Peking University colloquially known in Chinese as
Beida (北大,
Běidà), is a major research university located in
BeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China, and a member of the
C9 LeagueThe C9 League is an association of nine Chinese universities, which were selected by the Chinese government in 1998.On May 4, 1998, Project 985 was initiated by the Chinese government in order to advance the higher education system. In the first phase, nine universities were selected and allocated...
. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as
Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the ancient
GuozijianThe Guozijian , or Kuo Tzu Chien, the School of the Sons of State, sometimes called the Imperial Academy, Imperial College, Imperial Central School, was the national central institute of learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui. It was the highest institute of learning in China's traditional...
(國子監 guózǐjiàn). By 1920 it had become a center for progressive thought. Today, many national and international rankings frequently place Peking University as one of the best universities in China. In addition to its academics, Peking University is especially renowned for the beauty of its traditional Chinese architecture on its campus grounds.
Throughout its history, the university has educated and hosted many prominent modern Chinese thinkers, including figures such as:
Lu XunLu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
,
Mao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
,
Gu HongmingGu Hongming was an Malaysian Chinese man of letters.He also used the pen name "Amoy Ku".-Life:Gu Hongming was born in Penang, Malaysia, the second son of a Chinese rubber plantation superintendent, whose ancestral hometown was Tong'an, Fujian province, China, and his Portuguese wife...
,
Hu ShihHu Shih , born Hu Hung-hsing , was a Chinese philosopher, essayist and diplomat. His courtesy name was Shih-chih . Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese...
,
Li DazhaoLi Dazhao was a Chinese intellectual who co-founded the Communist Party of China with Chen Duxiu in 1921.-Early life:...
, and
Chen DuxiuChen Duxiu played many different roles in Chinese history. He was a leading figure in the anti-imperial Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy. Along with Li Dazhao, Chen was a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He was its first General Secretary....
. Peking University was influential in the birth of China's
New Culture MovementThe New Culture Movement of the mid 1910s and 1920s sprang from the disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Chinese Republic, founded in 1912 to address China’s problems. Scholars like Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Hu Shi, had...
,
May Fourth MovementThe May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
, the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 and many other significant events.
History
Peking University was established in Beijing on July 3, 1898 during the Hundred Days Reform and was originally known as the Imperial University of Peking to replace the ancient
GuozijianThe Guozijian , or Kuo Tzu Chien, the School of the Sons of State, sometimes called the Imperial Academy, Imperial College, Imperial Central School, was the national central institute of learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui. It was the highest institute of learning in China's traditional...
(國子監 guózǐjiàn). In 1902, the Faculty of Education was spun off to become today's
Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing Normal University , colloqiually known as 北师大 or Beishida, is a public research university located in Beijing with strong emphasis on basic disciplines of humanities and sciences...
, the best teacher's college in China. In 1912, following the Xinhai Revolution, the Imperial University was renamed "National Peking University" . The famous scholar
Cai YuanpeiCai Yuanpei was a Chinese educator and the president of Peking University. He was known for his critical evaluation of the Chinese culture that led to the influential May Fourth Movement...
was appointed president on January 4, 1917, and helped transform the university into the country's largest institution of higher learning, with 14 departments and an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. Cai, inspired by the German model of academic freedom, recruited an intellectually diverse faculty that included Hu Shi,
Chen DuxiuChen Duxiu played many different roles in Chinese history. He was a leading figure in the anti-imperial Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy. Along with Li Dazhao, Chen was a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He was its first General Secretary....
, and
Lu XunLu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
. In 1919, students of Peking University formed the bulk of the protesters of the
May Fourth MovementThe May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
. Efforts by the Beiyang government to end the protests by sealing off the Peking University campus led to Cai's resignation. In 1920, Peking University became the second Chinese university to accept female students, after
Nanjing UniversityNanjing University , or Nanking University, is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in China...
.
