.

    "The festival has lost its color because all the undergraduate students have moved to the new campus," Zhao said.

    The day went all but unnoticed at the new campus.

    "That night was exactly the same as usual because many of us simply don't know there is such a campus festival," said Li.

    Student leaders say they try to keep campus traditions alive, but the separation makes it very difficult.

    "We always hurry from one campus to the other, hoping to carry on all activities we have among the freshmen, but it doesn't work very well," said Zhu Lin, a student union leader at East China University of Politics and Law, which moved its first-year students to its Songjiang campus in September.

    "Besides study, another important part of university life is to experience and pass on campus traditions. It will be a great pity if students cannot fully communicate with their seniors," said Zhou Chunsheng, a sociologist at Shanghai Teachers University.

    With more and more local universities having separate campuses, the problem will become more prominent, he added.

    University authorities say they are trying their best to enhance communication between senior and new students, as well as help them to create their own activities.

    Some think the problem will be fixed when all students have moved to the new campuses, but there might not be many traditions left when that happens. Enditem

(Shanghai Daily news)