The November 11 (double 11) Tianjin University “Fruit Festival” was held on both the Peiyangyuan Campus and the Weijin Road Campus. 2,099 packages of grapefruit and 1,121 boxes of oranges that weighed over 70,000 kilograms were delivered to 38,523 students at Tianjin University for free. At the same, in order to enrich students’ lives, several fascinating activities such as guessing lantern riddles, hand-painting fruit sculptures and solving scientific quizzes were organized.

On November 11, at 7 in the morning, students came with draw-bar boxes and bikes to pick out fruit for their classmates. Zhang Yingzheng, a student from the School of Civil Engineering said he appreciated such a “duty” as it showed the warmth and pride of belonging to Tianjin University. In no more than 2 hours, mountains of fruit were handed out to the students.

At 10 o’clock, the Fruit Ceremonies began on Shu Tian Square on the Peiyangyuan Campus and at the Pengxiang Apartments on the Weijin Road Campus.

Students who were artistic gathered to experience fruit sculpturing and painting and dyeing with juice dye. Students talented in writing became obsessed trying to guess the lantern riddles and writing down their best wishes for their friends. Students who liked delicious food were making juice, fruit salad and fruit dishes. Students who were keen on exercise engaged in numerous activities related to fruit. Students who were fond of thinking were solving Sudoku puzzles and guessing the number of fruits. This year, Tianjin University added many new activities to the “Fruit Festival”, such as Roast-online, fruit voting, novel fruit tasting, gaining gifts by collecting ‘likes’ and so on. Many students were interested in the activities and they also gained a lot of scientific knowledge while playing.

In order to improve students’ consciousness of a healthy lifestyle, Tianjin University initiated the fruit project in 2002, and the activity has lasted for 17 years. The Fruit Festival and Ceremonies have already become a cultural visiting card for Tianjin University.