On October 23, Beijing Youth Daily spoke to students and college officials about the dilemma faced by having to charge for the use of sports facilities at weekends but wanting to maintain access for young people at university.

Its report said many students use colleges' outdoor basketball, table tennis and badminton courts at weekends, whilst indoor facilities are dominated by employees from outside the university.

Students were quoted by the paper as saying that charges for university gyms and sports fields were too high, while facility staff said insufficient charges could not maintain their operations.

"A refereed 105-minute football match on grass costs 1,300 yuan (US$160), 1,200 yuan without referees and 900 yuan on artificial grass. Prices are fixed by the university, and revenue is used to maintain the pitch and pay staff," a university sports department source told Beijing Youth Daily.

"The grass pitch can only be used for free by the college football team and for annual matches organized by the university. Most of time, it is rented by employees from outside the university," he said. "Students rarely rent the pitch because they cannot afford it. However, the prices are much lower than those at the Workers Gymnasium and Olympic Sport Center Stadium."

According to the report, prices for indoor table tennis and badminton courts were 10 yuan (US$1.2) and 25 yuan per hour respectively, with no discounts for students.

Students playing football on a small outdoor pitch said, "Although here is simple and crude, it's free. You only need to show your student card."

At another well-known university visited by the reporter, 3 or 4 groups of students queued to use outdoor basketball courts while others watched and played football on a hard pitch, all for free.

This was in contrast to the indoor gym, which one student said was "only free to us when we have physical training classes from 8 to 10 in the morning. Otherwise, it is leased to companies from outside. We cannot afford 400 yuan (US$49) to rent a basketball or volleyball court. Even badminton courts cost 10 to 30 yuan per hour."

One university principal told Beijing Youth Daily it was necessary for them to build such facilities since, apart from regular physical training, larger recreational activities could be held here. But if they opened free to students, overheads could not be covered.

Beijing Sports Bureau regulations issued in 2000 said colleges could open their sports facilities to the public and charge for their use, reinforced by a notice published in July 2003.

"If college facilities function as a public service, they must be free to students, if we consider them an industry, then charges are inevitable," said Yi Jiandong, associate head of Beijing Sport University's Sports Journalism Department. "However, charges give no cause for criticism because evening or weekend work is extra for staff, and they need to be paid."

A Peking University teacher said the university commissioned Kang Mei Le Trim and Fitness Association to manage one floor of its Science No.1 building in 2003, which previously only had some table tennis tables and basic exercise equipment.

Kang Mei Le invested 4 million yuan (US$493,827) in refurbishing the building and buying fitness equipment, and billiard and table tennis tables, after which fitness, billiards, hip hop dance, Latin dance, taekwando and yoga courses became available.

"The price here is about a third lower than places outside the university. Monthly and yearly cards for non-students are 400 yuan (US$49) and 1,800 yuan respectively, and for students they cost 200 yuan and 1,080 yuan," said the association's vice-manager Wang Boyang. "At present, 90 percent of visitors are students."

(China.org.cn by Zhang Yunxing October 30, 2005)