As November draws to a close, Nankai University is blanketed in golden leaves. The cold wind whiffs through the trees, leaving a golden blanket with Lady autumn bringing the campus a golden rain.  

This year, to prolong the splendid autumn landscape, the university’s logistics service office has launched a campaign dubbed “Leave the Leaves.” The activity aims to allow teachers and students to enjoy the beautiful scenery for as long as possible.

The campus is home to many plants that change color during the autumn, including white wax, platanus, white poplar and ginkgo trees as well as flame, cotinus, yuanbao and pentagonal maples, of which the leaves turn bright red. How can we say no to such a beauty? Let’s crunch across those fallen leaves!

Considering the safety of traffic and various characteristics of plants’ leaves, this activity is decided to target at greenbelts and both sides of Dazhong Road in Balitai campus as well as at Gongneng North and South Roads and at Gongneng East and West Roads in Jinnan campus. In ancient times, after harvest, people had free time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of layers of red leaves liying on the fields after autumn rains. And now, teachers and students in campus are also expected to have the same pleasure. Many of them praise “Leave the Leaves” as a romantic, poetic and beautiful campaign.

The activity will last for a period of time depending on weather conditions. Only both sides of the above mentioned roads and greenbelts will keep the remains of the leaves whereas other main roads will be cleaned as usual. Regular cleaning of garbage including scraps of paper and fruit peels is conducted as normal, giving priority to environmental cleaning. In case of rain, snow or wind during the activity, leaves will be raked to make sure the safety of traffic and the cleanliness of the university. 

(Reported by Jingqiu Hao, Photographed by Junhui Wu and Qiqi Zong, Translated by Wanjun Xue, Edited by Davide Francolino and JianjingYun)