The third floor of Zhenghe Bathing Center has private rooms. The pictures in this group were taken by intern reporter Wang Le at the bathing center. The single bathrooms are divided into inner and outer rooms.
"One bathhouse in our school, the private rooms on the 3rd floor where male and female students can take a 'lover's bath', I think this phenomenon is very inappropriate." On December 11th, student Zheng from Northwestern Polytechnical University called our newspaper to express that this 'lover's bath' phenomenon has been going on for almost a year.
An undercover investigation found 7 single bathrooms on the third floor of the bathhouse. Student Zheng reported that the bathhouse is located in the old campus of Northwestern Polytechnical University, named Gongda, with single rooms on the third floor. For over 20 years, a man has adopted and sponsored nearly a hundred children. On December 11th, the reporter visited the first floor of the bathhouse and saw that the price list on the wall showed: tub bath single room 10 yuan per person per hour, 2 people 18 yuan per hour; shower single room 8 yuan per person per hour, 2 people 15 yuan per hour. The bathhouse's operating hours are: Monday to Friday from 6 PM to 9 PM; Saturday and Sunday from 2 PM to 9 PM.
At 3 PM on the 11th, two reporters from our newspaper, pretending to be a couple, went to Gongda in the old campus of Northwestern Polytechnical University. At the ticket counter on the first floor, the reporters asked the staff if there were private bathrooms available for male and female students to bathe together. The staff said that the first and second floors are public baths, the private rooms are on the third floor, priced at 15 yuan, with no time limit, and both genders can bathe together. After paying 15 yuan for the bath, the reporters directly went to the third floor.
The reporters saw that there were 7 private bathrooms on the third floor, each marked with a number. The two reporters entered one of the bathrooms, which was about 20 square meters, divided into inner and outer rooms. In the outer room, there was a bed, a cabinet, and two pairs of slippers. The inner room was the bathroom, with two bathtubs and showers, allowing the choice between a shower or a tub bath. After staying in the bathroom for a few minutes, the male reporter walked out and observed outside the door.
One of the bathhouse staff, noticing that the male reporter did not enter, cautiously asked why he wasn't bathing together. The male reporter explained that although he had a good relationship with the female classmate, they were not yet in a romantic relationship, so it was inconvenient to bathe together. At this moment, the reporter noticed a pair of students dressed casually entering an empty bathroom.
"If this happened to my child, I can't even imagine..." During the conversation with the bathhouse staff, the reporters learned that the bathhouse was privately contracted from the school, and students, faculty, and their families could all come here to bathe. However, when the reporter asked whether student couples could bathe together, the staff seemed to sense something and did not give a direct answer, instead emphasizing that most of the bathers here were students of the same gender who didn't want to bathe in the public bath, as well as the school's faculty and their families. "Nowadays, some six or seven-year-old boys cannot be taken to the public bath by their mothers, but we can provide them convenience," the staff said.
Regarding the phenomenon of 'lover's baths', the reporters randomly interviewed 7 students on campus. These students stated that they usually bathe on the first floor and have never been to the third floor. "I cannot accept this practice," postgraduate student Xu from Northwestern Polytechnical University expressed that although university students are adults, taking a 'lover's bath' is a very private matter. The bathhouse within the campus is a public mass bathhouse, and if male and female students take such baths while studying, it would create a bad impression.
"On-campus university students can get married now, so taking a bath together isn't a big deal," on the contrary, postgraduate students Zhang and Wu believed that taking a 'lover's bath' is a personal matter. As long as they are in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship and it doesn't affect others, it's fine to take a bath together.
A 50-year-old woman surnamed Li, whose 24-year-old daughter graduated from university over a year ago, said: "I simply cannot tolerate this phenomenon. If it happened to my own child, I wouldn't even dare to imagine it." A 54-year-old Xi'an resident Mr. Liu remarked that although young people nowadays advocate freedom, they should still focus on their studies while in school and maintain more traditional values when handling relationships.
By reporters Zhao Boping and Gong Zhifang
News Extension
Where else do university students take 'lover's baths'?
In recent years, media reports have covered university students taking 'lover's baths'. A few years ago, in a residential area in Lanzhou, Gansu, a place provided 'lover's baths' for university students, charging only three yuan per person.
A few years ago, a bathhouse near Hubei University offered 'double-person single rooms' for couples.
Recently, at a certain campus of Guizhou University, the student bathhouse was contracted out to a private party. For just 10 yuan, student couples could take a 'lover's bath'.
Unspoken Discomfort
Is it all because of 'lover's baths'?
Are 'lover's baths' wrong? No, because there is market demand. However, for university students, although legally allowed to marry during school and having free rein in dating, the emergence of 'lover's baths' as a social product inside the ivory tower still breaks the psychological bottom line for most people. Without making a value judgment on who is right or wrong, the words of parents seem more appropriate: "They are all students, it's better to stick to traditions."
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