Peking University, Mar. 31, 2013: "Clean up your plates, please!" a one-week campaign was unfolding in every refectory to cut food wastes at PKU.

"A dude goes to the Campus Restaurants every noon for curried chicken rice, and you can always catch him ending up with the last grain," said a student "HaxyHoo" on the microblog, "well, that would be me."

PKU Youth Volunteers Association, the organizers, encouraged students to "show off" their empty plates online with such remarks. Bulletin boards of PKU's official BDWM, and Renren.com, a Chinese social network, were exploited as well for the photo posters.

The lucky ten, out of the nearly 100 posters, gained a group visit to Nongyuan's kitchen. "It was hard before to imagine how our everyday food is made," "Watching cooks wash, chop, cook, and try to make our dishes delicious and balanced, I feel grateful!" expressed they.

The visitors at the back of Nongyuan

The visitors also witnessed the mounds of food residue, which occupied 39 volunteers in the clean-up work. Those "yellow-vest" — standing for hours beside the canteen staff, receiving plates and dumping food, receiving, dumping, receiving, dumping — were recognized for their responsibility and work passion.

Two of the volunteers in yellow vest

The "Empty Plate" action, introduced to PKU from the Internet, was a positive response to China's President Xi Jinping. Considering the country's huge population and shrinking farmland, Xi had made an appeal to save food resources.

Written by: Liu Yineng
Edited by: Arthars
Source: PKU News (Chinese)