Peking University, Beijing, Nov. 11, 2009: The snow in Beijing on November 10th caused the PKU campus to look like a scene from a painting, but also instigated great inconvenience for transportation. Thus, this morning, Peking University (PKU) Youth Volunteers Association, Student Union, Graduate Student Union, and Loving Hearts Society issued a proposal to call all youth volunteers' organizations and all the students to join in the snow-sweeping volunteer team. They hoped that everyone could sweep the snow in his or her surroundings to create a safer campus for the teachers and students, the old and young.
PKU Volunteers Sweeping in front of the Centennial Hall
At 9 o’clock, about ten student volunteers from School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, dressed in colorful vests, came to the Triangle to clear the snow with brooms and shovels. The Triangle is one of the main roads connecting the dormitory areas to the classrooms, thus making this area a top priority for snow removal. Through their hard work, these volunteers cleared the snow here in a short time and provided a great convenience to teachers and students. There were also a large number of volunteers from the Youth Volunteers Associations of Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Department of History, and The Guanghua School of Management, Loving Hearts Society as well as Graduate Student Unionin sweeping the snow on the roads near the Main Library, office buildings, sky bridge connecting Changchun New Garden with the main campus, and the First Dining Hall. It was not until 3 o’clock in the afternoon that the main roads in the campus cleared up and the traffic became smooth again.
Due to the snow-sweeping of 17 PKU volunteers on the snow of November 23, 1993, the first volunteers organization was established in the institutions of higher education of China —Loving Hearts Society of PKU, which marks the beginning of Beijing, or even China colleges’ volunteer activities. It also means a new trend has overtaken colleges in this new era. Now, the new generation of PKU youth volunteers have made contributions to our campus by their practice.
Translated by: Su Juan
Edited by: Jennifer Yan
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
