As China's universities place greater emphasis on holistic development, Beijing International Studies University has embedded labor education as a compulsory component of its undergraduate curriculum to foster respect for labor and enhance students' sense of social responsibility.

According to Zhang Xihua, head of the university's academic affairs office, the labor education program includes no fewer than 32 class hours, consisting of eight hours of theoretical instruction and 24 hours of practical work.

Practical activities take students beyond campus cleaning or routine volunteering. In Beijing's Yanqing district, for example, students work alongside agricultural technicians to clear old seedlings and plow fields in autumn. In a forest farm in Shunyi district, they learn about and harvest bamboo fungus. Other popular activities include tea-picking, tea-making, and community gardening.

"We want students to truly work, exert themselves, sweat, and gain real rewards," Zhang said.

These hands-on activities not only build practical skills but also teach students to respect labor and value its fruits, she said.

Working in the fields, they realize that farm work is far from easy and come to understand that "every grain comes from hard work". They also develop a stronger belief that labor creates a better future, she said.

Meanwhile, labor education strengthens teamwork and problem-solving abilities and also boosts physical and mental health, she added.

Students have responded positively.

Qiu Sijing, a first-year French major at the university, said the most memorable session was cutting down dried eggplant stalks in the university's labor education base in Yanqing. Those dry stalks were hard and tough.

Cutting them with a sickle required the right angle and real effort, she said. After cutting, the students had to tie them into bundles and carry them away, and their hands were soon marked with red prints.

The experience taught her that farming is a full cycle. "It's not just sowing in spring and harvesting at the peak moment. The unnoticed cleanup work is just as essential," she said. "As a young person, I've come to appreciate the complete effort behind every achievement — including the repetitive, not so glamorous tasks."

Han Xinyu, a first-year trade economics student at the university, recalled an October labor course that took her class to a village history museum, a revolutionary memorial, and then into farm fields.

For the first time, she truly got her hands dirty from picking vegetables and shelling corn, she said. "I felt in my bones that every grain of rice comes from hard work. Labor taught me patience and groundedness, and helped me shed my previous restlessness."

Han also noted the benefits of working alongside classmates. "Unlike lectures that can make you drowsy, labor lessons — though physically tiring — lift your spirits. Working outdoors, talking and helping each other, we drew much closer as classmates."