AT the premiere of the short TV movie "San Fu Tian?on March 7, the student director Wang Long said he hoped the film about how a poor rural family supported a son going to college would result in "more attention and care?being paid to the situation of poor college students.

As if at an Oscar ceremony, Wang also thanked his school ?the East China University of Science & Technology, the investor, his teachers and others who had helped him make the film.

Wang was asked by fellow students attending the ceremony at the school whether the movie would be used for commercial purposes. He denied the possibility categorically.

As to where the movie would be shown, Wang hesitantly responded that he didn't know. So far the movie has not found an outlet except for Channel 10 of China Central Television (CCTV), which has shown some interest in it.

The crew, some 20 students, were all volunteers and the film was produced without professional facilities. Wang has borrowed a DVD writing machine from one of his teachers to copy the discs.

"Each disc takes 20 minutes to copy,?he said.

The investor, a government unit of Anqing City of East China's Anhui Province, provided 70,000 yuan (US$8,434) to cover all expenses of the 40-day shoot in Linqing of East China's Shandong Province in the summer of 2004. But the film went over-budget by nearly 6,000 yuan (US$723), which Wang and some other crew members had to cover themselves.

As a student from a rural family, Wang now lacks the funds to pay his tuition fees for the new semester.

School representatives attended the ceremony, but the school was not being very "supportive,?according to Wang.

"They kept telling us, emphatically, that shooting this movie was 'individual behaviour?that didn't represent the school,?he added.

Wang thought society had failed to pay sufficient attention to the plight of poor students in colleges. "People don't know the pressure such students are subjected to, along with their families, not only financially but also mentally.?

Dignity in poverty

According to Tang Minhua, who works in the department responsible for student loans at Fudan University, on average 20 per cent of college students in Shanghai, as in China overall, are from poverty-stricken families.

At the beginning of campus life, new students fill in forms describing the financial situations of their families if they are seeking loans or other support.

"Some students are unwilling to fill in the form out of fear other students will discover they are poor,?said one counsellor at a local university, who refused to be identified.

Students from families with per capita monthly income below 560 yuan (US$67), the definition of the poverty line in Shanghai, are accepted as "poor students? All their names and personal information is posted on public bulletins on campus during the process.

Some students do not want to be "labelled?this way, according to Ye Bin, who works in the psychological consulting centre of East China Normal University.

This "label?has been cleverly disguised by L'Oreal China, a cosmetic company that has provided funds for poor student from western regions of China in the past five years. In the first two years of the scheme, the company publicized the names of all the students who received financial support. But since 2003, the company changed its approach after listening to the opinions of teachers and the students themselves, according to Lan Zhenzhen, public relations director of L'Oreal. It was not so much poverty itself that embarrassed the poor students, but the fact they were being helped.

"I am a grown-up so it is embarrassing to still depend on help from others,?said Xiang Shiming, a sophomore at Fudan University receiving L'Oreal funds.

Born into a rural family in a remote village of Central China's Hubei Province, Xiang had never left his home county before attending college in Shanghai.

He carefully hid his own financial situation and few of his classmates knew he received support from several organizations. He also applied for a student loan to pay his tuition fee.

Nevertheless, lifestyle differences and financial restraints kept Xiang from mixing easily with his roommates who all come from rich or middle-income urban families in Shanghai, Zhejiang and other provinces.

"We get on OK but are not good friends,?Xiang said.

Overly sensitive

Dwelling in a small and simple apartment with five other people, Xiang liked to sweep the floor to keep the room neat. This behaviour was opposed by the other roommates, who asked Xiang to sprinkle some water first so flying dust didn't trigger allergies.

"It sounds ridiculous to me, a man from the countryside used to working in the fields. How could a little dirt cause allergic reactions??he said. Xiang eventually gave up sweeping the floor.

When the other guys were talking about brand-label clothes or off-campus parties, Xiang remained silent.

Xiang doesn't have a girlfriend yet and says he doesn't even dare to think about it.

"Girls in this city pay too much attention to money. They could never love a guy like me,?he added.

Pan Lijun, vice-director of the Student Office of East China University of Science & Technology, said sometimes the gap between the poor and rich students was not the fault of the rich ones, but resulted from the fact the poor students themselves were "too sensitive?

This conclusion was echoed by Jiang Hanzhi, a Shanghainese student at East China Normal University. "For instance, sometimes we made jokes about someone's funny clothing. The girl in our room who comes from the countryside would immediately show her unhappiness. But we never meant it badly or directed it at her,?she said.

Only "a few?students from well-off families discriminated against poorer ones, and "very few?poor students tried to narrow the gap by purchasing things that the richer ones also owned, according to teachers and students interviewed by the Shanghai Star.

"The phenomenon is not usual, but it does exist,?said Ye Bin, the psychologist. "Some girls might work as escorts to make more money.?

However, the counsellor who refused to be identified said it was good that most college students nowadays care more about personal capabilities than family backgrounds. That's why many students from rural areas were able to stand out in a positive way, on the basis of their own hard-earned academic performance.