The screenshots supplied to ExpatRights show a WeChat group from a university dormitory in Xi'an. Around 1 a.m., students were asking why the water had disappeared from T3. The accompanying account says the whole dorm had no running water, the gates were locked until morning, and nobody had given them advance notice.
The First Question Was Simple
At 00:55, the first message was not an argument. It was a question:
Student: "Hello did they cut water in t3?"
Another student answered:
Another student: "Yes"
Then came the detail that changed the temperature of the chat:
Student: "There was no notice about this!"
The students were not asking for luxury. One message asked whether the receptionist could open the door because no one had been told about the water and there was an emergency involving water and a restroom.
Student: "can u inform the resectionist to open the door, no one informed us about the water. at least leave the door open, we have an emergency and we need water and a restroom !!"
The supplied account says the dorm gates were locked from midnight until 6 a.m. Another message explained why leaving and returning mattered:
Student: "If water is not available we need to be able to go out (and come back), because we can't use the restroom"
By Morning, The Reply Was About Sleep
At 04:48, another student wrote that the water was no longer even clean. It was not colourless.
Another student: "Now the water is not even clean. It is not colourless."
At 09:36, the response from the staff side arrived. The supplied screenshots show the reply turning toward how late the students had tagged the teacher and whether they should have asked reception themselves.
The line that stayed with the students was:
Staff message, as reproduced in the supplied account: "The last advice is PLEASE SLEEP ON TIME thank you"
The students answered that the reply had missed the point completely.
"Honestly, your reply completely missed the point. This was never about what time we sleep. It is about the fact that there was no water in the whole dorm, no notice was given, and we were put in a situation where we couldn't even use the restroom."
The complaint was not that a teacher had failed to answer instantly at 1 a.m. It was that students had no clear emergency route after an essential service failed.
The Complaint Had Been Repeated For Years
The same response continued:
"We contacted you because we had an emergency, not because we wanted to fight with you. The receptionist refused to let us leave and come back, and threatened that we would not be allowed inside until 6 a.m."
The supplied account says similar problems with the dorm office had been happening for years.
"This is not only about this one night. This kind of attitude and lack of response has been happening with the dorm office for years. Students have been facing these problems for 7 years, and nothing seems to improve."
The request was not for special treatment. It was for communication and a way to handle basic problems when they became urgent.
"The minimum that should have happened was communication between your office and the dorm staff to allow students to deal with urgent situations."
Then It Became A Personal-Rights Argument
The supplied text describes the staff response shifting away from the water outage and toward private time, personal rights, and the students' attitude. It says the students were told that if they thought the school was not good, they could choose a better place, and that the teacher would not reply to messages at 1 a.m. without permission to be tagged.
The screenshots show the conversation continuing in Chinese. One message says, in translation supplied with the account, that students should first clarify independent personal rights before continuing the discussion. Another says that if students believed the teacher was biased or unable to solve the problem, they should not tag him.
The students tried to narrow the conversation back to the emergency:
"Our concern isn't about receiving a late reply. It is about being informed in advance if something like this happens."
They said they did not expect the teacher to repair the water personally at 1 a.m. They expected an emergency communication channel or a solution from the dorm or school side.
"We did not expect you to personally fix the water issue at 1 a.m.; we expected there to be an emergency communication channel or a solution from the dorm/school side for situations like this."
A Water Complaint Became A Threat Of Consequences
The accompanying text says the staff member also suggested that a student's admission results be re-evaluated after she raised the complaint, describing that as a way to create a more equal dialogue. That is a serious claim, and it remains an allegation from the supplied account rather than an independently verified university policy.
The student kept returning to the same point:
"Saying that students can choose another school does not address the problem we are raising. our aim is to improve the living conditions and communication process so that similar situations can be handled better in the future."
The supplied account says the exchange ended with the teacher insisting that students should not tag him without permission and reportedly telling them, "If you don't like this behavior, get out."
That is not the same as proving profanity or a racial motive. It is enough to show how quickly a facilities problem can become a dispute over authority when the original question is never answered.
The Basic Question Remains
Students do not need a special privilege to ask what happens when water disappears from an entire dormitory. They need advance notice when possible, a clear emergency contact, a workable gate policy, and a response that deals with the problem before disciplining the people who report it.
The issue here is not whether every teacher must answer every message immediately. It is whether international students in a university residence can raise a basic living problem without being blamed for the hour, told to study elsewhere, or made to feel that asking for help is itself the offense.
Sources: eight screenshots supplied to ExpatRights from a WeChat group labeled Youyi Campus (432) and the accompanying account text. The material describes a university in Xi'an but does not identify it here. The screenshots and allegations were not independently verified; this article does not establish intentional discrimination, profanity, a racial motive, or a university-wide policy.