歡迎來上大學(xué)，你的家長就住在隔壁的帳篷里

TIANJIN, China — When Yang Zheyu arrived at Tianjin University this fall for the start of his first year, he had all the essentials. Winter coat. Dictionary. Four pairs of shoes. Toothpaste.

中國天津——今年秋天，當(dāng)楊哲宇來到天津大學(xué)，開始他的第一年大學(xué)生活時，他已經(jīng)擁有了所有的必需品。冬天的外套。字典。四雙鞋。牙膏。

And a few hundred yards from his dormitory, in a cobalt-blue tent set up on the floor of a gymnasium, he had his mother at his beck and call, ready to bring him bowls of instant noodles, buy him soap and scrub the floor of his new room.

在距離宿舍幾百米遠(yuǎn)的地方，他的母親在體育館地板上搭的一個鈷藍(lán)色帳篷里待命，隨時準(zhǔn)備給他送方便面，給他買肥皂，為他的新房間擦地。

“I feel safer when she’s here,” said Mr. Yang, 18, from a central Chinese town more than 700 miles away. “I’ve never been away from home before.”

“她在這里我覺得更安全一些，”18歲的楊哲宇說。他來自700多英里(約合1100公里)外的一個中國中部城鎮(zhèn)。“我以前從來沒有離開過家。”

Mr. Yang’s mother, Ding Hongyan, a farmer, was one of more than 1,000 parents of the class of 2022 who camped out in tents this month to watch over their children as they settled into college.

楊哲宇的母親丁紅燕是一名農(nóng)民，本月她跟其他1000多名2018級新生的父母一起，住在帳篷里，方便照顧孩子。

The parents came bearing bags of sunflower seeds, Hello Kitty backpacks stuffed with toilet paper and unsolicited advice on a variety of topics: the acceptable price of steamed dumplings ($1.50), the most lucrative college majors (engineering was a favorite) and the appropriateness of dating (best to be avoided while studying).

家長們帶著一袋袋的瓜子，Hello Kitty背包里塞滿廁紙，還有各類不請自來的忠告：蒸餃的公道價格(1.5美元)、最賺錢的大學(xué)專業(yè)(工科是最愛)、能不能談朋友(上學(xué)時最好避免談戀愛)。

Since 2012, Tianjin University, about two hours southeast of Beijing, has offered the “tents of love” free with the aim of making it easier for poor families to take part in the move-in tradition.

自2012年以來，位于北京東南方向約兩小時車程的天津大學(xué)一直在免費(fèi)提供“愛心帳篷”，目的是方便貧困家庭參與到迎新傳統(tǒng)中。

But the phenomenon, which has spread to several universities across China, has prompted debate about whether parents are coddling the generation of only children born after China’s one-child policy was adopted in 1979, and undermining their independence. The policy was abolished beginning in 2016.

這一現(xiàn)象已傳到了中國多所大學(xué)，并且引發(fā)了一場爭論：1979年中國實施獨(dú)生子女政策后，父母是否在溺愛獨(dú)生子女一代，并削弱了他們的獨(dú)立性。該政策已于2016年廢止。

Older generations of Chinese, who suffered through extreme poverty and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, have criticized parents who make long, arduous journeys to live in the tents, saying they are raising children unaccustomed to hardship, or “little emperors,” as they are derisively called.

中國老一輩人在上世紀(jì)60年代和70年代的文化大革命中經(jīng)歷過極端貧窮和混亂，他們批評那些長途跋涉、住在帳篷里的父母，說他們正在養(yǎng)育吃不慣苦的孩子——這些孩子被戲稱為“小皇帝”。

Younger Chinese, who grew up in China’s boom years, say they are decidedly self-sufficient.

年輕一輩的中國人在經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮時期長大，他們說能夠自立。

“I will learn to take care of myself,” Mr. Yang said. “I’m not worried about anything.”