After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 (and the resulting expansion of Japanese territorial control in east China), Peking University moved to
Changsha and formed the Changsha Temporary University along with
Tsinghua UniversityTsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
and
Nankai UniversityNankai University , commonly known as Nankai, is a public research university based in Tianjin on mainland China. Founded in 1919 by educators Zhang Boling and Yan Fansun , Nankai University is a member of the Nankai serial schools. It is the alma mater of former Chinese Premier and key historical...
. In 1938, the three schools moved again, this time to
Kunming' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
, and formed the
National Southwestern Associated UniversityWhen the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University, merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha, and later National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming...
. In 1946, after World War II, Peking University moved back to Beijing. At that time, the university comprised six schools (Arts, Science, Law, Medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture), and a research institute for humanities. The total student enrollment grew up to 3,000.
In 1952, three years after the People's Republic of China was established,
Yenching UniversityYenching University was a university in Beijing, China. It integrated three Christian colleges in the city in 1919. Yenching is an alternative name of Beijing - derived from its status as capital of Yan state, one of the seven Warring States from 5th century BC to 3rd century BC.The university...
was merged into Peking University and Peking University lost its "national" appellation to reflect the fact that all universities under the new socialist state would be public. In 1952 Peking University moved from downtown Beijing to the former Yenching campus. The first disturbances of the Cultural Revolution began at Peking University in 1966; education there ceased between 1966 and 1970.
In 2000, Beijing Medical University was merged into Peking University and became the Peking University Health Science Campus. Peking University now has eight affiliated hospitals and 12 teaching hospitals.
In 2001, Peking University set up a satellite campus in Shenzhen. The university's second business school was launched on this campus in 2004 and was renamed
HSBC School of BusinessThe Peking University HSBC Business School is a business school in Shenzhen, Guangdong, southern China under the umbrella of Peking University of Beijing, China.- Location :...
in 2008.
Academics
Many domestic rankings place Peking University amongst the top universities in China. In 2010, the Chinese University Alumni Association in partner with China Education Center ranked Peking University 1st among national universities in the country, while the China University Ranking placed Peking University 2nd among universities in China, behind
TsinghuaTsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
.
The
Times Higher Education placed Peking University as the 49th best university in the world in their
2011 rankingsThe Times Higher Education World University Rankings is an international ranking of universities published by the British magazine Times Higher Education in partnership with Thomson Reuters, which provided citation database information...
, while the
QS World University RankingsThe QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004....
placed the University at 46th worldwide in 2011.
Peking University is a national key university. The university consists of 30 colleges and 12 departments, with 93 specialties for undergraduates, 2 specialties for the second
Bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, 199 specialties for
Master's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
candidates and 173 specialties for
Doctoral candidatesA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
. While in a leading position of basic sciences research and teaching, the university has gained itself very successful development of applied sciences.
At present, Peking university has 216 research institutions and research centres, including 2 national engineering research centres, 81 key national disciplines, 12 national key laboratories. With 4.5 million holdings, the university
libraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
is the largest of its kind in Asia.
The university has made an effort to combine the research on fundamental scientific issues with the training of personnel with high level specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's modernization.
Peking University has been becoming a center for teaching and research, consisting of diverse branches of learning such as pure and applied sciences,
social sciencesSocial science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
and the
humanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, and sciences of
managementManagement in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
and
educationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
.
Over the past century, more than 400 Peking University alumni had become presidents of other major Chinese universities, including former
TsinghuaTsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
President Luo Jialun, Renmin University President Yuan Baohua,
Zhejiang UniversityZhejiang University , sometimes referred to as Zheda, is a national university in China. Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University is one of China's oldest institutions of higher education...
President Qian Sanqiang,
Fudan UniversityFudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...
President Zhang Zhirang,
Nankai UniversityNankai University , commonly known as Nankai, is a public research university based in Tianjin on mainland China. Founded in 1919 by educators Zhang Boling and Yan Fansun , Nankai University is a member of the Nankai serial schools. It is the alma mater of former Chinese Premier and key historical...
