In colleges all over the capital , students are eagerly scribbling notes on Japanese animation, the Chinese stock market and fengshui, unlike the intricacies of Peking Opera, to which the majority of notebooks remained firmly closed.

From January to March 10, students at 16 universities in the Haidian district could choose from 91 optional courses launched this semester.

According to a faculty member at the University of Science and Technology Beijing quoted by the Beijing Youth Daily, the stock market in China - a course on how to invest - proved the most popular optional at the university because of the impact of the financial crisis in 2008 on the domestic stock exchanges.

Financial management courses, such as personal finance and planning and entrepreneur training, were other popular choices.

A Japanese animation appreciation course offered by the Beijing Film Academy was another option that attracted students in many universities.

The course introduces some lesser-known Japanese animation, such as the works of Mamoru Oshii, Isao Takahata and Satoshi Kon, and studies them in-depth, Wang Naizhen, associate professor of Beijing Film Academy told Beijing Youth Daily.

The class has only 180 places, which proved far too few, said Liu Hao, a student at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunication.

Since the optional courses are extended to more students than they can hold, some students are "kicked out" randomly by the registration system.

Liu failed to attain a place on popular options like Japanese animation during his three years at university because of the limited seats.

On the other hand, some optional courses were cancelled due to the shortage of applicants last semester. "The creative development course was canceled this semester because the number of people who registered for it online was not enough." Dong Na, a senior student at the Beijing University of Agricultural explained. "The course was not very useful to the job market."

Unlike the compulsory courses focused on one's major, the optional ones offered by different schools aim to give students the opportunity to choose what they what to learn in other fields, to provide a more rounded education.

However, as Hu Yue, a student from the Beijing Foreign Studies University pointed out, "Optional courses are not optional. We are required to choose at least four courses in different fields to get eight credits before graduation. A second course in the same field will not earn us credits."

Aside from whether a course appealed to her or not, Hu said she had to consider the overall balance of her optional courses. Last semester, she took a psychology instead of the History of American Film course that she was really interested in, since the film course was part of the Western culture options from which she had already chosen a course.