Yunshan Image: More Than Just a Print Shop

Editor’s note: The Yunshan Student Work-Study of GDUFS was established in September 2003. To date, it has founded 22 venues for work-study, including the Yunshan Coffee House, Yunshan Fitness Room, Yunshan Bakery and the Yunshan Images, providing nearly 2000 work-study positions for students in total. All of these economic entities are managed independently by students under the guidance of the Student Work Department. Students can hold the posts of directors, managers and employees, providing an opportunity for them to fully utilize their enthusiasm and creativity. The Yunshan Student Work-Study program achieves the dual goals of aiding students in need and cultivating entrepreneurial practice, allowing them to better engage with the market and society. This series aims to introduce the “Yunshan Work-Study Program” to better deepen appreciation and understanding of the program on campus.

Yunshan Image[Photo/Yunshan Image Wechat official account]

Yunshan Images, also called Yinxiang, is located on the first floor of the Sports Building of the North Campus. Yunshan Images offers a series of convenient service for GUDFSers such as printing, stationery sales and postcard sales. Students go into the store before class and print some paper versions of coursework by themselves, or purchase several beautiful postcards to write down their wishes for friends. Also, the venue  provides many work-study positions to students as one of the entities under GDUFS’s Yunshan Student Work-study program. As a result, the staff mostly consists of students who work here as their part-time jobs.

When students talk about Yunshan Images, the first thing that comes to their mind is printing documents. Liao Yintong, a GDUFS student, said that only when she needs a print job does she go to Yunshan Image, while she knows little about other services in this spot. After hearing these words, a manager who is with Yunshan Image explained, “This kind of thing could not be more frequent. Actually, though, we also sell all kinds of stationery, postcards, and even some English proficiency test papers, together with providing plagiarism checks services.” She guessed that perhaps it is because students seldom pay attention to the Yunshan Images public account that they get less chances to know more about these practical services, which proves that there is still room for the venue to develop in their public relations.

Some facilities inside the Yunshan Image[Photo/Ma Yiping]

Yunshan Images’ facilities consist of several printers and connected computers, shelves of stationery and postcards, and a workbench along with cash registers. Two employees often sit in a chair in front of the computer to help someone with printing. In addition, there are also two employees at the workbench and cash register who are responsible for binding documents, selling English test questions or doing cash register work. The store is reasonably staffed and thus not overcrowded. There is also an umbrella basket, and one of the student employee reported that as long as you register your personal information, you can borrow an umbrella for up to 7 days. As there is no complicated design, students can find the goods and services they need quickly and easily, which saves a lot of time for the busy students and improves the work efficiency.

Employee is helping customer print some articles[Photo/Ma Yiping]

According to an employee, Yunshan Image usually opens at 8 a.m. on weekdays and doesn't close until 10 p.m. The busiest times of the day are the period before 8:30 am and noon, during which students are rushing to print their homework and get to class, so it may be a little hectic at that time. Students work two hour shifts at a time, and there are usually three employees on each shift: one for cash registers and counter services, and two to help with printing. After closing, employees get together for a meeting, either to talk about problems at work or to discuss the work schedule for the coming week. “There's a good atmosphere. Everybody gets on pretty well together,” reported one employee.

Why do employees get such great pleasure and satisfaction in such a place? Zhong, the manager of the sales department of Yunshan Image, who answered that question.

“One of the reasons that I chose to stay at Yunshan Image is because of the great atmosphere here,” said Zhong Ying, who describes Yunshan Images as a warm family, “I have harvested countless surprises here. On boys' Day, girls' Day or some holidays, employees can receive gifts from Yunshan Images, which once touched us very much. In addition, we often hold parties to bond and connect with each other. In the past year, I’ve actively participated in various parties and gotten to know my coworkers. These wonderful experiences have made me more determined to stay at Yunshan Images.”

Employees are gathering to enjoy their party time[Photo/Yunshan Image Wechat official account]

Exhibition board with discount information[Photo/Ma Yiping]

A thoughtful signboard[Photo/Ma Yiping]