介绍:
For most of us, the college years hold some of the best memories in our lives. It's during these years that we met our best friends, found our favorite teacher and discovered our hopes and dreams. At Xiamen University, these memories are displayed in plain view on the walls of the Furong Tunnel, a throughway that connects the campus to the student dormitories.
Spanning over 1.1 kilometers, 8 meters wide and 4.5 meters high, the construction for the tunnel started in 2005. Only pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles are allowed. Cars and motorcycles are forbidden.
The walls of the tunnel were once clean and white but sometime after the completion of the tunnel in 2006, graffiti started popping up all over the place. Then more and more drawings in different styles appeared on the walls. The vibrant colors added unlimited vitality to this once blank and boring place.
Li Jing is from the university's publicity department. She talks about one of the more prominent artworks in here.
"This is a landmark in this tunnel. It's done by students from the journalism school upon their graduation. They want to express their affection for the university so they created the logo 'I love you, goodbye.' You can feel both their reluctance to leave and their excitement for the future in these words."
The graffiti changes about every five years. But there are some permanent fixtures on the wall including the one created by the journalism school students.
In 2008, after the Wenchuan Earthquake, an artwork was created on the walls of the tunnel to commemorate the lives lost in the natural disaster. Showing white ghostly figures surrounding a candle, the painting act as a reminder of the painful memories and pulls on the heartstrings of every passerby. This is another one of the permanent artworks that will never be taken down.
Further along in the tunnel, you can also see happy memories of the students on this campus. There are stick figures depicting life in the student dormitories and in the classrooms. There is one showing four girls who shared a room together. It's funny that they named themselves after fruits, like blueberry, orange, apple and strawberry.
There's not only art in this tunnel but also innovation. On the sides of the tunnel, there are doors that lead to cavernous rooms. Inside one of these rooms, students are designing state-of-the-art robots. On one side, cars are racing around on racetracks, controlled by a computer. On the other side, students are teaching two weird looking robots how to play badminton.
A net is set up between the two. While one is serving, the other one tries to hit the birdie back across the net by moving on two legs which ends in wheels. The racket looks like a big screen that stretches between the legs and it moves up and down. But how can the machine predict where the birdie is going to land?
Guo Hao, the head of the design team, explains.
"We use Bluetooth to send signals to a control system on the computer. Then, based on the information, we are able to move the robots around the court. This is our manual model. We also have an automatic model that uses a visual sensing system. It can locate the position of the birdie in the air. And then, we use computer to analyze where the birdie would fall and predict the path. We would use Bluetooth again to send the signal to the robot. And then, it would create a timely response to hit the birdie back over the net."
On the other side of the tunnel is what looks like a storage space where students are designing drones.
Here's Xiamen University student, Zhou Xiaoming, explaining the design process.
"We made these models by first, doing all the calculations on the computer and drawing a blueprint of the plane. After drawing the plane, we would manufacture all the parts and put them together to look like the final products on display in front of you."
Before these drones take flight, the so-called 'pilots' need to undergo training in flight simulation so that they know how to maneuver drones while they are up in the air. Once the project is complete, the team would compete against other universities. The club was established in 2013 and so far they have come in top 3 in all the competitions they have entered.
With unique places like the Furong Tunnel, Xiamen University is not only one of the most beautiful but one of the most fascinating campuses in China. Walking through it may take a while but it was well worth the effort to see all the arts and technological innovation in here.
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