“我要學(xué)著自己照顧好自己，”楊哲宇說，“我不擔(dān)心任何事情。”

The debate over the tents, which has also played out online, reflects the rapid pace of change in China and the relative novelty of the college experience and its various rituals.

關(guān)于帳篷的爭論也在網(wǎng)上展開，反映了中國快速變化的步伐，以及相對新鮮的大學(xué)經(jīng)歷及其各種儀式。

Many young people in China today are the first in their families to go to college. The government has opened hundreds of universities in recent years, and enrollment has surged, reaching 37.8 million students last year, up more than 20 percent since 2010.

在今天的中國，許多年輕人是家里第一個大學(xué)生。近年來，政府設(shè)立了數(shù)百所大學(xué)，入學(xué)人數(shù)激增，去年達(dá)到3780萬，比2010年增加了20%以上。

At Tianjin University, parents said they had signed up for the tents because they were nervous about sending their children long distances and couldn’t afford accommodations in big cities. Many come from rural areas, where they work as farmers, teachers and construction workers.

在天津大學(xué)，家長們表示，他們之所以報名住在帳篷里，是因為對于送孩子去遙遠(yuǎn)的地方念書感到擔(dān)心，加之負(fù)擔(dān)不起大城市的住宿費(fèi)用。他們中許多人來自農(nóng)村地區(qū)，在那里從事農(nóng)民、教師和建筑工人的工作。

Many families were lost amid the lakes and willow trees of Tianjin, one of China’s oldest universities, with more than 17,000 undergraduate students. The city of Tianjin, which overlooks the Bohai Sea, is a cosmopolitan port city, dotted with skyscrapers as well as churches and villas built by foreign powers that ruled the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

天津大學(xué)是中國最老的大學(xué)之一，有1.7萬多名本科生，許多家人在校內(nèi)的湖泊和柳樹之間迷了路。天津市俯瞰渤海，是一座國際化的港口城市。高樓大廈星羅棋布，還有許多19世紀(jì)末、20世紀(jì)初由外國人修建的教堂和別墅。

Qi Hongyu, a kindergarten administrator from the eastern province of Jiangsu, said he had made the journey to Tianjin because he was proud of his daughter and wanted to see what the university looked like. “She is realizing my dream,” he said.

齊洪雨是一名中國東部江蘇省的幼兒園管理員。他表示，他之所以來到天津，是因為他為女兒感到驕傲，并想看看大學(xué)是什么樣子的。“她實現(xiàn)了我沒有實現(xiàn)的夢想，”他說。

Mr. Qi, who grew up working on farms, said his daughter and her classmates had more comfortable lives than previous generations. But he said he hoped they would grow more independent by living farther from home. 齊洪雨在農(nóng)村長大，他說，他女兒和她的同學(xué)比前幾代人過得更舒適。但他說，他希望他們能通過在離家更遠(yuǎn)的地方生活而變得更加獨(dú)立。

“They grew up in greenhouses,” he said. “They have never experienced real life. They have always been studying.”

“他們就像長在溫室里的花朵，”他說。“沒有經(jīng)歷過真正的生活。他們一直都在學(xué)習(xí)。”

As dusk fell, hundreds of parents, blankets and pillows in hand, filed into a gym to stake out their territory, jostling for spots near the bleachers. They washed their faces and brushed their teeth in nearby locker rooms.

夜幕降臨時，數(shù)百名家長手拿毯子和枕頭，列隊進(jìn)入體育館，給自己占位，爭奪看臺附近的位置。他們在附近的更衣室里洗臉?biāo)⒀馈?/p>

The gym echoed with a cacophony of dialects from across China, and many parents struggled to understand one another.

體育館里回蕩著天南地北的方言，許多家長都難以聽懂彼此說的話。

As they prepared to sleep, the parents talked about the best breakfast places and where to buy cheap bedding for their children’s dorms. They compared their children’s scores on the college entrance exam and discussed how to encourage them to go into high-paying industries.

