Nearly 2,000 freshmen at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law have taken part in a counterterrorism exercise.

The training, a first for freshmen at a Chinese institute of higher learning, was a far cry from the dull repetition of the military goose step.

Clad in battle fatigues, the students wielded fake knives in imitation fights with "terrorists" who were played by their classmates or the drillmasters.