A Guangzhou diner owner who quit school as a teenager will attend a university graduation ceremony this month. Luo Na and her husband received the invitation through a food delivery app. The request came from a PhD candidate who wrote that the couple had fed him for seven years.
The story has drawn attention to how small restaurants near Chinese universities operate. These eateries often survive on repeat business from students who stay on campus for years.
Medical programs in China can run five to seven years before postgraduate study begins. Luo Na’s family has run their Hakka cuisine diner for two decades near Southern Medical University. She said she was surprised and honored by the invitation.
“I know medical students all work very hard. They would not invite anyone to their big graduation day,” she told local media.
The graduate, surnamed Xiong, studied Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine at the university for over a decade. He and his classmates first ordered from the diner seven years ago, during his fifth year. The eatery became their favorite in the neighborhood.
Xiong used the comment section of a delivery order to extend the invitation. He wrote that he had been “fed by you for seven years from bachelor to doctor” and felt sad about leaving. Luo Na posted the order online.
University officials have not issued a formal statement on the invitation. But the event fits a pattern seen at Chinese medical schools.
Graduation ceremonies often include family members and local business owners who supported students through long years of study. Luo Na said she will bring her husband and two children to the ceremony. She prepared a bouquet and red packets.
“You will be real doctors from now on. When you look out for others, remember a,” she said.
The quote trailed off in the original report. The diner has operated without major changes to its business model. It does not deliver through large platforms.
Customers order directly through the app that connects nearby eateries with university students. The restaurant has no website and no social media page of its own. Southern Medical University did not respond to requests for comment on the invitation policy for graduation guests.
The university typically allows graduates to bring a limited number of guests. The ceremony is scheduled for later this month.
Xiong’s decade at the university is not unusual for Chinese medical students. The integrated medicine program combines Western medical training with traditional Chinese medicine. Students take courses in both systems and must pass licensing exams for each.
Luo Na quit school as a teenager to work in the family business. She said she had not imagined being invited to a graduation ceremony.
The invitation represents a bridge between two different life paths. The couple plans to attend the ceremony. They will close the diner for the afternoon.
Regular customers have been told to expect limited hours that day.