準(zhǔn)備睡覺時，家長們還在討論哪家早餐店最好，哪里又可以買到便宜床品給孩子宿舍里置備上。他們對比著各自孩子的高考成績，聊著如何說動小孩，讓他們將來在高薪行業(yè)里工作。

Yang Luping, an English teacher from rural China, reminded her daughter that soon she would have to learn to do her own laundry now that she was in college. “I already know how,” her daughter, Lu Yizhuo, interrupted.

楊魯平是一位中國鄉(xiāng)村英語老師，她提醒自己的女兒，現(xiàn)在是大學(xué)生了，以后要學(xué)會自己洗衣服。“我知道怎么洗，”她的女兒呂亦卓打斷她說道。

Ms. Yang is a self-described “tiger mom” who worked for years to ensure that her daughter got into a good university. When her daughter was young, she bought her Barbie dolls to encourage her studies. She sent her to boarding school and washed her clothes every weekend when she came home.

楊魯平說自己是個“虎媽”，許多年來始終在工作，就是為了保證女兒能上一所好大學(xué)。當(dāng)女兒還小的時候，她給女兒買芭比娃娃來鼓勵她好好學(xué)習(xí)。她還把女兒送進(jìn)寄宿學(xué)校，每周末給她洗從學(xué)校帶回來的臟衣服。

Ms. Yang refers to her daughter as a “gift sent to me by the heavens.” She said it was important that her daughter began the school year with a sense of support from her family.

楊魯平說，女兒是“上天賜給她的禮物”。她表示，在女兒開始學(xué)習(xí)前，讓她知道自己的家庭是支持她的，這一點(diǎn)很重要。

“I want to be next to her to make sure she is safe and happy,” Ms. Yang said. “I always tell her that I wish that even in the next life we can be mother and daughter again.”

“我想在她身邊確保她安全和快樂，”楊魯平說，“我總是告訴她我希望在來世我們依然做母女。”

For many parents, having a front-row seat at move-in provided an opportunity to set a few rules.

對于許多父母來說，在入學(xué)時盯緊一點(diǎn)，就可以有機(jī)會定些規(guī)矩。

Ms. Ding, the farmer, said she worried about how her son, Mr. Yang, would fare in a city with so many skyscrapers and distractions. He came down with fevers frequently as a child. And he sometimes seemed addicted to his cellphone, she said, playing games and devouring sci-fi novels.

身為農(nóng)民的丁紅燕表示，自己很擔(dān)心她的兒子會在這個充滿了摩天大樓和干擾的城市里適應(yīng)不好。他從小就愛生病，她說，而且還愛玩手機(jī)、愛打游戲、癡迷科幻小說。

After the more than 36-hour journey by train and bus from their hometown in Hubei Province to the tents in Tianjin, Ms. Ding offered some advice. No video games. No lazy friends. And no romantic relationships.

在坐了超過36小時的火車和汽車后，丁紅燕終于從河北老家來到了天津的小帳篷里。長途奔波后，丁紅燕勸告兒子，不要打游戲。不要交懶散的朋友。不許談戀愛。

Mr. Yang, with thick black frames, a bright yellow T-shirt that said “RESURRECTION” and a faint mustache, looked skeptical. “That’s not necessary,” he said.

楊哲宇是一個戴著厚厚的黑框眼鏡、穿一件亮黃色寫著“RESURRECTION”(復(fù)活)字樣的T恤、有一點(diǎn)胡子的男孩，他看起來并不同意母親的建議。“沒必要，”他說。

They agreed to disagree, and promised to stay in touch regularly by phone and by WeChat, a popular messaging app. So long as it did not interfere with his studies.

他們各自保留意見，并保證在不打擾他學(xué)習(xí)的情況下，會定期打電話或者通過微信——一個大家常用的聊天軟件——聯(lián)系。