What Is 百团大战? The "Hundred Clubs War" at Chinese Universities

Arrive at a Chinese university in September and you will see posters everywhere for 百团大战 (bǎi tuán dà zhàn). Translated literally it says "the battle of a hundred regiments," which is a strange thing to find on a campus noticeboard. It is not in any textbook, and it is not military. It is the student club recruitment fair.

Where the name comes from

百团大战 is the name of a real campaign: a large offensive launched by the Eighth Route Army in northern China in 1940, named for the roughly hundred regiments involved.

Universities borrowed the phrase as a joke, and it stuck. The pun sits on one character:

• 团 (tuán) in the original name means a military regiment
• 团 on campus is short for 社团 (shè tuán), a student club or society

So 百团大战 on a campus poster is "a hundred clubs, all fighting for you." Peking University, Tsinghua and plenty of others use the phrase in their own official announcements, so it is not slang you need to be shy about.

What actually happens there

The clubs set up 摊位 (tān wèi), booths, across a square or a main walkway. Music, posters, free snacks, people calling out to anyone who slows down. Most booths are staffed by 学长 (xué zhǎng) and 学姐 (xué jiě), your male and female seniors.

What they want from you is your 报名表 (bào míng biǎo), the application form. That is usually all that happens on the day.

Here is the part that surprises people: the fair is not where you get interviewed. The square is far too loud for a real conversation, so if a club wants to talk to you properly, the 面试 (miàn shì) is scheduled separately, usually that evening or a few days later, in a quiet classroom. So do not panic when someone takes your form and says 后面再安排面试 (hòumiàn zài ānpái miànshì) — "we'll arrange the interview later."

The words you'll need

Watch out for one pair: 招新 (zhāo xīn) is clubs recruiting new members, while 迎新 (yíng xīn) is welcoming new students — the whole orientation period. They look almost identical and mean different things.

A couple of sentences you can actually use

• 这个社团还招新吗？(zhège shètuán hái zhāoxīn ma?) — is this club still recruiting?
• 我想报名 (wǒ xiǎng bàomíng) — I'd like to sign up
• 面试是什么时候？(miànshì shì shénme shíhou?) — when is the interview?

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