I taught in China in 84-85 and this was exactly what conditions my students lived in - as a foreign student, the dorm setup was much nicer - western toilets, less cramped. As a foreign teacher - I was placed into a brand new bldg - my Chinese friends thought I was living like a millionaire but to me, honestly - had to turn on the gas and light the hot water heater to take a warm shower…it was roughing it to me
While my foreign student dorm room had hot water for showers, it was for around 2 hours each evening. Miss that 2 hour window and you’d have to take a cold shower.
Didn’t feel I was really roughing it though as I heard my father and older relatives who attended colleges in China/Taiwan were just as crowded and had far less in their dorms in 1950’s/'60s era ROC(Taiwan). Also, the male relatives had to spend 2 years in the Army to fulfill their obligatory military service either as enlisted personnel(if completing it before college) or as conscripted commissioned officers(after college).
On the last, the dorm food in my father’s university in the early-mid '50s was so bad that he felt the food he received in the Army…including the infamous C-rations in the field were a marked improvement. Food in both the foreign student dorms and the domestic Chinese students(ate there a few times for the experience and to hang with our designated domestic student host) was fine.