Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

In the graduation season, leaning banks of disposed bicycles have become a common scene across university campuses. At Tsinghua University, almost every student buys a bicycle upon registration, but discards them upon leaving school. These bicycles, left unused for a long time and therefore occupying limited parking space, are dubbed "zombies." According to Tsinghua's security office, there are now some 60,000 bikes dumped by graduates on campus. Although the office asked all teaching staff and students to claim them, still more than 1,000 are left behind every year. And there are many speed-variable bicycles, mountain bikes and electric vehicles among these discarded zombies that are in a relatively good condition despite dust and rust. The university therefore decided to mobilize volunteers to bring these zombies back to life. Recently they successfully repackaged 500 idle bicycles and distributed them to faculty and students for free. And each revived zombie has been painted with the logo "green travel" to encourage more cycling. The university pledged to revive more zombies for teachers and students.