Lessons for Life

Young adults in China are embracing anew way of nightlife – attending nightschools for personal growth.

“Guess which saves more space？ Folding yourclothes or hanging them in the closet？” asked LiJing as she took out various hangers. “Actually，as long as you divide your wardrobe into a longclothing zone and a short clothing zone according to yourdressing habit， you’ll find that hanging them is much moreconvenient and space saving，” she said to her evening classof over 20 attentive young people.

Her “students” were all full-time workers living in Beijing.As a professional clothes organizer and founder ofthe Sheyu Tidying Academy， Li was invited by the Qinghe Night School in the locality to give a lecture on how tokeep one’s closets neat and tidy and how to declutter bygetting rid of old clothes. Her talk kicked off the nightschool’s first semester.

The school， set up this year jointly by the local branchof the Communist Youth League of China and a communityyouth club， offers a wide range of courses. Someare conventional， like traditional handicrafts， beauty andfitness， and Chinese calligraphy， and some are unusual，like meditation therapy and Li’s lesson. They are taught byexperienced instructors at an affordable RMB 170-600 per10 classes， which adds to their attraction.

How Messy Are You？

“Use the simplest method to achieve the best results.This is the philosophy of tidying and organizing clothes，” Litold her first class. Her life aesthetics lesson， “Never MessAgain – Organizing Hacks （Wardrobe Chapter），” had boththeoretical explanations and hands-on demonstrations.

Li told her students that wardrobes are often the“hardest-hit areas” in every household. By designing theshape， position and sections of their wardrobes， everyonecan create a beautiful and unique wardrobe space for themselves.

“We can use the four-quadrant classification to establishfour categories： commonly used， infrequently used，liked， and disliked items. Then everything will becomevery clear，” she said.

Subsequently， she encouraged the students to get startedby arranging the clothing and accessories on the cardsshe had brought according to their applicable season，style， occasion， and color.

“I love this class. Spending a small amount of timelearning how to organize and store my clothes can saveme time to do more things I love！” said Wang Yan， one ofthe night class students.

Wang said her wardrobe at home was simply “unbearable”as she had no concept of sorting and organizing herclothes. “Today’s class has been particularly beneficialto me. Now I have a system to sort out and organize mywardrobe， and even my life，” she said.

At 9 pm when the course ended， many students stilllingered， asking further questions.

Learning without Limits

These night schools， with their affordable prices， flexiblecourses and diverse choices， have become popularamong young people seeking to recharge themselves afterwork in big cities. One reason for the popularity is thenew concept of lifelong learning and the widening boundariesof the traditional education system. Here， there areno age or career boundaries， only a thirst for knowledgeand a longing for a better self.

Across Beijing， a variety of night schools are offering awide range of classes for young adults. “Working duringdaytime and honing favored skills after work” has becometrendy. Due to their affordability， the seats are snapped upsoon after registration starts.

For many young students， the courses not only teachthem life skills， but also help them make friends.

Night school goers shared their experience on socialmedia and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu.

“In the past， I would often surf on my phone in bed untillate at night， which not only made me feel empty， butalso affected my physical health，” said one user who wascurrently attending a night class on running social mediaaccounts. “Night schools provide me with a new socialscene where I can meet like-minded people.”

Night schools have also bloomed in other cities acrossChina.

The autumn classes of the Shanghai Citizen Art NightSchool have begun. This year， the classes are being heldat the Shanghai Mass Art Museum. The school has 36branches， offering over 1，000 courses to nearly 25，000 students.

“My mom and her friends have enrolled and she haslearned a lot. She used to know nothing about how tomake bread or cakes， but since taking baking classes atthis night school， she is now a baking master. There arereally many night schools in Shanghai where you canlearn things，” said a netizen on Xiaohongshu.

In Chengdu， the night schools are offering yet moretrendier courses， like boxing， pop singing， DJing， rappingand how to wear make-up. The Chengdu All-age Schoolwent viral on its launch for its popular courses. Thisnight school offers 20 subjects and has nearly 350 studentsaged 18-55， making it the biggest night school inChengdu.

More than a Hobby

In southwest China’s Chongqing City， a night school offers entrepreneurship training to facilitate employment.

Min’an Huafu is one of the largest government-subsidizedlow-rent housing neighborhoods in Chongqing，with 54 buildings housing 19，000 households. It’s knownfor its large number of migrant workers， people with onlyprimary and junior high school education， low-incomefamilies and people facing employment difficulties， suchas the disabled.

A night school was established there in 2021 with thesupport of the Federation of Trade Unions of JiulongpoDistrict to provide employment and entrepreneurshipskills training. The 14 training courses cover topics suchas media operations， beauticians’ work， Internet marketing，and employment adaptability. By now， 519 peoplehave participated in the training， with 283 having obtainedvocational skill certificates. What’s more， lawyersare invited to explain the laws relevant to the communityso that they understand the laws and abide by them， aswell as use the law to protect their legitimate rights andinterests.

Not only in big cities， night schools were also mushroomingin small counties. The affordable citizen nightschools across China owe their success partly to the supportand efforts of governments at all levels. The challengein the long run is how to pool resources and meet theneeds of various age groups.