President Teng Weizao, Chinese University of Science and Technology President Guan Weiyan and many others.
Campus, art and culture
The campus of Peking University was originally located north of the
Forbidden CityThe Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
in the center of Beijing, and was later moved to the former campus of
Yenching UniversityYenching University was a university in Beijing, China. It integrated three Christian colleges in the city in 1919. Yenching is an alternative name of Beijing - derived from its status as capital of Yan state, one of the seven Warring States from 5th century BC to 3rd century BC.The university...
in 1952. The main campus is located in northwest Beijing, in Haidian district, which was concentrated with many well known colleges and universities.
The Peking University's campus site is also situated near the
Summer PalaceThe Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water....
and the
Old Summer PalaceThe Old Summer Palace, known in China as Yuan Ming Yuan , and originally called the Imperial Gardens, was a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing...
; the area is traditionally where many of Beijing's most renowned gardens and palaces were built.
The university campus is located in the former site of the
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
royal gardens and it retains many traditional Chinese-style landscaping including traditional houses, gardens, pagodas as well as many notable historical buildings and structures. There are several gates that lead into campus - East, West and South gates, with the West Gate being the most well known for the painted murals on its ceiling. Peking University is known throughout China, along with its neighbour,
Tsinghua UniversityTsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
, for their beautiful campuses. The university campus is surrounded by Weiming lake.
The university also hosts many museums, such as the "Museum of University History" and the "
Arthur M. SacklerArthur M. Sackler was an American psychiatrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist....
Museum of Art and Archaeology". Notable items in these museums include funerary objects that were excavated in Beijing and date back thousands of years from the graves of royalties of the
Warring States periodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
. There are ritual pottery vessels as well as elaborate pieces of jewelry on display. There are also bones of human remains set up in the traditional burial style of that period.
Beyond its main campus,
Peking University Health Science CenterPeking University Health Science Center is a respected medical school in China attached to Peking University, and is affiliated to 14 other hospitals in the Beijing Metropolitan Area. It enjoys a reputation as the best medical school in the country...
(PKUHSC) is located in Xue Yuan Rd. where the country's most distinguished colleges are located. The PKUHSC's campus is less aesthetically appealing than the main Peking University campus, but is nonetheless a fitting site for academics and research.
In 2001, Peking University's
ShenzhenShenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
campus, the
Shenzhen Graduate SchoolThe Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School was established as a satellite graduate campus of Peking University in 2001 via a joint venture with the Shenzhen Municipal Government...
, opened its doors. The campus is located in the northwest part of Shenzhen City.
In 2008, the
THE-QS World University Rankings ranked the Peking University as the 23
rd best university in the world in
artArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
s and
humanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
; it is also the highest ranked university from Asia in this field. The Peking University was previously ranked as the 18
th (2007 rankings), 10
th (2006 rankings), 6
th (2005 rankings), and 7
th (2004 rankings) best arts and humanities university in the world.
Peking University is well known for its contribution to modern Chinese literature, poetry and art, and for the publications of groundbreaking modern Chinese books such as
Hong ZichengHong Zicheng was a Chinese philosopher who lived during the end of the Ming Dynasty.Zicheng 自誠 was Hong's zi 字 "courtesy name", his given name was Hong Yingming 洪應明, and his hao 號 "pseudonym" was Huanchu Daoren 還初道人 "Daoist Adept who Returns to the Origin".Hong Zicheng wrote the Caigentan, the...
's
A History of Contemporary Chinese Literature. Peking University has participated in many joint art-research projects, such as the Center for the Art of East Asia (CAEA) with the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, and developing the "Peking University, Department of Digital Art and Design" with
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. Peking University also partners with
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
for its Asian cultural studies programs such as "The Stanford Program in Beijing" and "The Stanford-Peking University Summer Program", which encourages Stanford students interested in exploring Chinese language, history, culture, and society to study on campus at Peking University. It also maintains a joint institute with the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, which provides joint academic programs to students from both schools.
