Colleges and universities across China usually find crowds of first-year students swarming through their gates in late August and early September. Part of this process is for parents to escort their children, a phenomenon that is an annual topic of debate across China. Many people think that parents escorting their children to colleges and universities shows the family's interest in the well-being of their child and also helps parents better understand the nature of the study environment. Tianjin University goes as far as to provide tents for those parents who cannot find or afford accommodation at hotels.

Others feel that parents should not escort their children to colleges and universities as the students are already adults and should be independent. Beijing-based Tsinghua University and Shanghai-based Tongji University refused parents to help their children register on campus.

For

Li Jie, a Beijing resident whose daughter is a first-year

www.people.com.cn

We should be more objective and look at the issue of parents accompanying their children to universities in a comprehensive manner. We cannot say that students who are escorted by their parents on their first trip to universities are not independent.

Parents all love their children. Decades ago when I went to the university for the first time, my parents also wanted to accompany me there. But they had no money to afford the journey. Now, we can afford the journey, and why don't we do that? More importantly, our social environment now has changed greatly. It is not as safe as before. In addition, we want to have a look at the management and services of the universities where our children study.

Actually my daughter is quite independent but this will be her first time to be so far away from the family, and I want to show her my love by accompanying her on her first trip to the university.

Li Liuhe, a news commentator

www.cnhubei.com

Are these parents wrong by escorting their children to universities? Definitely not.

Most of the college students are the only children in their families, so their parents care about them. The parents accompanying their children on the first trip to colleges and universities is a good way of showing that they love their children.

Entering the university means a big turning point in these students' lives as they now have to take care of themselves.

In addition, the parents have invested heavily in getting their children into university. A wise parent should have a look at the campus with their own eyes and communicate with teachers.

Liu Lin, President of Beijing City University

www.people.com.cn

We quite understand the feelings of these parents. They love their children and would like to do everything for them. We welcome our students' parents to be here to have a look at our campus and the study environment. We can also talk with these parents to get to know their opinions of our university so that we can improve our work in the future. A university's development needs the support of our students' parents.

However, we don't expect parents to help with registration procedures as we want to cultivate a sense independence in first years from the beginning. We do what we can to help parents find accommodation during this process.