Xi’an subway in Shaanxi province will be operating Line 14 at the end of June, but the preliminary station naming plan released recently has once again sparked a heated debate between students and teachers of the two universities in the city, and the seeds of the controversy were sown more than a year ago. Shaanxi University of Science and Technology (SUST) and Xi’an University of Technology (Xi’an IIT) can be considered “neighbors”, but Xi’an IIT became the name of the station to the discontent of SUST, and recently ordered its kindergartens to refuse to accept each other’s staff children, the District Education Bureau ordered rectification after still not followed, the official media published an article on Friday (9) criticism.
The two schools are located in the northern suburbs of Xi’an University City, the eastern gate of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology and the main gate of Xi’an University of Technology are only separated by a road. A teacher who claimed to be a teacher of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology left a message online saying that the station is only 100 meters away from his school, but the name of the station does not reflect Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, but is named after Xi’an University of Technology and the name of the road, which is incomprehensible. Shaanxi University alumni also suggested that the name of the station should be changed from “Xi’an University of Technology Station” to “Weiyang University City Station” to highlight the characteristics of Xi’an as a national metropolitan educational base and the rich educational resources; they also pointed out that Xi’an University of Technology has two campuses, Weiyang and Jinhua. It is also said that Xi’an Polytechnic University has two campuses, Weiyang and Jinhua, and that “Xi’an Polytechnic University Station” may mislead the public because it does not specify which campus.
However, students of Xi’an University of Technology (XUT) took the name for granted, as the university gave a lot of help in terms of land and electricity during the construction of the subway. Until the end of last month, Shaanxi University Asset Management Company asked the director of its kindergarten to inform 40 children of employees of Xi’an University of Technology to withdraw from school on the same day in response to the naming. The parents reflected to the provincial, municipal and district education departments, but the kindergarten authorities still did not follow the district education bureau’s request a week later to allow the young children involved to continue to attend school. District-level department interviews with the director of the park failed to negotiate, and most of the young children have been diverted to other kindergartens in the vicinity.
The official media recently criticized that the behavior of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology has led to the sacrifice of innocent children, saying “lost connotation, loss of manners”. Another official media said that the practice of taking it out on children is childish in a bureaucratic way and mean in a parochial way, which is degrading and laughable. Xi’an Metro is now attaching great importance to the incident, currently collecting public opinion to follow up, the naming scheme will be announced after it is determined.
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