Cleanliness is crucial to academic success at one Chinese university where compulsory labor is part of a program designed to award class credits while instilling students with proper moral values.
打扫卫生在一所中国大学于学业成功至关重要。在那里，义务劳动是一个计入学分并用于为学生灌输正确道德观念的教学计划的一部分。
But for many students at the Shengda Economics, Trade and Management College in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, the program is an unnecessary burden, one they say detracts from their studies. It also carries echoes of China’s camps for so-called re-education through labor, which were used to silence activists and dissidents before they were abolished last year.
但对许多就读于河南省的郑州升达经贸管理学院的学生来说，这项教学计划是一个不必要的负担，并且影响了他们的学习。它也令人想起中国用来使活动人士和异见者噤声的所谓劳动教养营。劳教制度已于去年废除。

During winter, the sky is still dark at 6:30 a.m. when the university’s first-year students begin sweeping the 165-acre campus. Another cleaning shift awaits them later in the day. Each shift can take up to an hour, students said. Afterward, inspectors check the students’ work. Should a student miss a piece of trash or errant cigarette butt, he or she can lose academic credits and the opportunity to compete for certain titles and scholarships.
冬天，清晨6点半时天还是黑的。但这时，该校的大一学生已经开始清扫约165英亩（约合670,000平方米）大的校园了。学生们说，每日晚些时候，他们还有另一次值日排班，每次值日最长可达一个小时。清洁之后，检查员会来检查卫生。如果学生漏掉了一片垃圾或一个烟头，他们就面临拿不到学分及不能参加荣誉称号评选和奖学金竞争的风险。
While all students at Shengda are required to clean their dormitories and classrooms every day, first-year students are the only ones required to sweep the campus. According to students, cleanliness inspections are conducted every weekday.
升达所有年级的学生都被要求每日清洁宿舍和教室，只有大一学生还被要求清扫整个校园。据学生们说，学校平日每日进行卫生检查。
The compulsory labor is worth two academic credits, a university official, Sun Peng, said in a Tuesday interview with The Henan Economic Daily.
校方一位名为孙朋的负责人周二对《河南商报》表示，该义务劳动制度占两个学分。
The cleaning program is also linked to a points-based “moral education” system. Such programs are often used by high schools and universities in China.
这项清洁计划也和计分制的“德育教育”体系挂钩。许多中国的高中和大学都有德育教育。
High scores in moral education can translate into scholarships and honorable titles such as “excellent student” and “excellent student cadre.” A high moral standing can also improve a student’s chances of joining the Communist Party or clinching a so-called iron rice bowl — a job with almost guaranteed lifetime employment at a state-owned company.
德育教育中的高分可以换来奖学金和例如“优秀学生”和“优秀干部”一类的荣誉称号，从而使入党、或在国企拿到“铁饭碗”变得更容易。
Some students, however, feel the demands of the cleaning program are a distraction.
然而一些学生感到，这项清洁计划的要求使他们不能专注于学业。
“The inspections are too stringent,” said a second-year student who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “You get your points deducted for even trivial matters.”
“检查太苛刻了，”一个因未经学校允许便接受采访而要求不具名的大二学生说。“稍微有一点不好就直接扣分。”
“Once I got my points deducted because there was dust in the area I was responsible for,” he said, recalling his first year, during which he and his fellow students often showed up late and hungry to their morning classes after rushing to sweep the campus and clean their rooms.
“有一次我扫的地方被扣了分，因为地上有灰，”他回忆起他大一时的生活，说道。那时他和同学们常常因赶着清扫校园和打扫宿舍而赶不及吃早饭和准时上早课。
A Shengda representative could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
记者周五无法立即联系到升达学院的发言人置评。
While many Chinese universities encourage their students to maintain clean living areas, compulsory cleaning programs that also give academic credits are rare.
尽管许多中国大学都鼓励学生进行生活区保洁，但计入学分的强制性劳动计划相对少见。
Shengda, which was founded in 1994 by a Taiwanese educator, Wang Kuang-ya, touted its decade-long program of “labor education” as one of its defining characteristics in an interview with The Orient Daily on Wednesday.
1994年由台湾教育家王广亚创立的升达在周三与《东方今报》的采访中宣扬了学校数十年的“劳动教育”项目，将其称为学校的特色教育。
The newspaper sought comment from the university after several students complained publicly about the program, saying they were at Shengda to study, not sweep.
该报在几名学生公开对升达的强制劳动表示不满后寻求该校置评。学生们说，他们是来学校学习的，不是来扫地的。
In his interview with The Henan Economic Daily, Mr. Sun, the university official, said that labor was good for building character and fostered “the spirit of hard work.”
在与《河南商报》的采访中，校方领导孙朋说，劳动可以锻炼意志，并培养“实干精神”。
“Cleaning and labor, as such, can help students develop healthy routines and good sanitation habits,” he said.
“打扫卫生等劳动，可以让学生养成良好的作息习惯、卫生习惯，”他说。
The recent media coverage of the compulsory cleaning program has prompted heated debate on Weibo, the Chinese microblog platform, with users posting thousands of comments. More than 9,000 comments have included the hashtag “floor-sweeping university.”
最近对于该强制清洁计划的媒体报道在微博上引发了激辩，网友就此事发布了数千评论。包含“扫地学府”话题的微博发文超过了9000条。
Some users, many claiming to be graduates or current students of Shengda, have accused complaining students of being “whiny.”
一些网友——他们中的许多人都自称升达毕业生或在读学生——指责那些对劳动教育表达不满的学生“太爱抱怨”。
“I’m in Year 4 and about to leave,” said one user. “We are always proud of our clean campus. We never litter because we’ve been through the labor and understand that we should respect the fruits of labor of ourselves and others.” Others said the labor program could be viewed favorably as exercise.
“大四快离开了，”一位网友说。“升达干净的校园一直是我们的骄傲，手里的垃圾看不见垃圾桶绝对不会随地仍，因为我们体会过劳动的经历，懂得尊重自己和他人的劳动成果。”其他网友说，劳动教育可以当作锻炼身体。
But notable detractors of the program include the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. “Two hours of labor has gone beyond working out,” the university said on its official Weibo account. “The spirit of hard work should by no means be achieved through daily floor-sweeping.”
但是引人注目的反对者包括北京名校清华大学。“每天两个小时的劳动已经超出了锻炼的范畴，”该校官方微博账号评论道。“实干精神的培养绝非是靠每天的扫地来实现。”
Many critics also suspect the school is merely trying to put a positive face on what some see as labor exploitation.
许多批评者也怀疑学校只是试图将被一些人视为是剥削劳动力的行为美其名曰为劳动教育。
One Shengda student, who declined to give her name because she was concerned about possible repercussions, said that apart from the timing, she did not mind cleaning the campus.
一位因担心言论后果而不愿透露姓名的升达学生说，她并不介意打扫校园，但对劳动时间不是很理解。
“I wouldn’t say it’s hard labor,” she said. “But the time is too unreasonable. It’s dark until almost 7 in the morning here. And it’s so cold.”
“我觉得劳动强度也不大，”她说。“只是时间太不合理。这里早上7点天还是黑的。很冷的。”