Liu Xue Sheng Shitang

The dining hall at the base of my dormitory, which I eventually learnt was called the Liu Xue Sheng Shitang in Chinese (literally, "International Students' Dining Hall") was a rather good example of Chinese methodology. Eating there involved first going to a desk and ordering. For those who did not speak Chinese, this meant pointing at some pictures or a list of dishes they would hand you when noticed. As you ordered they would write the dishes you wanted on a piece of paper then add the prices up and total it. You would pay them and be handed a receipt with three layers. You then need to sit which can happen by handing your receipt to a serving person and letting them chose your spot or just sitting down. Either way the serving person for your part of the dinning hall would write the table number on the receipt then take one of the layers. After a short time the first of your dishes would arrive at a local hub with a counter and some plates and chopsticks and other supplies. When plates arrived at these hubs they would have clothes pins labeling the destination table clipped to the rim. Another serving person would then pick it up and deliver it to your table at this point they would take another of the layers of the receipt. Eventually all your food would arrive and the final receipt would be taken.

To get a drink you could either by a bottle of something from the other end of the ordering counter or just pay for a paper cup which you could then fill from a cola machine. If you got a bottle they would bring you plastic cups when you sat down.

The dinning hall seated about 250 people and was often quite crowded. It had many serving staff and they would often shout things to one another. Occasionally people would argue about this and that but usually it was a more uniform roar of everyone talking. A great place for meetings.

The food was edible and very cheap so I went there quite a bit at the start of my stay.