While being absent from normal work and school life for many days, have you found strange things to be happening? Perhaps some of your clothes are overgrown with mushrooms! This may sound like a joke but it has happened in some households. Without regular wear, normal clothing can grow mold. But at some schools in China, the scene is the total opposite.
Mushrooms growing out of clothing. /Qianjiang Evening News
A series of photos showing quilts aired at some Chinese universities have gone viral on China's social media platforms including Weibo and Wechat. Quilts are being dried on balconies, playgrounds and any open spaces at the universities prior to the resumption of school.
Quilts are dried on the balconies at Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology. /People's Daily Online
Quilts on display at the East China University of Political Science and Law. /Xinmin Evening News
The colorful quilts that had been left inside the dormitories of Shaoxing University for months were neatly spread out and covered the entire dormitory building.
Quilts under the sun inside Zhejiang A&F University. /Guangming Online
The quilts were brought by students from home and had almost gone moldy but thanks to dormitory staff they are now going through a process of sun sterilization.
At the beginning of April, the school sent a message to more than 13,000 students across all majors. Those who required the service signed onto a list, which then took a whole week to be analyzed, according to Qianjiang Evening News.
The first "order" hit off more than 3,000 requests.
At 8 a.m. in the morning, over 20 dormitory staff at the university started work. In pairs, they took out quilts in each student dormitory and held them under the sun to dry.
Employees work on the quilts in pairs at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai. /Xinmin Evening News
They strictly followed the servicing rules laid out by their company and wore masks and gloves at work.
Quilts being aired at Shaoxing University in east China's Zhejiang Province. /Qianjiang Evening News
In order to prevent the quilts from being misplaced after drying in the sun, the dorm-keepers also attached a small piece of paper to each quilt with the corresponding dormitory area, bedroom number, bed number and any additional information written on it. "We have to do good things and not cause trouble to the students," Li Juandi, one of the dormitory staff told Qianjiang Evening News.
The dormitory numbers are noted on each quilt piece at Shanghai's East China University of Political Science and Law. /Xinmin Evening News
All the available open space or areas such as the balcony of the dormitory building have been used.
Quilts are laid out open inside the campus of Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology. /People's Daily Online
An average of over 100 quilts has been managed by each dorm-keeper on a daily basis. "When the sun is good, it usually takes three hours for a quilt to get fluffy before being collected to put back in cabinet," a keeper named Yan Fengjuan said.
The idea was sparked when the rooms inside started to smell during the routine inspections. The university decided to carry out the service free for students. This soon received universal praise.
According to China's Ministry of Education, the timetable for resuming university classes should be based on the local epidemic situation.