Hagen Daas is being sold on Tsinghua University campus. What is so special about that?

Creme-de-la-creme: More and more students patronize restaurants on campus which have mushroomed to cater to the increasing spending power of those in the ivory tower. [China Daily]

Plenty. It has even become a storm in an ice-cream cone as a matter of fact.

An 80-gram cone, about the size of an egg, typically costs 25 yuan (US$3). And if you have a combination of goodies at the campus cafe selling Hagen Daas, the bill will set you back at least 120 yuan (US$14.5). Not a negligible sum for most students.

"My God, students nowadays are really big spenders. Even for me it would be a grudge purchase," griped a white-collar worker who earns 5,000 yuan (US$605) a month.

"Yes, it would be a treat for me. Most students are using their parents' money, which should go to the most worthy items, like books and daily necessities," said Tao Weijie, a Tsinghua student of journalism.

There are three Hagen Daas outlets in Beijing, all located in upscale malls. In the Tsinghua campus, it is sold in a newly opened coffee shop next to a cavernous canteen that caters to thousands.

"We did some market research before bringing the product here," said the cafe manager named Yang. "Don't underestimate campus spending power. There are professors, foreign students and those returning from the West who would go downtown for this kind of purchase. Even undergraduates can have exposure to the brand and become consumers after they graduate."

Yang revealed that students actually make up about half of her clientele since the cafe opened in August.

About 50 metres from the cafe, there is another outlet where an ice-cream cone sells for 1 yuan (12 US cents) and a cup of coffee for 3 yuan (36 US cents). Campus eateries usually sell low-priced chow-mein and fried rice. More importantly, some people deem the campus an ivory tower where the pursuit of knowledge is king and material things are a big no-no.

"But this is such an outdated notion," said Shi Jinghuan, professor of education at Tsinghua. "A campus is a microcosm of society. People used to think it was a purified environment out of touch with the outside world. But that is not good for the growth of students. Students are adults, and they have the ability to make their own decisions, including purchasing decisions."

Still some people believe this will only encourage the trend of keeping up with the Joneses. It is incompatible with campus atmosphere. "Wouldn't it be better if the place is leased to a store that serves the majority?" asked another professor.

A campus administrator responded that the school just leases the space, and it is up to the store to determine what it wants to sell.

"Students are known to be poor. They live on their parents' money, or student loans or grants. So they deserve only the cheapest food. But it is ludicrous to deduce that they should be banned from buying expensive stuff," wrote Cao Lin, a media commentator.

"True, Hagen Daas is out of the affordability range for most of the students. But they should be rational enough to make their own choices. Who are we to make a moral judgment for them on such trivialities? We were shocked when condoms were first sold on campus. Now we are again tempted to impose our own reasoning on them, " argued Cao.

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