Chinese Students Invoke Sun Tzu For Claiming Classroom Seats: Chains, Toilet Paper and Mittens Among Weapons Used
Getting a seat in class is a very tense situation. It can make or break the way your day or year will go, depending on the class system. Clearly sitting with your friends is important, as is getting out of the teacher’s line of sight if you want to doze off for a bit.
It’s funny how many students obediently follow imaginary rules like “calling” their seats as a way of reserving where you want to sit. As the unwritten, unspoken rule goes: callings may be verbal or implied by leaving one’s personal possessions in the location of the seat. Any calling dispute, such as simultaneous callings is to be determined by an ad hoc challenge, preferably rock-paper-scissors.
Such a rule doesn’t seem to exist in Chinese schools, however, as this lack of social etiquette has turned classrooms into the Thunderdome of seat saving, where the one rule is – there are no rules.
Examples have been posted on popular Chinese imageboard tt.mop where they have generated such enlightening comments as “Stupid.” and “Ain’t that somethin’.” From here we can see that the main principle to the art of seat-saving is to put some unorthodox object on the desk to deter others from sitting there.
The tactics for achieving this have run the gamut, from brute force like chaining the desk (chair and all) together, to mental warfare such as laying a roll of toilet paper out along the top of the desk. Think about it: If you saw a strip of TP sitting there on the desktop, would you bother touching it, or would you just move on to the next one?
Naturally, as the war for location escalates a strip of toilet paper might not be deterrent enough for some more battle-hardened squatter so some have upped the ante by putting more confusing items like stools or mittens tied together with those strings that your mother used to keep you from losing them. Some have even combined physical and mental stratagems by placing a giant brick on the desk.
Although all this Darwinian competition seems to cease after the bell rings and classes commence, some staff have tried to prevent such antics by locking the rooms during break times. The burning passion to get a seat refuses to be snuffed, however, as some people have found more clever ways of getting stuff onto desks. For instance, using a stick of bamboo on a hot day you can gently guide a reservation weapon through a slightly ajar window and onto the seat of your choice.
As with any war, profiteers have emerged on the scene. This was evidenced by an ad for a seat-claiming mercenary. Unfortunately their price cannot be seen in the photograph but we can imagine this to be a lucrative business opportunity.
Some commenters have raised doubts about the reality of this apparent seat-saving subculture. At this point it’s hard to say. One thought does come to mind though. Why don’t teachers just assign seating from the start?
Source: tt.mop.com (Chinese)
Screw the subtlety of leaving your notebook on the desk. Just toss an end table up there.
If you want to claim multiple seats, one notebook just won’t cut it.
Nothing says “back off” quite like a brick crudely wrapped in plastic.
He’s using a bamboo stick through a slightly ajar window to save a seat with what looks like a book.
This ad makes you wonder how much demand there is for someone to save your seat.
