Featured night schools have gone viral in Xi'an

Many young people in China are experiencing a refreshing nightlife —— taking courses at "night school." Unlike the night schools popular in China in the 1980s, the current night school courses cover a wide range of fields such as dance, vocal music, intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, makeup, fitness, and coffee tasting. These diverse courses have gone viral among young people.

Coffee tasting class at the "City Buffer Zone" night school

On Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm, in Xi'an, several students are crafting perfume in a fragrance classroom of the "City Buffer Zone" night school. 27-year-old Wu Xin said that the fragrance class enables her to combine her knowledge of fragrance blending with her personal hobby. This way, she could participate in the creation of unique perfume as a professional perfumer. 

Calligraphy class at the "City Buffer Zone" night school

An Na, who is 35 years old, shared, "I work in interior design and usually just stay on the couch afterwork, ordering takeout and watching short videos. If I didn't attend night school, I might have wasted the time like I did in the past. Attending night school not only allows me to make use of my afterwork time, but also enables me to learn something, which is very meaningful for me." 

" 'City Buffer Zone' night school offers courses in makeup, oil painting, calligraphy, free combat, golf, and vocal music, as well as niche courses such as perfume blending and coffee tasting with flexible selection. The basic fee is around 500 yuan for 6-12 classes, with each class lasting approximately 90 minutes." According to Cui Chaobo, the person in charge of the "City Buffer Zone", the school will collect information from students before opening courses, considering their commuting distance between school and work. Therefore, students can choose courses based on their interests and commuting.

So far, the hashtag topic #night school in Xi'an on Douyin has reached a playback volume of 1,481,000 times.

Associate Professor Gao Peng of the School of Economics and Management at Northwest University stated that night school provides a flexible way of learning, allowing young people to enrich themselves and enhance their professional competitiveness afterwork. The logic of course design at the night school now is more in line with the interests and aesthetics of young people, also closely connected to urban culture. While studying at night school, young people encounter peers with different backgrounds, so that they can expand their social circles and enhance interpersonal interactions.