In fact, the value of extracurricular activities of any kind is an alien concept in Chinese universities. Students are expected to devote their time wholly to their studies. Indeed, students up to now have rarely found backing for setting up drama societies and, as they have told me, they find it difficult to organize themselves. Most teachers at the university tend to have very formal relations with their students. They too have little time to spare, as they are busy doing extra teaching to make up for their relatively low salaries.
Foreign teachers are generally more able to get involved in extracurricular activities.
Soon after I arrived at North-East Normal in September 1996, I declared my interest in doing a play in English. I was approached by a number of students after I had given a drama workshop for staff and students in the English Department. I was not unaware of the problems of putting on a production in China because I had been involved in several theatre productions in my previous posting in Shanghai over the two previous years. I knew that the major problem one always encounters is that there is no central authority at Chinese universities to provide unqualified approval for the staging of a dramatic production. Funding for hiring lighting equipment, costumes, even the theatre itself, can be a major headache.