A sea of glowing faces.

The students at this college do work hard - the freshman have exercises on the sports field each morning at 6.15 am, and then go to class around 7.15 am.

They do have a break of 2 hours during the day, but are back in class again, until 8.30 pm. When they emerge there is a sea of students walking towards the West Gate where all the street vendors have lined up ready to sell their wares to the always eating students.

Often I watch them from the vantage point of my fifth floor apartment and listen to the voices as they snake their way from the class rooms to the West Gate.

Glowing faces? Most of them are talking on their mobile phones - a constant with the Chinese students. They are always talking on their phones or sending text messages. But when thousands of students walk on mass in the darkness of this time of night, their faces are lit up from the glow of the phones.

It is quite eerie. In less than an hour, and in more of a trickle, the students return as they must be in their dormitories before 10 pm. A few hours sleep before they start the next day.