China Center for Economic Research
The Director of China Center for Economic Research, Professor of Economics of Peking University and Professor of the graduate school of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is Prof. Fan Gang. Dr. Fan had more than 100 academic papers published in both Chinese and English academic journals, more than 200 articles in newspapers and magazines and had also published several books.
Justin LinJustin Yifu Lin , born as Zhengyi Lin, on October 15, 1952, in Yilan, Taiwan, is a Chinese economist and Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank.-Career and education:...
, the founding director of the institute, is the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
's chief economist. His appointment marked the first time the post went to a candidate outside Europe or the United States.
International students
The dormitories for international students are located at "Shao Yuan". Every year, Peking University has approximately 2,000 international students studying on campus. Its international students are made up of students from most countries in the world including most of Western Europe, North America, South America, all parts of Asia, Australia as well as many countries in Africa.
In 2005, Peking University and
Cornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
signed an agreement formally establishing the China and Asia-Pacific Studies major at Cornell, which requires students to spend a semester studying at Peking University while working at internships. One year later, Peking University launched a joint undergraduate program with
Yale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
; students will spend a semester overseas, living and studying together with the host institute's students. Peking University's School of International Studies also launched joint degree programs with
London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and
Waseda University, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
. Peking also has a longstanding relationship with
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and Stanford is currently constructing the Lee Jun Sen Stanford Center at Peking University, a three story building on Peking's campus. It will serve as a joint research center, and base for Stanford students and scholars at Peking.
Notable faculty, administrators, and alumni
Peking University has produced many notable people, especially prominent thinkers in modern China. These include figures such as Hu Shi, Li Dazhao and Lu Xun. Peking University also has two Nobel Prize winners, Tsung-Dao Lee and Yang Chen Ning, although both conducted their Nobel winning work at Universities in the US. Since 1948, 586 Peking University alumni have been selected into the renowned Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Science (两院院士), overshadowing any other universities in China.
Peking University is the home to communist, nationalist and liberal thoughts in modern China.
Mao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
,
Chen DuxiuChen Duxiu played many different roles in Chinese history. He was a leading figure in the anti-imperial Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy. Along with Li Dazhao, Chen was a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He was its first General Secretary....
and
Li DazhaoLi Dazhao was a Chinese intellectual who co-founded the Communist Party of China with Chen Duxiu in 1921.-Early life:...
, all founders of the Communist Party of China, either taught or held offices in the university.
Lu XunLu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
, a notable contemporary writer and influential figure of the Chinese New-Culture Movement, which took place in 1919 and sparked China’s anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism march, was also attached to the university. During the
Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, Peking University philosophy faculty
Nie YuanziNie Yuanzi 聂元梓 is a Chinese academic who taught philosophy at Peking University. She is primarily known for her May 25, 1966 "Big-character poster" criticizing Peking University for being controlled by the "bourgeoise." This was a factor in the Cultural Revolution...
notoriously published the first
big-character posterBig-character posters are handwritten, wall-mounted posters using large-sized Chinese characters, used as a means of protest, propaganda, and popular communication. They have been used in China since imperial times, but became more common when literacy rates rose after the 1911 revolution...
. Peking University students also led at the
Tiananmen Square ProtestThe Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
of 1989 for democracy.
See also
- 7072 Beijingdaxue
7072 Beijingdaxue is an asteroid named after Peking University.The asteroid was discovered on February 3, 1996 by the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program at Xinglong, China....
– asteroid named after Peking University
- Beijing Medical University
- High School of Peking University
The High School of Peking University , abbreviated as Běidàfùzhōng is the public high school affiliated to Peking University that offers 7th-12th grade education to a highly selected pool of students from across China and abroad....
- Chinese Family Panel Studies
Chinese Family Panel Studies is designed by representative experts from all social sciences departments, schools, and institutes in Peking University, PKU. It’s funded by the national 985 program and started in the early of 2007....
Program
External links