Food delivery services are no strangers to campuses of Chinese Universities, as students, much like the population at large, order food with the click of a few buttons, bringing their favorite eateries to their living rooms and saving them commuting time. An academic institution in northwest China has set up a similar service to shorten the distance between students’ dormitories and … canteens.
The official food delivery e-platform is now all the rage at Northwest University in the city of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, yet it came under scrutiny for promoting laziness.
The platform sells a variety of dishes made by the university’s canteen and only charges 2 yuan (30 US cents) as a delivery fee. Some students said it was the university version of China’s popular food delivery application, Eleme.
Students deliver the food that other students had ordered. / Chinanews Photo
The platform not only makes ordering food a piece of cake for students, but also gives them an opportunity to do a part-time job as food delivery men.
“We can deliver food directly to the dorm, and get customers’ feedback easily because we are peers,” a sophomore Yang Hao told Chinanews. He claimed that they usually deliver food after class or at free time, which is not wasting their learning time.
A student working as a food delivery man receives food from canteen employee. / Chinanews Photo
Ordering food from the comforts of one’s couch has become a trend in China’s universities, as students benefit from the service’s convenience and multiple choices. But food safety of many delivery platforms has aroused public concern.
Three months ago, a student at Hunan University of Chinese Medicine in central Hunan Province reportedly found two pig teeth in his takeout food. Before that, another student at Linyi University in east China’s Shandong Province was also reported to have stopped ordering takeout food after suffering from constant diarrhea for two months.
The canteen manager at Northwest University, Zhao Qinjian, said the food making, processing and storage are under scrutiny, so food safety of the platform can be guaranteed.
The food delivery platform of Northwest University canteen. / Chinanews Photo
Users on China’s Twitter-like Weibo shared their own opinions about the platform. While some have shown support to the university’s move allowing students extra source of income by hiring them, others have criticized the platform’s influence on lazy students.
“I guess the food delivery men are students who lack money. Setting such a platform is a great idea,” Weibo user @duohereshui noted.
“University students are very lazy because they always stay at their dorms. The canteen is supporting their laziness,” another user @xiandaodesanciyuanxiaonvyou commented.
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