Personally, I do not think I'd like to live in a dormitory - you haven't got much private space when you live there. However, it certainly has some advantages: you always have your friends/classmates around you and you will always have someone to speak with. Furthermore, for Chinese universities it is understandable that dormitories are commonly used out of economical reasons; living costs are simply far lower which gives more young people the chance to study. I think that it is just part of the period in which you study in certain countries. In the Netherlands, for example, it is very uncommon for students to live in dormitories: everyone either lives in their own apartment in the same city or travels there by train. It is not within our culture to live in dormitories, with too many people around you. The Dutch prefer some kind of freedom, some individuality.

I would choose someone from ancient history, whose teaching I admire very much : 孔子 (Confucius)。The impact he had on the development of China is far greater than that of its modern leaders, his teaching are still applied to modern times.