Fang Jieming, a junior at Renmin University, spent an entire day last week, with her three roommates, decorating their dorm room to turn it into a "cozy home".

The large grey desk was replaced with a more delicate yellow table to make better use of the space.

Each of their beds got a "Hello Kitty" curtain to give them a harmonious look.

"The old room was lifeless. We decided to decorate the room so that everyone who visited would feel relaxed, stimulated, comfortable and really at ease," explained Fang.

This DIY approach to dorm rooms is becoming more common these days at universities like Shanghai, Nanjing and Sichuan.

Hua Xin, a junior at Shanghai University, lives in a building that has 50 rooms, about 20 of which have been given a new look this year.

Many students say they do it to create a more homelike atmosphere.

"Even though we're far from our parents, we won't get that homesick if we have a homelike dorm. And when we do it ourselves, we roommates feel as close as members of a big family," said Hua.

Some students who are less attached to life back home take a different approach. They want to turn their rooms into a sort of "exhibition hall" to show off their personal interests and individual personalities.

Yu Yangzi, a senior at Peking University, is one of these. He shares a dorm room with five "vigorous" boys.

In their freshman year, they gave their 15-square-metre dorm room a totally new look: they turned it into a professional photo studio.

It has everything from black and white photos of pop singers to colourful posters from Hollywood.

Pictures of sports cars racing across the wall show person's interest in cars while the poster of a pop music star definitely indicates a fan, Yu pointed out.

So, what do the universities think about this DIY decoration approach?

One person from Sichuan University's dorm management office said: "As long as they don't purchase any dangerous items like electrical appliances, it's okay."

Some universities even go further. Renmin University has an annual dorm decoration festival to encourage those who want to beautify their surroundings.

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