Clambering over the sundial monument in Tsinghua University, four teenagers grin for their parents' cameras. Around the sundial, the lawns have been trampled away.
With 4,000 tourists each a day, China's two most prestigious universities -- Tsinghua and Peking -- are struggling to maintain their academic ambience after opening to organized tour groups this summer.
"Just a couple of days ago several tourists with their luggage sat in a classroom, talking out loud," said Chen, a graduate student at Peking University, adding the campus had become too noisy to study in.
The surge in tourists has also brought litter, destruction of the lawns and graffiti.
"A university is not a park. We would like some peace to in our daily lives and to focus on our studies," said Professor Ma Rong, of Peking University, adding the non-stop tour groups disturbed his work.
Many travel agencies have arranged college travel products for tourists who want their children to be motivated by experiencing the ivory towers of higher education.
"I just want my son to feel the environment of Tsinghua and pursue higher learning. When we go home he'll probably take more supplementary courses," said a parent who came the way from the central China city of Wuhan to Tsinghua with his son.
During the summer holidays, an estimated 4,000 to 10,000 tourists visit Tsinghua and Peking everyday.
To cope with the pressure, Peking University has taken measures including requiring tour companies to book groups three days in advance, limiting the travel routes and organizing more than 100 volunteer guides.
Tsinghua University is to limit opening times for tour groups and increase patrols to supervise unwelcome behavior, said university official Chen Xi.
Fu Jia'nan, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said some agencies and parents were so obsessed with the college atmosphere that they ignored the basic civility of their children, and the tours were of little purpose without contact with staff and students.
Universities should arrange tour schedules more carefully and travel agencies should promote the civil behavior among tourists, said Fu.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2007)
