(Photo : Getty Images) Start young. Children practice swimming during a training session at the Jiulong Square Swimming Centre.


For the prestigious Tsinghua University, dubbed as the Harvard of the East, every students who want to graduate from the university should possess a key skill: swimming.



The university announced on Monday, to mixed response, that all of their students should know how to swim before they graduate, describing swimming as a "key survival skill." Beginning in September, students have to demonstrate that they can swim at least 50 meters using any stroke. If they fail the initial test, they will take another one after they have learned to the skill.



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"The exercise was made compulsory for all students because it also improves physical fitness," said Qiu Yong, president of Tsinghua University.



It first made swimming a requirement in 1919 but was removed due to the lack of swimming pools in Beijing.



The announcement sparked a debate on Chinese social media, with some questioning the fairness of the rules. Why should swimming be prioritised when there is a drought in China today? How about those people who grew up in inland cities without rivers or seas to swim in?



Liu Bo, director of the university's physical education department, emphasized that it is now high time for the university to revive the rule.




Tagsweird news in China, start young, swimming in China, weird rules in China, Tsinghua University, swimming, Harvard, Harvard of the East, survival skill, skill