From June 1, primary and middle school students in Beijing will return to school one after another, and students are preparing to bid farewell to the longest winter vacation in history and return to their long-lost campus life. More than 1,000 schools in the city are ready for the start of the term.

Many unusual things happened in between, and netizens have posted their stories online, which resonated with others and quickly sparked heated discussions.

"I'm breathing and that's my bad now, please let me back to school, or I will be rejected by my parents to death,"  joked a netizen on Weibo. Such calls have resonated strongly on the Internet.

"So many reasons parents can scold me every day: stay up late and get up late, skip meals and eat too much snacks, not helping with housework, or just simply being around…”

Under pressure from their parents, many students can only start to help with housework, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. 

The laundry list includes grocery shopping, cooking, washing dishes, sweeping, and mopping among others.  It turns out that parents can really keep you busy as long as you want to do housework.

Some netizens joked that if you have a younger sibling, then congratulations, you will be both a babysitter and tutor.

Having more time provides a rare opportunity for many to develop their interests as well.

"During the pandemic, I have learned to knit sweaters from my grandmother," said a netizen on Weibo. Many have become chefs during the quarantine, learning everything from making a cake to a pizza.

Dormitory in unknown condition

In the humid southern part of China, many back-to-school students found their long-unaired quilts moldy.

There are also moldy fruits, grass growing from between floor tiles, and some netizens have even posted picture of the clothes they hung out on the balcony before the holidays transformed into birds' nests. 

After such posts went viral online, many college dorm administrators took on the job of drying quilts for students.

East Jiaotong University opened an online platform for students to place orders for drying bedding. Counselors, support staff, and student volunteers have placed orders for more than 3,000 students.

Will there be a summer break this year?

As early as February, Guangdong, Shandong, and Shaanxi provinces issued a notice, saying that schools could make up for the total class hours by shifting classes on weekends and shortening the summer break.

Recently, more regions put make-up lessons on the agenda, but Beijing, Chengdu and other places said that in principle, except for the third year graduating class, students from other grades do not need to use weekends and holidays for make-up lessons.

But on April 21, the Ministry of Education said it does not recommend taking up the holiday to make up for missed classes.