At the news conference concerning ?Research on Experiments in the Field Survival Training of College Students,? held in Shanghai recently, Ji Ke, head of the Physical Education Section of the Hygiene and Art Department in the Ministry of Education, told the media that over 100 college students from East China Normal University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tsinghua University, China University of Geosciences, Northeast Forestry University and Zhejiang Forestry Institute would go to experimental bases including Shengnongjia Nature Reserve of Hubei Province, Maoer Mountain of Harbin City, Daming Mountain of Changhua and Qingliangshan Mountain of Zhejiang Province to experience field survival.

?The physical education of schools has been in a closed-door situation for a long time,? said Ji Liu, head of the Sport and Health Institute of East China Normal University, ?and it has resulted in the obvious declining physique of adolescents.?

A recent national physique examination indicates that the sports quality and physical functions of college students, as well as primary and middle school students has declined obviously compared to 15 years ago. The increase of ?sick adolescents? has aroused wide concern.

Training of field survival aimed at ?challenging oneself, improving quality, transcending limits, experiencing life? was therefore imported from abroad to universities such as East China Normal University and China University of Geosciences. Certainly, the training of field survival is not for sightseeing, but for promoting basic sports like jumping, running, tossing into the wider society. Let students learn to survive in the wilds and difficult situation and cultivate their personal abilities, especially through the concepts of cooperation and competition. Combining body building, interest and practice together, this course will focus on the training of students? initiative and creativity in study.

It is reported that the ?Research on Experiments in the Field Survival Training of College Students? has been listed in the national teaching syllabus and a second group of college students will join survival training conducted in 2003. China will organize a team to take part in the competition of field survival among college students from China, Japan and Republic of Korea in the same year. In 2004, the training of field survival will be popularized in all universities and colleges of China, and extended to primary and middle schools as well.

(新闻晚报 [Shanghai Evening Post], translated by Wang Qian for china.org.cn, June 8, 2002)