Luxury restaurant on college campus sparks controversy   

人大校內(nèi)開高檔西餐廳 2人一餐吃掉半月伙食費

不久前，人大校內(nèi)一組豪華西餐廳的照片在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上流傳開來，北京青年報記者昨天在這家名為“1958”的西餐廳看到食客滿座，來消費的多是人民大學(xué)的學(xué)生。按照菜價，兩人吃一餐的花費在300元左右，相當(dāng)于普通學(xué)生在附近食堂半個月的生活費。[查看全文]

(ECNS) – An upscale Western restaurant has opened on the campus of a top Beijing university, stirring a debate about high-end consumption at schools, the Beijing Youth Daily reports.

The Russian restaurant "1958", a branch of Beijing's famous Western restaurant "Weilan," has set up in an old Renmin University staff canteen, remodeled with fabulous decorations.

A vanilla baguette costs 98 yuan (about 15 US dollars) at 1958, and the cost of a beefsteak ranges from 80 to 150 yuan. A meal for two people will cost around 300 yuan, according to the restaurant's menu.

A student surnamed Chen said she spent around 400 yuan a month at the student canteen, and that a meal at the 1958 restaurant would cost her half a month's food budget.

Even though it's expensive, 1958 is always full of customers, according the restaurant's manager Zhang Zhi, who says they receive about 500 customers per day.

A student having dinner at the restaurant said it's okay to occasionally splurge, while a group of students said they never ordered meals there. "It's a little expensive," a student surnamed Chen said.

Students, parents, and educational experts hold differing views on whether such high-end restaurants should be allowed on school campuses. A student surnamed Zhao, a history major, said she and most of her classmates think it's fine, because they don't often patronize the restaurant anyway.

Xiong Bingqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the school provides various services to students, and there isn't a problem as long as it doesn't force students to consume.

Zhan Wansheng, a director at the China National Institute for Educational Research, said that if the high-end restaurant is open to society and not to students exclusively, it shouldn't be limited.

But one student's mother, surnamed Wang, disagreed. High-end consumption will have an unfavorable influence on our children's growth, she said.