“Look at the stars, look how they shine for you…”

It was at nighttime. It was dark. It was from inside a dormitory that the melody emerged.

There was a song called “Yellow”. There was Lo Da-Yu. There was a large group of students singing in chorus, in English or Chinese, and something pop or folk,

The setting was WHU’s Hubin 7th dormitory, where circumstances had led to a midnight unplugged concert.

On May 17, a power failure had hit Wuhan University unexpectedly. Until the evening that day, Hubin 7th dormitory had not yet restored electricity supply. Wi-fi was largely off, and so was the 4G signal.

“It was dark and hot. We all opened the door, walked out of our rooms, and chitchatted along the corridor,” a student from that dormitory recalled.

All of a sudden, Huang Can and Zhang Wenhan on the 3rd floor suggested, “Let’s play some music.” They grabbed their guitars and began performing on the corridor. This move set off the crowd, with increasing numbers of students joining in. Some played drums, some used their phones as flashlights and others waived around glow sticks.

Eventually, Hubin 7th dormitory, one of the largest student dorms in WHU, turned into a grand concert hall, and the crowd went into a great chorus. They sang “Old boy”, “Yellow”, “Time Story”, and more, late into the night.

Reminiscing later, students recalled with strong feelings: “Almost everyone was involved. Although we hardly knew each other, we felt we were close that night” And, “I was there, I was deeply touched.” Or, “It was utterly romantic.”

This contagious moment was recorded. The recorded videos were uploaded online and soon went trending on Weibo. Some users on Weibo commented: “It’s so nice to be so young.” or “I used to be just like them, what a precious memory!” or “So youthful, and so romantic.”

Through the singing and the wonderful feelings of unison it created that night, the beauty of youth emanated from that dormitory, from all the students present. The blackout may have come suddenly, but it didn’t stifle the enthusiasm and passion of the students in WHU.

Edited by Wei Junyi, Zheng Yayun, Shi Weiya & Hu Sijia