"You don't want your pillow?"

"What about this one?"

It's almost impossible to believe: Teachers organizing your personal belongings and packing them up for you. 

This is exactly what happened after graduation at a dormitory in Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). If you're a student who can't pick up your luggage in person, you can now laze in bed and wait for it to be delivered in just a few days.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented many graduates from returning to campus. Universities in Beijing are helping students with personal belongings they may have left behind.

"Our first reaction was that this could get complicated, because we all have a lot of luggage and so many personal belongings. But the teachers live-streamed the whole process and were very patient," says graduate Zhu Heyu, class of 2020 at BIT.

For Zhu, this is one of the epidemic's few bonuses. Each graduate is assigned to a one-on-one service group before packing begins. Students can entrust a staff member, a teacher or a classmate, with their packing. 

Du Yaomei, teacher at the School of Foreign Language, BIT, is among the staff packing for the graduates.

"When we packed their luggage, the students were in touch with us the whole time. To me, the process felt like we, as teachers, were giving students a goodbye lesson," Du said.

Tens of thousands of luggage and documents were returned to students, accompanied by encouraging messages. Some said the generous gesture made them miss campus even more. 

Many other universities in China have also bid farewell to graduates in similar fashion. Classes were moved online, so were ceremonies. Many now feel that hi-tech solutions are being increasingly used to help universities cope with a situation in which contact must be limited.