Chinese college's strict booze ban triggers hot debate

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Binge drinking and party culture are increasingly causing health and safety concerns among universities in China and abroad. To tackle the problem, a Chinese university has stepped up its booze ban to prohibit any drinking behaviors on or off campus, triggering heated debate on social media.

Last week, a video clip showing northwest China's Xi'an Fanyi University banning students and faculty from consuming alcohol went viral online.

According to the school's rigorous prohibition, students are banned from having alcoholic drinks during their four years in college, Chinese video streaming platform Pear Video reported. If students throw birthday or commencement parties, no liquor should be served under any circumstances on or off campus.

Under the alcohol ban, students who are caught drinking may face a formal warning or get expelled. Those who drink and fight will be excluded from receiving any form of scholarship or student grant.

The regulation was rolled out in 2016, Qiu Jie, head of the school's publicity department, told local paper Chinese Business View.

Students on campus at Xi'an Fanyi University. /Screenshot via Pear Video

Xi'an Fanyi University's effort at sobriety caught public attention after the school stepped up its prohibition regulation, proposing an alcohol-free environment on or off campus.

"We recently found some of our students throwing up, losing control and behaving provokingly after drinking at commencement parties," Qiu said. "To better protect students' safety, we sent out a proposal last Thursday to shops nearby asking them not to sell liquor or cigarettes to students."

Opinions are divided on the rigorous alcohol ban. While some showed support, others think that the prohibition is a violation of a student's individual right.

"I think the ban is good," a student from the school told Pear Video. "College students live away from their parents and binge drinking is very worrying."

"Banning drinking on campus is acceptable, but I don't think the school is entitled to stop a grown-up from drinking off campus," one netizen @gaoxiaoxiang commented on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo.

Xi'an Fanyi University is not alone in tackling problems related to binge drinking on campus. An art academy in southwest China's Yunnan Province reportedly tried to curb alcoholism by sending photos of drunk students to their parents, China News reported.

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In the U.S., a number of universities including Brown University, Dartmouth College and University of Virginia have banned hard liquor in response to an increase in sexual assault cases on college campuses. As of September 2019, over 60 fraternities at U.S. colleges vowed to ban alcohol products above 15% Vol.