Safety lines are designed

Even though Zhang Yujia has been busy with her doctoral studies while under quarantine, she has still found time to design 2-meter lines to amuse students when they are taking nucleic acid tests.

The postgraduate at Tsinghua University's Department of Precision Instruments was inspired after seeing that a high school student had designed lines bearing poems, so she decided to create lines with Tsinghua characteristics to help her peers kill time in an amusing way.

She and her teammates designed 28 lines covered with head-scratching puzzles, riddles and other brainteasers, as well as inspirational quotes.

With a new brainteaser to solve or a new quote to read every 2 meters, the time spent waiting in line now seems to pass more quickly, she said.

To make the 2-meter lines more intriguing, the 26-year-old and her friends carefully selected designs, colors and fonts.

"In order to reflect the characteristics of Tsinghua, I drew some landmark buildings and plants commonly found on campus," she said.

However, that still did not seem to make the lines lively enough, so she added drawings of some small animals she sees around the school.

"What we have done is meaningful. The lines not only remind everyone to keep a safe distance from each other, but also offer recreation and learning," she said.

Zhang's current life does not differ much from before quarantine. She still goes to her laboratory at 10 am and leaves after 10 pm as she is busy doing experiments and writing papers.

The university campus is big enough for her to move freely, and the students have found many creative ways to pass the time, she said.

"On the school playgrounds, there are all kinds of activities, such as mini-concerts, dancing, sports, card games, picnics, frisbees and so on," she said.

"Anything you can think of, you can find it on the playgrounds. This actually gives students opportunities to form new relationships."