Hundreds of Chinese students forced to compete in quilt-folding contest to prove they are tidy enough to earn a dorm room

A Chinese university has staged a bizarre quilt-folding contest to work out which students were neat and tidy enough to get one of the rooms in a student dorm.

A shortage means there is tough competition to get official accommodation at Liaocheng University in Shandong province in eastern China, so staff decided the unusual test was the best way to root out slovenly students.

In scenes difficult to imagine at a British university, about 200 students were given 20 minutes to fold the quilts and prove they were neat and tidy enough to win one of the coveted places.

Neat idea: Chinese students had to undertake a quilt-folding contest to prove they were tidy enough to win a place in a dorm

Coveted: Official accommodation is scarce, so competition for a spot is fierce

A university spokesman said: 'Some students don't pay attention to hygiene and the dorm ended up a mess, so we have tried to clamp down a bit on standards and this is a good way to focus on the priorities, to encourage the students to treat their dorm with more respect.

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'A tidy home is not just a better place to live - but also a better place to study. Besides, the contest is interesting and makes the campus life more colourful.'

Students in China are known for the extreme lengths they are willing to go to.

Time trial: About 200 students were given 20 minutes to fold the quilts

Dedication: Chinese students will go to extreme lengths to excel at university

Moment of truth: The quilts are laid out for inspection by university staff

Young scholars are so keen to learn they have been spotted breaking into their university lecture rooms at night to guarantee themselves a seat during the next day's lessons.

Chinese citizens were bemused earlier this year when the Chinese military released pictures of 500 army recruits taking part in a quilt-folding contest in Nanjing, capital of eastern China's Jiangsu Province. The recruits were tasked with folding the quilt as precisely and neatly as possible.

The populace took to the internet and joked that China's military superiority was assured as its soldiers excel in the art of neatly folding their bedding.